Otmar Wiestler

Otmar D. Wiestler became President of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, the largest association of research centres in Germany, in September 2015. From 2004 to 2015 he served as Chairman of the Management Board and Scientific Director of the DKFZ in Heidelberg. From 2007 to 2012, he was Vice-President for Health of the Helmholtz Association. Wiestler studied medicine at the University of Freiburg. From 1984 to 1987 he spent a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California in San Diego, and then went on to join the Department of Pathology at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. From 1992 to 2003, he headed the Department of Neuropathology at the University of Bonn, where he also served as head of the German Brain Tumor Reference Center and as Medical Director of Life & Brain GmbH.