Prof. Dr. Volker Schirrmacher, PhD

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Volker Schirrmacher was appointed to the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg in 1976 as Scientific Advisor and Professor of Immunology. In 1979, he qualified as a professor in immunology in Heidelberg and became a full professor in 1986. He headed the Department of Cellular Immunology at the DKFZ until his retirement in 2008.

Since 2008, he has been Scientific Director of Tumor Immunology at the IOZK. His scientific oeuvre comprises almost 400 publications in international journals.

In 1987 and 1988, he was chairman of the Experimental Cancer Research Section of the German Cancer Society and in 1989/80 president of the Metastasis Research Society. In 2003 and 2004, he represented Germany at the European Association of Cancer Research (EACR). From 2009 to 2011, he was president of the European Society for Applied Immunology (EGAI).

In 1982, he received the Aronson Prize and the Meyenburg Prize, and in 1988, he received the German Cancer Prize.

He is an internationally recognized pioneer in cancer immunotherapy with a focus on oncolytic viruses. Together with the scientists and physicians at the IOZK, he is working on the systematic integration of new scientific findings for the further development of IOZK immunotherapy.