Board
The Board has between five and nine members, and according to the Foundation's statute three to five members must be experienced scientists or physicians.
Chairman: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Hans-Jürgen Möller
Vice-chairman: Dipl.-Kfm. Hans F. W. Frey
Prof. Dr. med. Dr. h.c. mult. Hans-Jürgen Möller
Hans-Jürgen Möller, born in 1945, studied medicine in Göttingen und Hamburg. He did his training in psychiatry mainly at the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry in Munich. After his habilitation he became professor and senior physician at the Psychiatric Clinic of the Technical University of Munich. From 1988 to 1994 he was professor of psychiatry and director of the Psychiatric Clinic of the University of Bonn and from 1994 to 2012 professor of psychiatry and director of the Psychiatric Clinic of the Munich University. He is the member of numerous professional societies and was the editor of several scientific journals. Among others, he was president of the World Federation of Socities of Biological Psychiatry, the European Psychiatric Association, and the Collegium Internationale Neuropsychopharmacologicum. In recognition of his achievements he has received numerous honours and awards, including the Jean Delay Prize as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Psychiatric Association.
Dipl.-Kfm. Hans F. W. Frey
Hans F.W. Frey, born in 1949, studied industrial engineering in Karlsruhe and business administration in Mannheim. After graduating, he began his professional career at the Dresdner Bank AG in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden in 1975, later on he became head of department and authorized signatory for the private customer business in Trier. After a stay at the headquarters in Frankfurt, head of a branch in Waiblingen and responsible for corporate banking. This was followed by an appointment to the Board of Directors of Banque Veuve Morin Pons in Lyon and Paris, a subsidiary of Dresdner Bank, and in 1993 he was appointed Président du Directoire. Subsequently, he was head of the branches in Nürnberg and München respectively and chairman of the Southwest Executive Board in Stuttgart. He still is a member of various supervisory and advisory boards.
Prof. Dr. med. Peter Falkai
Peter Falkai, born in 1961, studied medicine at Düsseldorf University from 1981 to 1987, where he obtained his doctorate, too. In 1992 he received his recognition as a specialist for psychiatry and in 1995 he was habilitated. From 1987 to 1993 he was assistant, 1993 to 1995 chief resident, and 1995 to 1996 chief physician at the Düsseldorf University Hospital. From 1996 to 2002 he was Senior Director for medical psychology and appointed Professor for medical psychology at the Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of Bonn University, from 2002 to 2006 Director of the Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of Saarland University, 2006 to 2012 Director of the Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of Göttingen University, and since 2012 he is Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich. He is a member of numerous national and international scientific societies, among others, the Leopoldina Academy of Science, and he has received numerous awards and prizes.
Prof. Dr. med. Nikolaus Plesnila
Nikolaus Plesnila, born in 1966, studied medicine in Regensburg and received his doctorate in immunology from the Technical University of Munich in 1991. From 1993 to 1999, he worked as Research Associate and Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute for Surgical Research in Munich, and from 1999 to 2001 at the Laboratory for Stroke and Neurovascular Regulation at the Harvard Medical School. In 2001, he returned to the Institute for Surgical Research as project leader. He received his habilitation in 2004 and was appointed Professor of Experimental Neurosurgery in 2005. From 2008 to 2011, he was both Professor of Neuroscience and Chair of Neurodegeneration at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin. Since 2011, he is Professor of Experimental Stroke Research at the Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research at the University of Munich Medical Center.
Prof. Dr. med. Michael Sendtner
Michael Sendtner, born in 1959, studied medicine in Regensburg and then at the Technical University München, where he received his doctorate in 1984 and where he habilitated in 1992. From 1985 and 1994 he worked at the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology in Martinsried before moving to Würzburg University where he was Professor for Neurobiology from 1995 till 1999. Since 2000 he has been Head of the Institute for Clinical Neurobiology at the University Hospital in Würzburg and Speaker of the Comprehensive Research Center “Molecular Models for Diseases of the Nervous System”. Among other awards, he received the Myopathy Award in 1993 and the ALS Research Award in 1997, both from the German Society for Muscular Diseases, and in 2007 the Sobek Award for multiple sclerosis research. Since 2011 he has been a member (neuroscience) of the Senate of the German Research Foundation.
Prof. Dr. Susanne Wegmann
Susanne Wegmann, born in 1977, studied at the Technical University of Berlin from 1997 to 2005, graduating with a degree in Biotechnology Engineering, and at the ETH Zurich from 2005 to 2011, earning her doctorate in Biophysics. From 2012 to 2015, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where from 2025 to 2028, she was a Lecturer in Neurology. Since 2018, she has headed the research group "Protein Effects in Neurodegeneration" at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) in Berlin and was appointed to a joint professorship at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the DZNE in 2025. Her work has been recognized with prestigious grants, including the 2023 Rainwater Prize for Innovative Young Scientists and a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council.
Hannelore Eickhoff
Hannelore Eickhoff, born in 1949, was appointed to the Board of Trustees on January 1, 2020, due to her decades of experience in association and foundation management as well as in accounting and controlling.
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