D etlef Zillikens, aged only 64 years, died on September 19, 2022 after a short but severe illness. Detlef was the Professor and Chair of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Lübeck (Lübeck, Germany) since 2004. He built this department into one of the world-leading centers for autoimmune blistering diseases. How did he achieve this? Detlef was born in Wesseling in 1958 and attended medical school at the University of Bonn (Bonn, Germany) and the University of Heidelberg

more »

... g, Germany), graduating in 1986. Similar to many German students in those days, he was able to spend months abroad studying clinical medicine and chose the University of Illinois (Urbana, IL), which also gave him the opportunity to perfect his English into the refined mid-Western accent that he had. Initially believing he wanted to become a surgeon, Detlef completed 2 years as a resident in General Surgery in Heppenheim, Germany, but then saw the light and did his residency in the Department of Dermatology at the University of Würzburg (Würzburg, Germany) followed by his habilitation on "New insights into the pathogenesis of pemphigus and pemphigoid." Detlef was offered a fellowship at the National Institute of Health in the United States, but the story goes that his wife Monica, a psychiatrist, gave him an ultimatum (the fellowship or me); he chose her and remained in Würzburg, completing fellowships in allergy and phlebology until, in 1994, she was ready to go with him to the United States. Until 1997, Detlef worked in the laboratory of Luis Diaz and George Giudice (Milwaukee, WI) on epitope mapping of BP180, the target antigen in several pemphigoid diseases. During the 7 years after his return to Würzburg as an Assistant Professor, he established his own working group and rose to full Professor. He was then appointed as Professor and Chair of the Department of Dermatology at Lübeck in 2004, where he remained thereafter. Since 2007, he acted as principal investigator and member of the steering committee of the Cluster of Excellence 303 Inflammation at Interfaces, followed since 2019 by the Cluster of Excellence 2167 Precision Medicine in Chronic