Speaker profiles Career Day "Project Management"

Staff Scientist, Molecular Structural Biology, University of Göttingen

Achim Dickmanns holds a position as a staff scientist in the Department of Molecular Structural Biology, University of Göttingen headed by Prof. Dr. Ralf Ficner. After receiving the Diploma at the University of Bayreuth and working a year as scientist in the Sports medicine in Bayreuth, the Dr. rer. nat. was achieved 4 years later at the Biochemistry Department of the University of Munich on two connected subjects namely cell cycle regulation and nucleo-cytoplasmic trafficking. The latter stayed the focus of research for all stations as a PostDoc for the next seven years. These were the Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, USA, The Scripps Research Institute in LaJolla, CA, USA, the University in Marburg and the MPI for biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen. During the last two PostDocs the interest shifted from cell biology and biochemical characterization of transport complexes to more structural aspects by means of X-ray crystallography, which has been the major scientific focus for the last 16 years.

Scientific Project Manager, DKFZ

Jan Eufinger holds a position as scientific project manager and executive assistant to Prof. Roland Eils at the DKFZ. After his diploma and PhD in molecular plant sciences and plant biotechnology at Heidelberg University, he discovered his interest for scientific management and took over the User Coordination function at the university’s newly installed BioQuant-center in 2006. Soon afterwards, in 2007, he became scientific project manager of the Helmholtz Alliance on Systems Biology at the DKFZ. Since 2011 he is responsible for scientific project management within the research group of Prof. Roland Eils, which consists out the division "Theoretical Bioinformatics" at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the department Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics at the Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology (IPMB, Heidelberg University). During his career he has collected a broad experience in academic project management, including grant writing, management of research consortia, organization of scientific meetings, and e-support for science management.

Director of the Strategic Alliance Management Oncology/Gynecological Therapy, Global External Innovation & Alliances at the Bayer Pharma AG

Holger Hess-Stumpp is Director of the Strategic Alliance Management Oncology/Gynecological Therapy, Global External Innovation & Alliances at the Bayer Pharma AG in Berlin. He holds this position since 2013 and is responsible for strategic collaborations with academic institutions: joint projects in the area of target identification & validation, drug discovery etc.; alliances with the DKFZ, University of Oxford, and Cancer Research UK. Between 1996 and 2013 he held various leading positions in research functions at the Bayer Pharma AG and its predecessor Schering AG and has over 17 years successful experience in the industrial research management.
Dr. Hess-Stumpp studied Biology at the University of Mainz. In 1991, he started his Ph.D. in Heidelberg, where he obtained his doctoral degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the DKFZ/Ruprechts Karl University. From 1994 to 1996 he carried out postdoctoral research at the DKFZ.

Project Manager clinical trials, BioNTech RNA Pharmaceuticals GmbH

Veronika Jahndel is a Project Manager for clinical trials at BioNTech RNA Pharmaceuticals GmbH in Mainz. She studied Biochemistry at the University of Leipzig, where she also worked as student assistant. She then moved to Heidelberg for her PhD at DKFZ, working in the division of Immunogenetics. After her PhD and six months as Postdoc at DKFZ, she joined BioNTech, where she has been working for 8 months.

Head of research affairs and grant management, University of Geisenheim

Christiane Jost recently started to head the office of research affairs and grant management at the University of Geisenheim, where she advises scientists on funding opportunities and supports the application to various funding organizations. Previously, she worked as a scientific project coordinator at the University Hospital Heidelberg. She studied Biochemistry in Frankfurt/ Main and at the University of Bath, after which she moved to Heidelberg to work on her PhD at EMBL. Afterwards, she joined the National Institutes of Health as a postdoctoral research fellow for about two and a half years before returning to Heidelberg in 2009.

Projectmanager Applied Genomics, Eurofins Medigenomix GmbH

Christine Käppel is projectmanager in the Division of Applied Genomics at Eurofins Medigenomix GmbH. She did her diploma in Biology in Würzburg, after which she moved to Heidelberg and acquired her PhD in Gene Therapy at the DKFZ/NCT. After working for 7 months as post doc at the DKFZ/NCT, she started working as projectmanager at Eurofins Medigenomix GmbH. In this position she manages various projects in food authentication, microbiology and pharma. In parallel, she is responsible for the qualitymanagement in the Division of Applied Genomics and supports Eurofins Genomics as internal auditor.

Head of “Administrative Project Management”, DKFZ

Susan Kentner is acting head of the DKFZ department “Administrative Project Management”. After 20 years’ experience in medical and scientific publishing, including stints with Springer-Verlag in Heidelberg, VCH-Wiley in Weinheim and 12 years as managing director of her own medical publishing company Palatium Verlag, she joined the Helmholtz Association in 2002 as the Scientific Officer for health research in Brussels, and became head of the Helmholtz Brussels Office, where she worked until June 2014. Susan also has a record as a successful trainer in communication skills and has taught workshops and lectured on subjects relating to research management in health and life sciences, EU affairs and collaboration opportunities.

Head of Imaging Infrastructure Strategy Development, EMBL

Antje Keppler is Head of Imaging Infrastructure Strategy Development at the EMBL, and she has been working for the ESFRI research infrastructure project Euro-BioImaging since its start in 2009. Before taking this exciting position, she worked as a science manager at the Heidelberg University Hospital and collected experience in science funding, communication, scientific writing and project management.
She studied Biochemistry at the Ruhr University Bochum and moved then to Switzerland, where she obtained her PhD in Chemical Biology at the EPFL, Lausanne. In 2004, Antje Keppler came to Heidelberg and carried out postdoctoral research at the EMBL until 2007, when she started her career in scientific management.

Project Manager Recombinant R&D Department, Octapharma GmbH

I joined Octapharma in April 2013 as a Project Manager in the Recombinant R&D Department, Heidelberg. My job is to ensure the advancement of the recombinant human Factor VIIa project. To achieve this, I work in close collaboration with our R&D Lines, i.e. High-Throughput Screening, Fermentation, Purification, and Analytics.
In the past, I coordinated the Virus & Prion Validation studies for the FDA submission of Nuwiq (rhFVIII) which involved our sites in Frankfurt, Stockholm and Vienna.
Being a Molecular Biologist by training, I heavily learn from but also complement the expertise of the many Biotechnologists and Engineers in my environment.

Executive Assistant to the Scientific Director, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE)

Alexander Migdoll is the Executive Assistant to the Scientific Director at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) in Bonn. He completed his studies on Biotechnology at the University of Applied Sciences and at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin, where he worked as student assistant and freelance scientist in the field of genomics. Afterwards, he joined the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) in Heidelberg to work on his PhD thesis focusing on the identification of tumor markers in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. During his PhD studies, he was an active member within the DKFZ Graduate School e.g. member in the Retreat and also Conference Team as well as elected member of the PhD Student Council. In November 2013, Alexander Migdoll moved to the DZNE in Bonn.

Project Manager Clinical Trials, NCT

Dr. Daniela Schilling has worked as a Project Manager for clinical trials at the NCT Trial Center of the DKFZ/NCT since June 2013. After finishing her studies in chemistry in 2006, she obtained a PhD from the Technical University Dresden in 2010 for her work on the metastatic process of renal cancer. She then worked as a Postdoc at the DKFZ/NCT in the group of Holger Sültmann, where she was involved in management, conduct and statistical analyses of several projects on prostate cancer mainly including projects on Next Gen Seq. In 2013, she completed a distance study ‘Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs’ at the DUW Berlin.

Team Leader, KeyAccountManager, SeniorTrainer Projectmanagement, Tiba Business School

Franz Schneider studied business administration at the University of Applied Sciences in Rosenheim and obtained his Diploma in 1994. Prior to this, he completed vocational training as an industrial management assistant. In 2003 he undertook training to become a "certified project manager (IHK)". Franz Schneider is a member of the GPM and an active member of PMI®. Since 2004 he has been working as an authorized trainer for the persolog Personality Profile (DISC) in staff development with a focus on communication and conflict management in projects. He has international project experience as trainer and consultant within a software company and was involved e.g. in software implementation projects in large international banks and pharmaceutical companies in Europe. In addition to project management training and consulting, Franz Schneider also focuses on staff- and organizational development and is a lecturer for the topics "Moderation" and "project management practices" at the University of Applied Sciences in Kufstein.

Chief of Staff & Communications, Global Clinical Operations office, MERCK
Co-founder and trainer, Beyond Science Trainings

Tilo Senger is Chief of Staff & Communications for the Global Clinical Operations office at Merck and co-founder and trainer of Beyond Science Trainings. He did his diploma in Biotechnology in Braunschweig, after which he moved to Heidelberg and acquired his PhD in Virology at the DKFZ. After working for several years as Inhouse Concultant for Merck, he took over the position of the Chief of Staff & Communications for the Global Clinical Operations office at Merck. In parallel he is studying to obtain his MBA in Executive Business Administration at the Business School Mannheim and the ESSES in Paris.

Postdoctoral scientist and scientific labmanager, DKFZ

Anna Shavinskaya is postdoctoral scientist at the DKFZ and responsible for scientific lab management tasks in the Division of Vascular Oncology and Metastasis headed by Prof. Hellmut Augustin since 2014. She began her studies in Microbiology at the Technical University in St. Petersburg and completed her studies in Biology in Heidelberg in 2005, including a semester at Manchester University. She did her PhD in the field of Molecular Virology at Heidelberg University. During her studies she organized scientific meetings and seminars, and worked as Advisor for study counseling. After finishing her PhD in 2009, she decided to move into Science Management and took a position as Project Coordinator for Translational Research in a clinical research company. She coordinated scientific projects and collections of biomaterial from clinical studies. Before taking over her current function, she worked in the Clinical Cooperation Unit “Molecular Oncology of solid Tumors” at the DKFZ. Besides her scientific project, she coordinated the unit as well as one of the central S2 facilities of the DKFZ.

Project Manager Clinical Trials, NCT

Claudia Trierweiler has studied Biology at the University of Göttingen. During this she already found that she was more interested in the medical aspects of biology, and took courses in pharmacology and toxicology at the medical faculty, which were also part of her graduation in 2008. After this, she found that she also enjoyed research in the lab very much, and happily took the opportunity to combine her knowledge of molecular biology and a totally medical environment at the Universitätsklinikum Freiburg. She achieved her PhD in molecular biology in 2012 for her research on the development of hepatocellular carcinoma in mice and humans. After this, she decided to skip working in the lab and to definitely turn towards her previous interest in the field of clinical trials. She is working at the NCT Studienzentrale as a project manager for national and international clinical trials since 2012.

Head of the Cancer Information Service, DKFZ

Susanne Weg-Remers is Head of the Cancer Information Service at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg. She holds an MD PhD degree and a Masters degree in Public Administration. After graduation, she has worked in internal medicine and in both clinical and basic cancer research. Together with her colleagues at the Institute for Toxicology and Genetics (FZK, Karlsruhe), she described for the first time, a signaling pathway, regulating alternative splicing in T-lymphocytes. As of 2004, she turned her career towards science management with stations at FZK and as Head of Strategy at DKFZ. Here, she initiated several prominent initiatives, among them the National Cohort, which she held the position of the administrative coordinator until the establishment of a legal entity.  As of 2012, Susanne Weg-Remers has taken on the lead of the Cancer Information Service, a unit which offers evidence-based, quality-secured cancer information to patients, relatives and the general public. This unit is dedicated to develop to a National Reference Center for Cancer Information in the coming years opening up its information sources particularly to health professionals.

Manager DKFZ-Bayer HealthCare alliance, DKFZ

Ruth Wellenreuther is manager of the strategic DKFZ-Bayer HealthCare alliance since it’s establishment in 2008. She has over nine years´ experience in scientific coordination, including planning, organization and coordination of scientific conferences, retreats, committee sessions and evaluations. Furthermore, she has an expertise in coordination of strategic initiatives and translational research projects. Ruth Wellenreuther studied Biology at the TH Darmstadt and the University of Bonn, where she also obtained her PHD in the Molecular Genetics field in 1998. Afterwards, she joined the DKFZ as a postdoctoral research fellow in the division of Molecular Genome Analysisheaded by Prof. Annemarie Poustka before taking her step to scientific management.