New Leadership Team for the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research

At its General Assembly on March 24, 2026, the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) elected a new Executive Board. Newly appointed members are Prof. Rabea Hinkel (Göttingen) and Prof. Heribert Schunkert (Munich), while Prof. Holger Gerhardt (Berlin) was re-elected. The new board will take office in December 2026, succeeding Prof. Stefanie Dimmeler and Prof. Steffen Massberg, whose six-year terms are coming to an end. The regular term for DZHK board members is three years and may be extended once.

The three-member Executive Board is responsible for the strategic leadership of DZHK and represents the center externally. Prof. Heribert Schunkert will assume the role of spokesperson.

Prof. Dr. med. Heribert Schunkert is Director of the Clinic for Cardiovascular Diseases at the TUM University Hospital German Heart Center and Professor at the Technical University of Munich. He is one of the leading experts in the genetic causes of cardiovascular diseases and has been a Principal Investigator at the DZHK Munich site for many years.

Prof. Dr. med. Rabea Hinkel is Professor of Laboratory Animal Science at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover and at the German Primate Center in Göttingen. Her research focuses on heart failure, aiming to develop new therapeutic approaches for high-risk patient groups. At DZHK, she serves as site spokesperson for Lower Saxony.

Prof. Dr. Holger Gerhardt is Vice Director of the Max Delbrück Center, where he leads the research group “Integrative Vascular Biology.” He also holds a DZHK Professorship for Experimental Cardiovascular Research at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. His research explores how blood vessels form and the role vascular dysfunction plays in cardiovascular diseases.

DZHK will provide further details on the strategic direction of the new board in December.

About DZHK
The German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) is part of the German Centers for Health Research (DZG) and is the largest research network for cardiovascular diseases in Germany. It was founded in 2011 on the initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). DZHK comprises 25 partner institutions across six locations. Its mission is to rapidly translate findings from basic research into improved therapies, diagnostics, and prevention for patients with cardiovascular diseases.