Meet our Medical Council

The Medical Council also nominates the annual winner of the DKMS Mechtild Harf Science Award. The members are all experienced professionals from the fields of medicine, science, and health care.

Prof. Marcel R.M. van den Brink, MD, PhD, Chairman of the DKMS Medical Council and Vice Chairman of the DKMS Foundation Board

Marcel R.M. van den Brink, MD, PhD, is a leading oncologist with extensive experience in both laboratory and clinical research, specializing in strategies to improve allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT). He is the President and Chief Physician Executive at City of Hope Los Angeles and National Medical Center, one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States.

Prof. Thomas Klingebiel, MD, Vice Chairman of the DKMS Medical Council and Senior Advisor Access to Transplantation

Thomas Klingebiel, MD, was Director of the Clinic for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at the Frankfurt University Hospital of the Goethe University from 2000-2021. The Clinic for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine also includes the focus areas of pediatric oncology, hematology and hemostaseology and the Pediatric Stem Cell Transplant Center Frankfurt; it is considered one of the best in Germany. Since July 1, 2021, he has been managing director of the Frankfurt-based association Hilfe für krebskranke Kinder Frankfurt e.V. (Help for Children with Cancer Frankfurt).

Dr. Marcelo Fernández-Viña, PhD

Marcelo Fernández-Viña, PhD, is a Professor for the Department of Pathology at Stanford University Medical School. He also serves as Director of the Histocompatibility, Immunogenetics and Disease Profiling Laboratory. Marcelo Fernández-Viña has been working in the fields of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics since 1982. He has more than 220 peer-reviewed publications, many of them focusing on HLA variation in multiple world populations, identifying susceptibility and resistance factors for diseases, and the impact of HLA mismatches in allogeneic transplantation.

Prof. Dr. Katharina Fleischhauer

Prof. Dr. Katharina Fleischhauer studied medicine in Bonn and spent four years as a Research Associate at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. From 1992 to 2013 she worked at the Istituto Scientifico San Raffaele in Milan, including as Head of the Immunogenetic Diagnostics and Research Laboratory. Since October 2013, Prof. Fleischhauer has led the Institute for Cell Therapeutic Research at the Essen University Hospital. She specializes in the research of T-cell alloreactivity in allogeneic stem cell transplantation. She was also awarded with the DKMS Mechtild Harf Science Award in 2016.

Stephen J. Forman, MD

Stephen J. Forman, MD, leads the City of Hope’s Hematologic Malignancies and Stem Cell Transplantation Institute and the Francis & Kathleen McNamara Distinguished Chair in Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation in Los Angeles. He was awarded the 2019 DKMS Mechtild Harf Science Award in honor of his outstanding achievements in cancer immunology, hematology, stem cell transplantation, and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. Stephen Forman’s research is focused on combining CMV-specific T cells and a CAR against the leukemia and lymphoma biomarker CD19. City of Hope’s CAR T-Cell Program has 16 active clinical trials and has treated nearly 300 patients.

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Dieter Hoelzer

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Dieter Hoelzer was the Director of the Department of Hematology/Oncology, Rheumatology and Infectious Diseases at the Frankfurt University Hospital for more than 20 years. He has extensive clinical experience with inpatient and outpatient treatment of all hematological/oncological and internal diseases. Prof. Hoelzer is one of the most renowned haematologists and specialists in the field of acute lymphatic leukaemia. He was also awarded with the DKMS Mechtild Harf Science Award in 2017.

Prof. Emma Morris, PhD

Prof. Emma Morris has been a consultant since 2002 and has run her own research program since 2005. She is now a UCL professor and director of the UCL division of infection and immunity. Emma Morris is also director of the UCLH Biomedical Research Centre inflammation, immunity and Immunotherapeutic research theme. Her research group focuses on novel aspects of immune therapies for hematological malignancies and inherited immune deficiencies, predominantly cellular and gene therapy and more recently, gene editing.