Prof. Dr. Heyo K. Kroemer 

• CEO @Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin

• Member @German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina

• Board Member @Association of German University Hospitals (VUD)

   

Professor Dr Heyo K. Kroemer was born in Leer, Germany, in 1960. He studied pharmacy at the Technical University of Braunschweig from 1978 to 1983, receiving his habilitation in pharmacology and toxicology from the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen in 1992. He was awarded the Paul-Martini-Preis in the same year.

In 1998, he became Professor and Chair of General Pharmacology at the University of Greifswald. From 2000 to 2012, he served as Dean of the Medical Faculty at the same university. From 2012 to 2019, he was Chairman of the Management Board and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University Medical Centre Göttingen.

He has served as a board member of the German Medical Faculty Association since 2007, including as its president from 2012 to 2019. He is also a board member of the Association of German University Hospitals (VUD) and a member of the AAHC President’s Council on Health Security. In 2018, Prof. Kroemer was elected a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and he is also a member of acatech and the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. From 2021 to 2023, he chaired the German Federal Government’s Corona Expert Council, and from 2024 to 2025, he chaired the Expert Council “Health and Resilience”.

Since September 2019, Prof. Kroemer has been Chief Executive Officer of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, representing the institution in all matters and overseeing its strategic, structural and economic development.

Prof. Mats Brittberg, MD PhD

• Professor of Orthopaedics @University of Gothenburg

• Former President @International Cartilage Regeneration & Joint Preservation Society (ICRS)

• Editor-in-Chief @CARTILAGE

Mats Brittberg is Professor of Orthopaedics at the University of Gothenburg and a member of its Cartilage Research Unit. He served as an orthopaedic surgeon at Region Halland Orthopaedics (Kungsbacka/Varberg) for 35 years, became a specialist in 1985, and earned his PhD in 1996. His research has focused on cartilage repair, particularly autologous chondrocyte implantation, with extensive international collaborations. His current work emphasizes joint preservation, including the Preserva Movere project with Dr. Konrad Slynarski.

He has received numerous honors, including the Swedish Medical Association Jubilee Medal, the ICRS Genzyme Lifetime Achievement Award, the BASK Silver Medal, and multiple international lifetime achievement awards in cartilage research. He has held major leadership roles within ICRS (Secretary, Vice-President, President), chaired the ESSKA Cartilage Committee, and serves as Editor-in-Chief of CARTILAGE. He was also Strategic Leader of the Aspetar Sports Cartilage Center (2013–2018) and mentor for the 2023 ICRS Travelling Fellowship.

Prof. Oskar C. Aszmann

• Director @Center of Bionic Extremity Reconstruction, Vienna, Austria

• Vice-Chair Department of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery @Medical University of Vienna, Austria

• Clinical & Research Collaboration Lead @Otto Bock, Germany

Prof. Oskar C. Aszmann is Director of the Center of Bionic Extremity Reconstruction and Vice-Chair of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Medical University of Vienna. He is a European Board-Certified Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon specializing in upper and lower extremity reconstruction.

Since 2006, he has collaborated closely with Otto Bock to advance bionic reconstruction, leading to the establishment of the partly public–private funded Center for Extremity Reconstruction and Rehabilitation in 2012. The Center focuses on restoring function in patients with complex limb impairments through advanced neuromuscular reconstruction combined with sophisticated mechatronic devices. In 2020, he was appointed Full Professor at the newly founded Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

His research spans clinical and basic reconstructive science, with publications in leading specialty journals and high-impact outlets including The Lancet, Science, Nature journals, and The New England Journal of Medicine.

He has received numerous distinctions, including two awards from the Royal Society of Medicine (London), the Hans Anderl Award, the Houska Award for public–private partnership excellence, and the Christian Doppler Prize (2020). He serves on multiple national and international scientific boards and editorial boards.

Christian Lattermann, MD

• Endowed Chair and Associate Professor Brigham and Women's Hospital @Harvard University

• Director of Research Mass General Brigham Sports Medicine

• President @International Cartilage Repair and Joint Regeneration Society (ICRS)

Dr. Lattermann began his orthopaedic training at Hannover Medical School, where he earned his medical doctorate with a thesis in sports medicine. He continued his training at the University of Pittsburgh and Rush Medical Center and is triple fellowship-trained in Sports Medicine, Orthopaedic Trauma, and Orthopaedic Research.

He previously served as Full Professor and Vice Chair for Research at the University of Kentucky before joining Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2018 as Chief of Sports Medicine. He was instrumental in building the Mass General Brigham Division of Sports Medicine and currently serves as Director of Research. He is Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and holds the Endowed Brigham and Women’s Chair for Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine.

Dr. Lattermann directs the BWH Cartilage Repair Center and leads the Clinical Orthopaedics, Sports Medicine and Outcomes Research (COSMOS) group, focusing on joint restoration and osteoarthritis. With over 180 peer-reviewed publications and more than 300 national and international presentations, he is an internationally recognized expert in cartilage repair, complex knee reconstruction, and post-traumatic osteoarthritis. He currently serves as President of the International Cartilage Repair and Joint Restoration Society (ICRS).