Klinikum Stuttgart inaugurates ‘Robert Mayr Lung Centre’: Concentrated expertise under one roof
Klinikum Stuttgart officially opened the new Robert Mayr Lung Centre on 15.05.2025. Specialists from several departments work closely together in the interdisciplinary centre to provide the best possible care for patients with lung diseases. The centre recently underwent the certification process of the German Cancer Society (DKG) as a lung cancer centre - a seal of approval for the highest medical quality and specialised care.
Strong partner and namesake: Robert Mayr
The centre is named after Robert Mayr, founder and chairman of the Eva Mayr-Stihl Foundation, which has supported the Klinikum Stuttgart for many years, particularly in the field of cancer medicine.
‘I feel very honoured and also see the naming of the Lung Centre as recognition of the work of our foundation,’ said Mayr at the inauguration. "My wife would also have been delighted. We were both convinced that commitment in medicine is particularly meaningful. Stuttgart Hospital was just as close to her heart as it was to mine."
Lung diseases on the rise - the centre sets standards
Lung diseases are widespread and are among the most common causes of death worldwide. Three lung diseases are among the six leading causes of death: COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), lower respiratory tract infections and lung cancer. Around one in eight people in the EU die from a lung disease.
Interdisciplinarity as a success factor
According to Prof. Dr Jan Steffen Jürgensen, Medical Director of Klinikum Stuttgart, comprehensive care for patients with lung diseases requires interlinking the outpatient and inpatient sectors, strengthening prevention and establishing the strongest possible early detection. He emphasised the importance of specialised centres: "Treatment results are demonstrably better in specialised centres than in smaller hospitals with less experience. The successful consolidation of expertise at the Robert Mayr Lung Centre is therefore an important step and good news for patients."
At the Robert Mayr Lung Centre, specialists in pneumology, thoracic surgery, intensive care medicine, radiotherapy, infectiology, oncology and molecular genetics, as well as paediatric pneumologists, cystic fibrosis experts, palliative care physicians and psycho-oncologists work closely together. Patients benefit from precise diagnostics, customised therapies and close support. ‘This enables individual and targeted treatment right from the start,’ explains Prof. Gerald Illerhaus, Head of the Stuttgart Cancer Center - Tumour Centre Eva Mayr-Stihl. State-of-the-art procedures such as robot-assisted surgery are used for lung cancer in particular.
Long-standing partnership with the Eva Mayr-Stihl Foundation
The Eva Mayr-Stihl Foundation is one of the clinic's most important sponsors. Prof. Dr Wolfram Zoller, Medical Director at the hospital for many years and now a member of the foundation's Board of Trustees, looked back on a fruitful collaboration: "The support began in 2007 with a project in gastroenterology. This was followed by the establishment of the Tumour Centre and finally the Lung Centre. The foundation has now provided over 40 million euros. The naming of the Lung Centre after Robert Mayr stands for this sustainable, strategic funding approach."
Certification process
Recognition as a lung cancer centre by the German Cancer Society (DKG) places the highest demands on structural, process and outcome quality: from standardised diagnostic and treatment pathways to tumour conferences and systematic surveys of patient satisfaction and treatment success.
Thanks for a reliable partnership
‘We are extremely grateful to the Eva Mayr-Stihl Foundation,’ concluded Prof Jürgensen. ‘We are proud that both founders, the Robert Mayr Lung Centre and the Eva Mayr-Stihl Tumour Centre, also stand for this close partnership by name.’
-------
Background: Eva Mayr-Stihl Foundation
Since 2007, the foundation has supported Stuttgart Hospital with over 40 million euros. The focus of the funding is the Stuttgart Cancer Center - Tumour Centre Eva Mayr-Stihl. The funding enables the use of excellent medical technology, the qualification of oncology specialists through support programmes and nursing scholarships, exceptional services such as patient guides, exercise and nutrition therapists as well as strong psychosocial support for patients. Other funding priorities at Klinikum Stuttgart include personalised medicine, the use of artificial intelligence and tele-intensive care networking with partner facilities.
The Eva Mayr-Stihl Foundation is an independent, non-profit foundation based in Waiblingen. It was established in 1986 by Eva Mayr-Stihl and Robert Mayr. The foundation's work focuses on science and research, medicine, art and culture. Stuttgart Hospital is the largest sponsoring partner.
Stuttgart Clinical Centre
Klinikum Stuttgart comprises Katharinenhospital, Bad Cannstatt Hospital and Germany's largest paediatric clinic, Olgahospital. It is the largest maximum care hospital in Baden-Württemberg. 9,000 employees, including over 3,000 nursing staff and over 1,200 doctors, treat around 90,000 inpatients and more than 600,000 outpatients every year, including 100,000 emergencies. More than 60,000 operations are performed at Stuttgart Hospital every year. State-of-the-art oncology wards and stem cell transplant units were inaugurated in 2022 as part of the new construction of the Katharinenhospital, which cost more than one billion euros. This was followed in 2024 by the opening of the Eva Mayr-Stihl Tumour Centre building with 14,000 square metres of space. Here, Klinikum Stuttgart bundles its services in the treatment of around 14,000 patients with cancer every year.
Sources and further literature on the morbidity and mortality of pulmonary diseases, survival benefits of treatment in certified centres and the certification process of the German Cancer Society:
- Homepage der European Respiratory Society: https://www.ersnet.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Overview.pdf
- The Lancet: Global burden of chronic respiratory diseases and risk factors, 1990–2019: an update from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019; abgerufen unter https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(23)00113-X/fulltext
- https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(22)00302-2/abstract
- https://www.krebsdaten.de/Krebs/DE/Content/Krebsarten/Lungenkrebs/lungenkrebs_node.html
- https://www.krebsgesellschaft.de/deutsche-krebsgesellschaft/zertifizierung.html
Contact:
Klinikum Stuttgart, Corporate Communications, Stefan Möbius, Tel.: 0711 278-32146,
E-Mail: s.moebius@klinikum-stuttgart.de
