Prof. Dr. med. vet. Stefan Schwarz is a veterinarian by training. He received his doctor degree at the Justus-Liebig-University in Giessen/Germany and did his habilitation thesis at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hannover/Germany. Prof. Schwarz is a specialist veterinarian in microbiology, epidemiology, molecular genetics and gene technology. Moreover, he is an EBVS® European Specialist in Veterinary Microbiology.
After his postdoc time in Giessen, London, Oxford and Seattle, he worked for 24 years for governmental research institutions in Germany, such as the Federal Agricultural Research Center and the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (Federal Institute for Animal Health). In 2016, he moved back to academia. Since then, Prof. Schwarz is the managing director of the Institute of Microbiology and Epizootics at the School of Veterinary Medicine of the Freie Universität Berlin in Berlin/Germany. In addition, he is the spokesperson of the FAO Reference Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance at Freie Universität Berlin. His research group is also part of the Veterinary Centre for Resistance Research (TZR) at the same university. In addition, Prof. Schwarz is a visiting professor at the Colleges of Veterinary Medicine of the China Agricultural University in Beijing/China and the Henan Agricultural University in Zhengzhou/China. Since 2020, Prof. Schwarz is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
His research group is involved in the molecular genetics of antimicrobial resistance, the development of antimicrobial and biocide susceptibility testing methods, and the monitoring of antimicrobial resistance. So far, his research has resulted in more than 600 publications in peer-reviewed international journals and he has received several research awards. Prof. Schwarz also acts as editor/editorial board member of five international journals. As a cat lover, he spends his free time taking care of abandoned cats in a small animal shelter.