History of the institution

In 1955, the "Institute for Insemination and Andrology of Domestic Animals " emerged from the “Department for Insemination of Domestic Animals” of the former Clinic for Obstetrics and Cattle Diseases. The institute with its first director, Prof. Dr. med. vet. Johannes Liess, was located in the Richard-Götze-Haus at Bischofsholer Damm. Lectures on insemination including andrology were held here, and semen testing courses and insemination exercises were conducted.

As successor to Prof. Liess, Prof. Dr. med. vet. Dr. med. h.c. mult. Hans Merkt started the institute on April 1, 1965, which was renamed the "Clinic for Andrology and Insemination of Domestic Animals" in 1978. A separate department for spermatology was set up in 1968 and was headed by Prof. Dr. med. vet. Dietrich Krause. Since the beginning of the clinic, a lively cooperation with the regional cattle insemination stations existed, and starting in 1973, horse insemination developed in close cooperation with the Lower Saxony State Stud in Celle. Prof. Merkt was the head of the clinic until his retirement in 1992. During his directorship, the clinic relocated to the location of the former insemination center of the Lower Saxony Cattle Production (Rinderproduktion Niedersachsen (RPN)) at the current location at Bünteweg 15.

The clinic was restructured when the "Institute for Reproductive Medicine" was founded in 1993 and the direction was transferred to Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Edda Töpfer-Petersen and Prof. Dr. med. vet. Burkhard Meinecke. Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Edda Töpfer-Petersen with a focus on andrology and spermatology, Prof. Dr. med. vet. Burkhard Meinecke with a focus on female reproductive medicine represented together with Prof. Dr. med. vet. Anne-Rose Günzel-Apel, focused in small animal reproduction, the field of reproductive medicine at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover.

In 2006, the field of "Reproductive Medicine" at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover was again restructured. The now independent "Institute for Reproductive Biology" (Director: Prof. Dr. med. vet. Burkhard Meinecke) and the "Unit for Reproductive Medicine" (Director: Prof. Dr. med. vet. Harald Sieme) emerged from the Institute for Reproductive Medicine.

In 2016, with the retirement of Prof. Meinecke, the fields of responsibilities of the Institute for Reproductive Biology were transferred to the " Unit for Reproductive Medicine".

The Unit for Reproductive Medicine is to be understood as an interdisciplinary center that represents research, teaching and service in the field of reproductive medicine for the clinics of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover.