Detlev Ganten (born 1941) is a specialist in pharmacology and molecular medicine and is one of the leading scientists in the field of hypertension.

[1] and from 1991 to 2004 Founding Director and CEO of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association.

Following his secondary education he studied medicine in Würzburg and Montpellier from 1962 to 1964 and worked in the surgical ward of the hospital "La Mamounia" in Marrakesh.

In 1970 he received his license to practice medicine and then in 1973, obtained the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from McGill University in Montreal.

On 1 January 1992, Ganten was appointed Founding Director of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin-Buch.

His scientific work won Ganten visiting professorships at the University of California in 1983, at the Collège de France, Paris, in 2010 respectively.

Ganten has been president and coordinator of numerous scientific conferences, among them: Scientific Meeting of the European and International Societies of Hypertension (Heidelberg 1986, Berlin 2008); Gordon Conference (1997, Italy); and the Annual Meeting of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Physicians (Gesellschaft Deutscher Naturforscher und Ärzte, GDNÄ – Berlin 1998).

Ganten was President of the Helmholtz Association of National Research Centers (1997–2001); and a member of the German Ethics Council from 2001 to 2007.