Prof. Dr. Guido Reifenberger, Düsseldorf (Chairman)

Guido Reifenberger is Professor of Neuropathology and since 2000 head of the Department of Neuropathology at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany. He co‐chairs the Brain Tumour Reference Centre of the German Society of Neuropathology and Neuroanatomy (DGNN) and is the vice speaker of the German Neuro-Oncology Working Group (NOA). He also serves as a speaker of the interdisciplinary Centre for Biological and Medical Research (BMFZ) and the iBrain Graduate School for Translational Neuroscience at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. The major scientific interest of Prof. Reifenberger’s research group has been the elucidation of molecular genetic alterations driving the development and malignant progression of primary brain tumours, in particular gliomas. In 2017 he was awarded the German Cancer Award in the translational category. He studied medicine in Düsseldorf and was trained in Neuropathology at the University Hospital Düsseldorf and the Sahlgrenska Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden. From 1997 to 2000, he worked as Associate Professor of Molecular Neuro-Oncology at the University of Bonn, Germany.

Prof. Dr. Roland Goldbrunner, Cologne

Prof. Goldbrunner heads the Department of General Neurosurgery and is Managing Director of the Center for Neurosurgery in Cologne. Prior to his tenure at the University of Cologne, he held various positions at the Clinic for Neurosurgery of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, the renowned Laboratory for Neuro-Oncology of the George Washington University Hospital, Washington, D.C. and the Clinic and Policlinic for Neurosurgery of the University of Würzburg. He has published over 100 articles on brain tumors and other diseases of the central nervous system, has conducted both investigator initiated and industry sponsored clinical trials and is the co-author of guidelines on treatment of glioblastoma and other malignancies. Prof. Goldbrunner studied medicine at the universities of Wuerzburg and Regensburg, Germany. Prof Goldbrunner was elected President of the German Society of Surgery (DGCH) for the period 2025/26.

Prof. Dr. med. Stefanie Kürten, Bonn

Prof. Kürten has headed the Institute of Neuroanatomy since October 2020 and is the Managing Director of the Institute of Anatomy at the University Hospital Bonn. She studied human medicine in Cologne, where she received her doctorate summa cum laude in 2009 and habilitated in 2011, before accepting the call to a W2 professorship at the University of Würzburg in 2013. From 2017 to 2020, she held the Chair of Anatomy and Cell Biology at FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg. Prof. Kürten’s scientific focus is the immunopathogenesis of multiple sclerosis, in particular the development of neuroprotective and -regenerative therapy strategies. She has an international network and was a visiting scientist at Case Western Reserve University, Yale University and Stanford University during her time in Cologne and Würzburg. Prof. Kürten has published over 100 scientific papers in internationally recognised journals and has been awarded several prizes for her research and achievements in teaching.

Former Scientific Advisory Board Members