Prof. Dr. F. Markus Leweke
Co-founder | Medical Director
In the same year, he was appointed the Deputy Head of the Department of Addiction and Addictive Behaviour at the Rheinische Kliniken Duesseldorf, Department of Psychiatry and Psychiatry of the Heinrich-Heine University.
During that time, Prof. F. Markus Leweke led a project resulting in the first-ever detection of endocannabinoids in human body fluids (Leweke et al. 1999). From Duesseldorf University, he became a senior psychiatric consultant and later Deputy Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Cologne. Here, he continued his research into neuropsychopharmacology with a focus on schizophrenia and the endocannabinoid system and received the venia legendi (the right to lecture at a university) in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy.
In 2009, Prof. F. Markus Leweke was appointed to the role of Professor of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at Heidelberg University as well as Associate Medical Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the Central Institute of Mental Health. Having had roles at the Medical Faculty Mannheim of Heidelberg University, he went on in 2017 to become a Professor and Chair in Youth Depression Studies at the Brain and Mind Centre at the University of Sydney.
Prof. F. Markus Leweke is undoubtedly one of the most notable names in the scientific community regarding the role of the endocannabinoid system in psychiatric disorders and innovative treatments for psychiatric diseases. This was recognized by the German Association for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics by awarding him the DGPPN Prize in 2015 for Pharmacological Research for his work on the role of the endocannabinoid system in psychosis and the use of cannabidiol as an antipsychotic. Today, he continues his studies on psychiatric disorders and the potential for cannabinoids to provide a solution to their life-changing impacts through Endosane Pharmaceuticals, which he co-founded in 2021.
Professor F. Markus Leweke is a board-certified neurologist, psychiatrist and psychotherapist who has led an esteemed career in the research of cannabinoids, the endocannabinoid system and their involvement in psychiatric disorders. He studied medicine at the Universities of Cologne (Germany) and New South Wales (Australia). Subsequently, he received his neurophysiological training and completed his doctorate at the Institute of Neurophysiology at the University of Cologne. Leweke then completed his neurological training at the Alfried-Krupp-Hospital at Essen and the Dept. of Epileptology at Bonn University. He gained his psychiatric and psychotherapeutic qualification at the Department of Clinical Psychiatry at Hannover Medical School.
During his time in Hannover, Prof. F. Markus Leweke started his scientific research into psychiatric disorders and their relation to cannabinoids and the endocannabinoid system. It was also there that he co-established the cannabinoid hypothesis of schizophrenia in 1997.