Wolfgang Klietmann

Wolfgang Klietmann is a clinical pathologist and medical microbiologist and serves at Harvard Medical School faculty as an appointed Lecturer on Pathology. He is considered a leading expert in the areas of infectious diseases and biodefense.

Previously, Klietmann was head of the Department of Pathology at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Prior to his immigration to the United States in 1992, Klietmann founded and was President/Physician-in-Chief of the Institute of Laboratory Medicine in Düsseldorf Germany a highly recognized institution in terms of the number and quality of scientific publications it generated, and held significant scientific standing for innovative diagnostics among private laboratories in Germany. The company was bought out in the early 1990s by Bioscientia, a subsidiary of Boehringer-Ingelheim.

Klietmann received executive business education in the Owner-President Management Program (OPM12) at Harvard Business School. He received his medical education at the University of Freiburg (Germany), and at the Sorbonne and the University of Paris Medical School (France). He performed postdoctoral research work at The Wistar Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. For five years, Klietmann headed a research group at the Max-Planck-Institute for Virus Research in Tübingen (Germany), and served on the medical faculty of the University of Tübingen until receiving his academic appointment at Harvard Medical School.

A prolific author and guest lecturer with over 200 publications and presentations delivered to audiences across the globe, the cornerstone of Klietmann’s career has centered on infectious diseases, including significant contributions in major indicications including rabies, smallpox, AIDS, and tuberculosis. His work in rabies includes multiple studies investigating efficacy and side effects of tissue culture derived rabies vaccines, as well as leading clinical trials as primary investigator in collaboration with the WHO. and served on the medical faculty of the University of Tübingen until receiving his academic appointment at Harvard Medical School.

A leading authority on biological warfare and Biodefense, his work includes a collaboration with MIT in a project for the Department of Defense distributed by the CDC to all diagnostic laboratories nationwide for preparedness for weaponized biological attacks. He served as president on the Board of Directors of the Harvard Business School Health Industry Alumni Association and organized as co-chairman several major conferences held on the campus of Harvard Business School and in Washington DC.

His memberships in several scientific societies include a Fellowship at the College of American Pathologists. Klietmann is a member of the Board of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce New England Chapter.