Zaun, Hansotto

Hansotto Zaun (1930-2018) began his dermatological training in 1958 as a medical assistant at the Göttingen Skin Clinic. From 1960 to 1962 he was a scientific assistant to Professor Braun-Falco in Marburg, then to Professor Fritz Nödl at the University Dermatological Clinic in Homburg/Saar. Here he habilitated in 1967 for dermatology and venereology with a thesis on "Pathological Reactions at the Hair Follicle" which was awarded with the Hans Schwarzkopf Research Prize of the German Dermatological Society and provided the basis for trichological investigations for many years. In the same year as his habilitation he was appointed senior physician, in 1969 scientific councilor, in 1971 associate professor. Even after his habilitation, physiology and pathology of hair and nails remained his scientific focus, supplemented by dermatological endocrinology and skin changes in diseases of internal organs. In these fields he published more than 200 journal articles, several handbook chapters as well as monographs; he shared his great clinical knowledge with colleagues in more than 250 lectures.

In 1974 Hansotto Zaun became head physician of the skin clinic of the municipal hospital Reinkenheide Bremerhaven, which, however, was more of a counselling centre for sex patients than a skin clinic. Within 6 years he succeeded in establishing a real skin clinic in Bremerhaven, not least due to his ability to cooperate with colleagues free of prestige thinking.

In autumn 1980 he returned to Homburg/Saar and took over the chair from his former boss Fritz Nödl. On his retirement in 1996, he handed over a large, well-positioned Department of Dermatology to his successor, Professor Wolfgang Tilgen. Hansotto Zaun was also present in university committees, for example as Dean of the Medical Faculty of Saarland University from 1994 to 1996.

Dill D et al (2019) Obituary of Prof Dr Hansotto Zaun. The dermatologist 70:150-152