Stefan H.E. Kaufmann

Stefan H.E. Kaufmann received his PhD (summa cum laude) in biology in 1977. In 1993, he was elected Founding Director of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, where he was Director of the Department of Immunology until 2019 (now Emeritus). He is Senior Professor at the Charité University Clinics Berlin, Faculty Fellow of the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study at Texas A&M, Emeritus Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen. Doctor Honoris Causa from Aix-Marseille University; Honorary, Visiting or Guest Professor of Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima; Tongji University, School of Medicine, Shanghai, and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing. Breakthrough discoveries in the field of immunity to bacterial pathogens with emphasis on tuberculosis. His findings formed the basis for the rational design of a tuberculosis vaccine that has become a frontrunner in the field which is currently assessed in three independent phase III clinical trials for efficacy and safety. The vaccine is also tested against non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. He served as President of the German Society for Immunology, European Federation of Immunological Societies and International Union of Immunological Societies. He established partnerships between laboratories in Europe, US and Sub-Saharan Africa, and Max Planck Research Groups at the African Health Research Institute, Durban. ~ 1,000 publications, wrote and edited >12 books, some for laypersons. His work was cited > 100,000 times: h-index >155 (Google Scholar) / 115 (Clarivate – Web of Science/ISI), amongst the 0.01% most cited scientists of ca. 7 million scientists of 22 major scientific fields globally (PLoS Biol 17(8): e3000384, 2019), Immunology Leader Award for 2023, and Medicine Leader Award for 2023, Germany (Research.com). He is member of numerous professional societies and academies including the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and EMBO. Many prestigious awards such as the Alfried Krupp Award for Young Professors, Main Award of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology, Gagna Van Heck Prize from FNRS, Belgium and Ernst Hellmut Vits Prize in 2022 from Universitätsgesellschaft Münster, Germany.