Dominik Gross

Gross studied dentistry and medicine at Saarland University and the University of Ulm as well as history, philosophy and archaeology at Saarland University. He completed each of these courses with a doctorate (1990 Dr. med. dent., 1993 Dr. phil., 2001 Dr. med.). In 1998 he finished his habilitation with the venia legendi for "History, theory and ethics of medicine”. Until 2005, he worked as a private lecturer at the Universities of Würzburg, Ratisbon and Ulm.^[1]

In June 2005, Gross was appointed full professor of History, Theory and Ethics in Medicine at the RWTH Aachen. Since October 2005 he has been director of the Institute of History, Theory and Ethics in Medicine of the same university.

Gross’ main fields of research are bioethics as well as medicine in the 20th century (with a special focus on the Third Reich). He has led research projects on the history of dentists and pathologists in the Third Reich and the post-war period and has published numerous international specialist articles, including personal encyclopaedias,^[2] memorial books^[3] book series^[4] and series in specialist journals.^[5] Since 2014, he has also been a member of the jury for the ‘Herbert Lewin Prize’, a highly endowed research prize on the role of the medical profession during the Nazi era.^[6] Due to his research on National Socialism and its recent consequences, Gross is committed to the protection of Jewish fellow citizens and the promotion of Jewish culture in Germany. In Mai 2024, he was appointed “Rector's Delegate for Antisemitism Prevention” at RWTH Aachen University^[7]

Gross' philosophical thesis and his habilitation project were funded by grants from the “German Academic Scholarship Foundation” (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes)^[8] and the “German Research Foundation” (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)” He received several awards (Joseph Schneider Award of the Medical Faculty of the University of Würzburg, Scultetus Award of the Scultetus Society in Ulm (2004) and the Dental Ethics Award of the German Society for Oral and Maxillofacial Medicine (DGZMK).^[9][10][11]

Since 2007, Gross has been a member of various expert commissions and advisory boards (Grünenthal Foundation for Palliative Medicine, “Zwanzig20” consortium of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, “European Foundation Aachener Dom”, National AIDS Advisory Council at the Federal Ministry of Health, German Medical Association [Bundesärztekammer], Geman Dental Association [Bundeszahnärztekammer], Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care, etc.). He was a visiting professor at the Charité and at the University of Zurich.

Gross is the initiator and chairman of the Clinical Ethics Committee (KEK) at Aachen University Hospital (founded in 2008), and the founding chairman of the “Ethics Working Group” of the “German Society of Dentistry and Oral Medicine (DGZMK)” (2010). Besides, he is a founding member of the Ethics Group of the IDEA League.

He is an appointed member of the “Acatech – National Academy of Science and Engineering” (since 2021) and of the “European Academy of Sciences and Arts” in Salzburg (Austria) (since 2011).

Since 2021, Gross has been Vice-Dean for Studies and Teaching at the Medical Faculty of RWTH Aachen.^[12] In 2024, he was elected to the Board of Trustees of the “German Academic Scholarship Foundation” (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes).