Peter Leo Reichertz

Peter Leo Reichertz (* 20. September 1930; † 6. August 1987), actually Hermann Leo-Peter Reichertz [r01], was a pioneer in the field of medical informatics who made a significant contribution to this emerging discipline in its early days [r02], [r03], [r04].

Photo from the Peter L. Reichertz Archive of the PLRI, taken in the 1970s.

Biography
Peter Leo Reichertz was born in Speicher (Eifel), Germany. Some key dates in his curriculum vitae are [r05], [r06]:

Accomplishments
Professor Peter L. Reichertz grasped the potential of computers for medicine and health care very early.
Since the early sixties, he perceived information and communication technology and information processing methodology as not merely other technologies such as microscopes or ultrasonic devices, for improving diagnosis and therapy. His vision encompassed the revolutionary potential of informatics for all aspects of biomedicine and health care, with consequences for research and education [r06].

His appointment as professor at Hannover Medical School gave him and his team an outstanding opportunity to implement integrated computer-based application systems in this medical school and university medical center, which included a microfilm-based central medical record archive and a comprehensive patient database integrated with an administrative hospital information system and laboratory information systems. Denoted as Medical System Hannover (MSH), this integrated architectural approach for computer-supported hospital information systems served as a key model for digital patient care from the late 1960ies to the 1980s, and constituted one of the earliest computer-supported integrated hospital information systems in Germany and around the globe [r04], [r07].

Peter L. Reichertz coined the term “Medizinische Informatik” (medical informatics) in Germany (replacing “Medizinische Dokumentation und Datenverarbeitung” and helped to promote the corresponding English term “medical informatics” (replacing medical computer science) [r04]. He also made significant contributions to medical education and education in medical informatics in Germany, which significantly impacted the international concepts and approaches in health informatics and medical informatics education [r09].

Honors

Peter L. Reichertz Institute for Medical Informatics
In 2007, the Peter L. Reichertz Institute (PLRI) for Medical Informatics of TU Braunschweig [link TUBS] and Hannover Medical School [link MHH] was founded, unifying the previously separated Institutes for Medical Informatics at both universities to create a regional cluster of excellence in the field of medical informatics [link PLRI]. With the institute’s name, both universities honored Professor Reichertz as one of the most significant pioneers in medical informatics worldwide [r06]. Today, PLRI has about 80 employees and is one of the major German centers for medical informatics [link PLRI].

In 2019, when hosting the EFMI Special Topic Conference (STC), PLRI celebrated the 50th anniversary of research in medical informatics in Germany with a Peter L. Reichertz Symposium [L1] and an extraordinary EFMI Young Scientist Prize [L2].

Photo from the Peter L. Reichertz Archive of the PLRI, taken in the 1970s.

Publications
A complete listing of Peter L. Reichertz‘s publications is collected in [r06]. Here are three recommended must-reads of his publications:

References
[r01] Wagner GA, Lindberg DA. In memoriam Peter L. Reichertz. Methods Inf Med. 1987; 26: 179-182.
[r02] Orthner HF, Harris DK. Prof. Dr. med. Peter L. Reichertz: *20 September 1930 †6 August 1987 who dedicated most of his energies to the education and science of medical informatics. Comput Methods Programs Biomed. 1987; 25: 69.
[r03] van Bemmel JH. Decision support in medicine. Comparative methodology and impact on the medical curriculum. In Rienhoff O, Piccolo U, Schneider B, editors. Expert systems and decision support in medicine. 33rd Annual Meeting of the GMDS, EFMI Special Topic Meeting, Peter L. Reichertz Memorial Conference. Hannover, September 1988. Berlin: Springer; 1988, 3-19.
[r04] Moehr JR. Peter L. Reichertz in Hannover. Forum der Medizin_Informatik und Medizin_Dokumentation 2009: 101-104.
[r05] Reichertz PL. Curriculum vitae, English version. Peter L. Reichertz Archive at PLRI.
[r06] Haux R. Analysing the scientific publications of Peter Reichertz: Reflections from the perspective of medical informatics knowledge today. J Med Syst. 2019; 44: 23.
[r07] Reichertz PL, editor. Das Medizinische System Hannover (MSH) [The Medical System Hannover (MSH)]. IBM Form-Nr. F12-1054. Hannover Medical School; 1972.
[r08] McCray AT, Gefeller O, Aronsky D, Leong TY, Sarkar IN, Bergemann D, Lindberg DA, van Bemmel JH, Haux R. The birth and evolution of a discipline devoted to information in biomedicine and health care. As reflected in its longest running journal. Methods Inf Med. 2011; 50: 491-507.
[r09] Moehr JR. The quest for identity of health informatics and for guidance to education in it – the German Reisensburg conference of 1973 revisited. IMIA Yearb Med Inform. 2004: 201-210.
[r10] Reichertz PL. Konzepte der Medizin und Informatik. Eine Einführung in die Medizinische Informatik [Concepts of medicine and computer science. An introduction to medical informatics]. Manuscript, 1981. Peter L. Reichertz Archive at PLRI.
[r11] Reichertz PL. Hospital information systems - past, present, future. Int J Med Inform. 2006; 75: 282-299.
[r12] Reichertz PL. Preparing for change: concepts and education in medical informatics. Comput Methods Programs Biomed. 1987; 25: 89-101.

External Links
[link BVMI] https://bvmi.de
[link EFMI] https://efmi.org
[link GMDS] https://www.gmds.de
[link MHH] https://www.mhh.de
[link PLRI] https://www.plri.de
[link TUBS] https://www.tu-braunschweig.de
L1 https://stc2019.plri.de/program/peter-l-reichertz-anniversary
L2 https://stc2019.plri.de/program/young-scientist-price