Our Speakers
Keynote Speakers
Prof. Dr. med. Bernhard Hellmich Prof. Dr. med. Bernhard Hellmich is the Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine, Rheumatology and Immunology at the Medius Klinik Kirchheim, Teaching Hospital of the University of Tübingen. He is Co-Director of the Vasculitis Center Tübingen-Kirchheim. |
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Prof. Johannes Krause, Max Planck Director, Leipzig Title: The Genetic History of Plague: What we learn from past pandemics Department of Archaeogenetics. Director: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology |
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Prof. Nikolaus Rajewsky, Max Dellbrueck Center, Berlin Title: Combining Biochemistry and Bioinformatics for Precision Medicine |
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Prof. Dorothy Schafer, University of Massachusetts, USA Title: Topic Complement function in brain circuits and neuroinflammation Dorothy (Dori) Schafer received her bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from Mount Holyoke College in 2001 and her PhD in Biomedical Science from the University of Connecticut Health Center in 2008. She then began her postdoctoral training at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Dr. Beth Stevens’ laboratory. Here, she made the discovery that microglia, the resident CNS macrophages, sculpt neural circuits in the developing brain by engulfing a subset of less active synapses via the classical complement cascade. Dr. Schafer is considered a leader in the field studying microglia and complement molecules within neural circuits. Her earlier postdoctoral work showing microglia engulf and eliminate synapses via the classical complement cascade has served as a foundation for the field to understand new roles for microglia in regulating synaptic connectivity in health and disease. Dr. Schafer joined UMass Medical School in 2015 where she was a recipient of a NIH R00 Pathway to Independence Award (NIMH), Charles H. Hood Child Research Award, a NARSAD Young Investigator Award, and the Brain Behavior Research Foundation Freedman Award Honorable Mention. She also received awards for Outstanding Mentoring and Early Career Achievement from UMass Medical School. Her laboratory uses a combination of cutting-edge molecular genetic approaches and sophisticated imaging approaches to uncover novel roles for microglia and immune pathways, including complement, in modulating neural circuit structure and function in health and disease. |
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Ralph Kettritz, MD, FASN Ralph Kettritz studied medicine at the University Leipzig where he obtained his MD in 1984. He did his residency and fellowship at the Department of Internal Medicine Berlin-Buch, Free University Berlin, Germany. He was board certified for Internal Medicine in 1989 and for Nephrology in 2002. Ralph Kettritz was a DFG-supported research fellow from 1994-1996 in the laboratory of Ron Falk and Charles Jennette at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. After he returned to Berlin, he set up the Vasculitis research Group and became an Assistant Professor and later Associate Professor for Internal Medicine and Nephrology from 1997-2001 at Charite Berlin-Buch, Germany (Chairman, Friedrich C. Luft). In 2002, he took the position of a C3/W2 Professor of Medicine and Vice Chairman, Internal Medicine and Nephrology, Berlin-Buch, Germany (Chairman, Friedrich C. Luft). Ralph Kettritz’s clinical duties are currently at the Department of Nephrology and Internal Medicine Intensive Care Unit, Charité-Universitaetsmedizin, Berlin. He heads the Vasculitis Research Group at the Experimental and Clinical Research Center, a joint cooperation between the Charité and the Max-Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany. He is also Chair of the “systemic autoimmune disease” commission of the German Society for Nephrology (DGfN) and received the Hans Zollinger Prize for Immunology of the DGfN in 2003. Ralph Kettritz is a Fellow of the American Society of Nephrology (FASN) since 2004 and was a member of the program committee for the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Annual Meetings in 2020 and 2021. He is also active in organizing medical student teaching at the Charitè University (co-chair Kidney/Electrolytes module). |
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