Mario Thevis, Deutsche Sporthochschule Köln (German Sport University Cologne), Germany, has received the Fresenius Prize 2023 from the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh, German Chemical Society). The award, which comes with a gold medal and EUR 7,500, recognizes special services to analytical chemistry. It was presented during ANAKON 2023 in Vienna, Austria, on April 11, 2023.
Research
Mario Thevis is an internationally renowned doping expert and is honored because his work shows how important and relevant analysis is for society. Thevis has been active in the field of doping control at world championships and the Olympic Games for about twenty years. Due to the associated public visibility in the media, he represents analytical chemistry not only within science, but also in public perception.
The doping researcher has developed numerous new, powerful analytical methods for a large number of substances that are currently used as doping agents or could be used for doping in the future, as well as the metabolites of such substances. Thevis has shown many times that initially inexplicable and rare analytical results require further detailed investigations. For this reason, he is also regularly consulted as an expert in sports law and criminal law proceedings.
Career
Mario Thevis, born in Aachen, Germany, in 1973, studied chemistry at RWTH Aachen University and sports science at the German Sport University Cologne. He completed his doctorate in biochemistry in 2001. After a research stay at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA, he habilitated at the German Sport University in Cologne.
Thevis has been a Professor for Preventive Doping Research there since 2006. Starting in 2016, he has also served as Director of the Institute of Biochemistry and of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-certified anti-doping laboratory in Cologne. As early as during his graduate studies, he supported the doping control laboratory in Helsinki, Finland, in the context of the Nordic World Ski Championships in 2001. Since then, he has accompanied numerous world championships and Olympic Games with his scientific expertise. He is Director of the European Monitoring Center for Emerging Doping Agents (EUMOCEDA) and Editor-in-Chief of Drug Testing and Analysis.
Selected Publications
- Control of a sulfadoxine/trimethoprim combination in the competition horse: Elimination, metabolism and detection following an intravenous administration,
Ina Schenk, Diane Broussou, Beatrice Roques, Henrike Lagershausen, Marc Machnik, Helma Röttgen, Pierre‐Louis Toutain, Mario Thevis,
Drug Test. Anal. 2023.
https://doi.org/10.1002/dta.3461 - Do dried blood spots have the potential to support result management processes in routine sports drug testing?—Part 3: LC–MS/MS‐based peptide analysis for dried blood spot sampling time point estimation,
Lana Brockbals, Andreas Thomas, Tom D. Schneider, Thomas Kraemer, Andrea E. Steuer, Mario Thevis,
Drug Test. Anal. 2023.
https://doi.org/10.1002/dta.3463 - Mass spectrometry in sports drug testing—Analytical approaches and the athletes’ exposome,
Mario Thevis, Christian Görgens, Sven Guddat, Andreas Thomas, Hans Geyer,
Scand. J. Med. Sci.Sports 2022.
https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.14228 - Nutritional supplements cross‐contaminated and faked with doping substances,
Hans Geyer, Maria Kristina Parr, Karsten Koehler, Ute Mareck, Wilhelm Schänzer, Mario Thevis,
J. Mass Spectrom. 2008, 43, 892–902.
https://doi.org/10.1002/jms.1452 - Δ6-Desaturase (FADS2) deficiency unveils the role of ω3- and ω6-polyunsaturated fatty acids,
Wilhelm Stoffel, Barbara Holz, Britta Jenke, Erika Binczek, Robert Heinz Günter, Christine Kiss, Iakowos Karakesisoglou, Mario Thevis, Artur-Aron Weber, Stephan Arnhold, Klaus Addicks,
EMBO J. 2008, 27, 2281–2292.
https://doi.org/10.1038/emboj.2008.156 - Factors influencing the steroid profile in doping control analysis,
Ute Mareck, Hans Geyer, Georg Opfermann, Mario Thevis, Wilhelm Schänzer,
J. Mass Spectrom. 2008, 43, 877–891.
https://doi.org/10.1002/jms.1457
