Gerd Heusch studied medicine in Düsseldorf and Bonn, where he graduated as MD in 1980. He then was postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Physiology in Düsseldorf. In 1985/1986 he was research cardiologist at the University of California, San Diego under supervision by Dr. John Ross Jr. In 1989 he was appointed professor and chair of the Institute for Pathophysiology at the University of Essen, a position which he holds up to now. His major research interests are the control of coronary blood flow, myocardial ischemia/reperfusion and cardioprotection. He has been a president of the German Cardiac Society and of the International Society for Heart Research/European Section. In 2012 he was awarded the William Harvey Lecture and Silver Medal of ESC, in 2017 the Carl Ludwig award of the German Cardiac Society and the Carl Wiggers award of the American Physiological Society. He is editor of Basic Research in Cardiology and editorial board member of a number of other prestigious journals.