Wiki Bio / Profile Background
Introduction :
- Heiko von der Leyen is a German physician and a professor of medicine.
- He is married to politician Ursula von der Leyen.
Early Life and Education :
- Heiko von der Leyen was born on June 2, 1955, to parents Ulrich von der Leyen and Cornelia Maria née Groth in Germany. He is a descendant of a historical German noble family who made their fortune as silk merchants and silk weaving enthusiasts.
- The family was ennobled in 1786 and one branch of it was raised to Baronial rank by Napoleon in 1813. Heiko is not part of the Baronial family and he’s part of the ennobled one. It was in the von der Leyen’s factories that a historical event happened. Karl Marx described it as Germany’s “first workers” uprising after workers there started rebelling against their employers before the 11th Hussar Regiment put it down.
- Like him, Heiko’s father was also a physician who was lived from 1918 to 1992. Heiko has another sibling, but he hasn’t made that information public.
- Heiko completed his medical education at the University of Hamburg and Hanover Medical School.
Married Life :
- Heiko married Ursula von der Leyen in 1986 and they moved to the USA after Heiko received a job offer from Stanford University.
- Ursula was born in Brussels in 1958 and comes from strong political family background. Her father was the German European Commissioner. She is fluent in both French and English. She attended the London School of Economics but never graduated from there. Instead, she switched to medicine and specialized in gynecology. She hadn’t started her political till well into her life.
- In 2019, Ursula was named the EU Commission President and is the first woman to hold the title. The commission is overseeing policies for 500 million Europeans.
- Heiko and Ursula have seven children together namely David, Egmont, Sophie, Maria, Victoria, and Johanna von der Leyen. They were all born between 1989 to 1999.
Career, Income, Salary and Net Worth :
- Heiko has had a pretty straightforward career. After graduating from the University of Hamburg and Hannover Medical School, he moved to Stanford University and was part of the faculty there from 1992 to 1996.
- He then earned his habilitation at Hannover Medical School in 1998, which is a qualification to conduct self-contained university teaching. This qualification is the key for access to a professorship in many European countries.
- After acquiring his habilitation, he went on to become an adjunct full professor of internal medicine and experimental cardiology at Hanover Medical School in 2002.
- In 2005, he landed the position of a Managing Director at Hannover Clinical Trial Center GmbH and held the same position till 2017. The Trial Center was opened in Hannover Medical school in the same year he joined. The clinic primarily plans and supports national and international multicenter clinical drug or medical device trials.
- In 2018, Heiko earned a promotion and was moved up to the position of Executive Head at the same clinic. He continues to work at this position to date.