Awards and Grants

Dr Torben Lange (University Medical Centre Göttingen, Department of Cardiology and Pneumology) receives the Jacob Henle Young Scientist Award 2025 from the Faculty of Medicine, worth €10,000, for his research into the diagnosis of heart disease using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Dr Nils Krüger and his team at the German Heart Centre Munich were honoured by JAMA as ‘Research of the Year 2025’ for their research work on the use of real-world data in heart failure.

Prof. Dr. Michael Boutros (Heidelberg University Hospital), spokesperson for Heidelberg's Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 1324, has received funding of around €10.9 million from the German Research Foundation (DFG) to continue research into the ‘Mechanisms and Functions of the Wnt Signalling Pathway’ for a further 3.5 years.

Prof. Dr. med. Konstantinos Stellos (University of Heidelberg, Mannheim Medical Faculty) has been appointed to the newly established W3 professorship for internal medicine – specialising in angiology and diabetology – and will take over as head of the new VI Medical Clinic at Mannheim University Hospital on 1st of December 2025.

Prof. Dr. Dr. med. Mahir Karakas (University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf) receives the Martina Grote Science Award ‘Frauenherzen’ (Women's Hearts) worth 10,000 € for his work ‘Intravenous ferric carboxymaltose in heart failure with iron deficiency (FAIR-HF2 DZHK05 trial): Sex-specific outcomes’.

Prof. Dr. med. Harald Langer (University Medical Centre Mannheim) has been awarded a grant of €1.3 million together with three local partners from industry and science. The grant will support the project ‘Innovative AI-assisted heart valve validation’, which aims to develop an objective measurement method for successful operations and optimised patient care.

Once again this year, DZHK scientists have made it into the Highly Cited Researchers ranking. This means they are among the world's ‘most cited minds’ in their respective fields.

Prof. Alexander Meyer (German Heart Centre Berlin) has been appointed as a Professor of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine.

Prof. Dr. Maike Frye (University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf) receives the DGKL's Gábor Szász Prize worth €15,000 to conduct research in the field of cardiovascular biomedicine and the development of animal-free test systems that exemplify the 3Rs principles (Replace, Reduce, Refine).

Dr Julian Wagner (Institute for Cardiovascular Regeneration, Goethe University Frankfurt) is receiving over half a million euros in funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) to research the inter- and transgenerational metabolic imprinting of the neuro-cardiopulmonary interface in the context of health and ageing.