Hans-Ulrich Reißig studied chemistry at LMU Munich. After completing his doctorate, he took a postdoctoral position at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He received a Heisenberg fellowship and finished his Habilitation in 1984 at the University of Würzburg. From 1986-1992 he taught at TH Darmstadt, then at TU Dresden, and since 1999 he has been a professor of organic chemistry at Freie Universität. His research interests include the stereoselective organic synthesis of natural products and drugs, the development of synthetic methods, and heterocyclic chemistry. Reißig is a member of several committees of the German Research Foundation and chairman of the selection committee of the Wilhelmy Klung Weberbank Prize for Chemistry.