Ulrich Dirnagl

At the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin Ulrich Dirnagl is Professor for Clinical Neurosciences and serves as Director of the Department of Experimental Neurology and Co-Director of the Department of Neurology. Since 2017 he is also the founding director of the QUEST Center for Transforming Biomedical Research at the Berlin Institute of Health. QUEST aims at overcoming the roadblocks in translational medicine by increasing the value and impact of biomedical research through maximizing the quality, reproducibility, generalizability, and validity of research. In preclinical as well as in clinical studies Ulrich Dirnagl’s research has revealed pathobiology which impact on the outcome after a stroke. These include deleterious as well as endogenous protective mechanisms, as interactions of the brain with other systems of the body after it has been injured. Several of these mechanism can be therapeutically targeted, clinical trials are under way. In addition, through meta-research he was able to identify opportunities for improving research practice and to obtain evidence for the impact of interventions targeted to increase the value of biomedical research. In 2002 he founded the Graduate Progam Medical Neurosciences at the Charité which was selected as one of the top 10 Programs in Germany by the DAAD, and has served as its program director until 2016. He coordinated the Marie Curie Actions Early Stage Training CORTEX (Cooperation in Research and Training for European Excellence in the Neurosciences), and the 14 partner EU-Large Scale Cooperation Framework Program 7 ARISE (Affording Recovery in Stroke). Recently, he has cofounded the German Reproducibility Network (GRN).