Frank Michael Bengel is a German professor and nuclear medicine physician. He is the current director of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the Hannover Medical School.
Bengel studied human medicine from 1988 to 1995 and received his doctoral degree at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. He completed his specialty training in nuclear medicine at the Department of Nuclear Medicine of the Technische Universität München in 2000. He received the venia legendi (habilitation) for nuclear medicine at the TU München in 2002. Bengel was then recruited by the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA, where he served as an associate professor of radiology and medicine and as the director of Cardiovascular Nuclear Medicine from 2005 to 2010. He then accepted a professorship and the position as director of Nuclear Medicine at the Hannover Medical School where he started in January 2011. In 2020, he was elected as the Dean of Research of Hannover Medical School and served in this role until early 2025.
Bengel published > 400 original articles and reviews in scientific journals, as well as >20 book chapters. His main research focus is the application of noninvasive imaging techniques for the assessment of functional mechanisms in the body (especially in the cardiovascular system). He advanced nuclear imaging techniques targeting blood flow, metabolism and autonomic nervous system of the heart. He also introduced novel techniques for imaging of gene expression and for tracking of stem and immune cells in the heart. Rapid translation of novel tests from research to patient care is at the center of his work, in order to facilitate early disease detection and to refine the choice of therapy.
