Johann Lucas Schönlein was the first to identify a fungus as cause of favus and is considered as one of the founders of medical mycology. Since 1981, the DMykG has awarded this Medal to 20 individuals.

The Board of Trustees of the Johann Lucas Schönlein Medal and the Board of the DMykG have decided unanimously to grant this award in 2015 to Dr. Kathrin Tintelnot.

Dr. Kathrin Tintelnot studied Medicine in Berlin and Würzburg. Following 2 years of training at the Institute of Pathology, University of Würzburg, she joined the Institute for Hygiene and Microbiology and became involved in the exploration of fungal infections under the guidance of Prof. Heinz Seeliger. In 1992, Dr.Tintelnot became board certified in Microbiology and Infection Epidemiology and was appointed as Director of the Working Group „Clinical Mycology“ at the Robert Koch – Institute in Berlin in succession to Prof. Friedrich Staib.

Since 1997, Dr.Tintelnot has been the head of the German Reference Laboratory for cryptococcosis, Scedosporiosis and imported systemic mycoses at the RKI. Among many other scholarly activities, her strong interest in Pathology led to a Sabbatical with Prof. Karlhanns Salfelder in Meriada, Venezuela, which is one of the world’s most competent histopathologists in the field.

In 2000, Dr. Tintelnot was elected into the Executive Board of the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM) on the basis of her international recognition, her expertise and her kind personality, and she was actively contributing to the organization and future development of the Society until 2009.

Dr. Tintelnot has published close to 100 PubMed listed manuscripts on various topics of her area of expertise. Of particular note is a set of five unique articles in 2013 on the histopathological diagnosis and differential diagnosis of invasive fungal infections, which have been published in the form of a special issue of the journal ‘Der Pathologe’. This work is a unique testimony of the expertise and the important contributions of Dr. Tintelnot to Medical Mycology.

For the past decades, Kathrin Tintelnot was a regular and active participant of the scientific meetings of our Society, presenting her data and contributing her insights in an unpretentious and amiable way. She also is a highly valued colleague-physician that has always been accessible for discussion and advice in difficult patient issues.

The Board of Trustees of the Schönlein Medal, the Board of the Society and –without doubt- the entire DMYKG family considers Kathrin Tintelnot an outstanding individual who deserves the special recognition of her contributions to Mycology and to our Society through the award of the Schönlein medal.

September 2015
For the Board of Trustees

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Hannelore Bernhardt
Prof. Dr. med. Herbert Hof
Prof. Dr. med. Werner Mendling
Prof. Dr. med. Claus Seebacher