Prof Dr Heiner Fangerau is Director of the Department of the History, Theory and Ethics of Medicine at HHU Düsseldorf. He previously held the same position at the Universities of Ulm and Cologne. His research focuses on the history and ethics of medicine in the 19th and 20th centuries with a special emphasis on medical child protection, psychiatry and neurology as well as medical technology and its impact on individuals and societies.

At the DIID, he is interested in the interaction of medicalisation processes, technisation processes and social interpretations of medicine against the background of internet-based health applications.