Medicine: Teaching Award for Antje Gohla

To promote and further improve teaching, the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Würzburg awards the Albert Kölliker Teaching Prize twice a year. The prize is worth 10,000 euros; the prize money must be used to further improve teaching. The prize is intended for faculty members who demonstrate exemplary conduct in teaching, examinations, counselling and student supervision, and who employ innovative approaches.

At the faculty’s graduation ceremony on 18 July 2026 in the Neubaukirche, the prize was awarded to Antje Gohla, who has been teaching and conducting research as Professor of Biochemical Pharmacology in Würzburg since 2009. The laudatory speech was delivered by Vice-Dean Professor Oliver Kurzai.

Students rate her teaching as outstanding

“For many years, Antje Gohla has been synonymous with teaching that combines academic excellence, innovative teaching methods and a special closeness to her students,” said the Vice-Dean. In the field of pharmacology and toxicology, she succeeds in conveying complex content and interrelationships clearly, comprehensibly and with clinical relevance. As an expert in human metabolism, the professor always incorporates the latest research findings into her teaching methods.

The faculty’s teaching evaluations show that students consistently rate the award winner’s courses as outstanding. In many instances, they highlight Antje Gohla’s constant willingness to address students’ questions and concerns.

“She established problem-based learning concepts, the case-based learning platform CaseTrain Pharmacology, and actively involved students in the design of examination questions,” said Oliver Kurzai. All in all, the researcher demonstrates in an outstanding manner how modern, student-centred teaching can inspire enthusiasm, impart knowledge and link theory with practice.

In her keynote lecture, Antje Gohla used the example of bufotoxins and the phenomenon of ‘toad licking’ to illustrate, with a touch of humour, how active substances from nature can be misused as intoxicants, but can also be developed into valuable therapeutic agents through pharmacological research.

The namesake of the teaching award

Albert Kölliker (1817–1905) taught and conducted research at the University of Würzburg for more than 50 years, starting in 1849. The Professor of Anatomy and Physiology introduced microscopy courses and other teaching methods that were innovative at the time. This attracted a great many students. Kölliker thus played a major role in the enormous boom experienced by medical education at the University of Würzburg during this period: between 1850 and 1880, there were more medical students in Würzburg than in Berlin or Vienna.

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Awards and honours from the Würzburg Faculty of Medicine