Simone Fulda studies the molecular mechanisms of programmed cell death, or apoptosis, in malignant tumors in children. She discovered disruptions in the normal cell-death program of cancer cells that can be used as targets for the development of new anticancer drugs. For her work, Fulda has now received the German Cancer Award 2014, sponsored by the German Cancer Society and the German Cancer Foundation. The award, which is one of the most important distinctions in cancer medicine in Germany, was presented to Fulda at the 2014 German Cancer Congress in Berlin.
“The German Cancer Award demonstrates a high appreciation of our work," said Fulda, who investigates apoptosis with her working group. She is particularly interested in finding out why the normal “suicide program" that usually rids the body of defective cells fails in cancer cells. The aim of the research is to find drugs that will restart the cell death program to fight the cancer. Fulda is a joint coordinator of the DKTK research program on “Signaling Pathways of Carcinogenesis" with Professor Wolfgang Hiddemann (Munich) and Professor Roland Schüle (Freiburg).
Simone Fulda, born in 1968, studied medicine in Cologne, Boston, San Francisco, Phoenix and Dublin, supported by grants from the German National Academic Foundation and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Fulda graduated and received her PhD in 1995. In 2001, she qualified as a medical specialist in pediatrics and attained her qualification to give lectures (‘Habilitation’). From 2002 to 2007, she was a recipient of a Heisenberg grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG); from 2007 to 2010, she worked as a DFG research professor at the University of Ulm. Since mid-2010, Fulda has been director of the Institute for Experimental Cancer Research in Pediatrics at the University Cancer Center (UCT) Frankfurt. The institute is financed by the Frankfurt Foundation for Children with Cancer. In 2012, Fulda was appointed a member of the German Science Council by the Federal President. In this advisory body, she helps draw up recommendations for the federal and state governments on developing the content and structure of higher education institutions, science and research. Fulda has already been distinguished with numerous national and international awards for her research work.
Besides Fulda, other award winners were Professor Martin Schrappe of Kiel University Hospital in the category “Clinical Research" and Professor Christoph Klein from Regensburg University Hospital in the category “Experimental Research."