The Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ) is a joint institution of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD) and the University of Heidelberg (Uni HD).
In particular, Stefan Pfister receives the award for his outstanding contributions to the investigation of the molecular genetic properties of childhood brain tumors, which are responsible for their development and spread: Pfister's research group discovered several previously unknown genetic changes that lead to the development of brain tumors. These included newly discovered mutations that are suitable as therapeutic sites of attack and those that indicate a hereditary cancer. Pfister also made a decisive contribution to the development of a new classification of brain tumours, which has now found wide acceptance in the classification of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The basis for this is a new AI-based method developed by Stefan Pfister together with colleagues from Heidelberg, which is now used worldwide to classify brain tumors. These so-called methylation analyses serve as the basis for offering the best available therapy to brain tumour patients. In 2016, Pfister initiated the founding of the Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), which combines treatment and research on cancer in children and adolescents under one roof for the first time in Germany. Stefan Pfister is one of the three directors of KiTZ, head of the Department of Pediatric Neurooncology at DKFZ since 2012 and is a professor at Heidelberg University and pediatric oncologist at Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD). In addition, he takes a leading role in major European research initiatives on children and cancer to enable innovative cancer therapies for children with cancer.
“I am honored to receive the award from the Wilhelm Warner Foundation and would also like to express my sincere thanks for the long-term trusting collaboration with the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, in particular with the working groups led by Stefan Rutkowski from Pediatric Oncology and Ulrich Schüller from Neuropathology,” says Stefan Pfister, who accepted the award from the Chairman of the Wilhelm Warner Foundation, Carsten Bokemeyer, Director of the II Medical Clinic and Center for Oncology at UKE. Since 1962, the Wilhelm Warner Prize has been awarded to German scientists who have made special contributions in the field of cancer research and treatment. Harald zur Hausen, former Chairman of the Board of DKFZ and recipient of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine, and Michael Baumann, current Chairman of the Board of DKFZ, are among the winners, as well as Özlem Türeci, Professor at HI-TRON Mainz – A Helmholtz Institute of the German Cancer Research Center.
In 1961, shortly before his death, the Hamburg-based restaurateur Wilhelm Warner established a foundation that awards an annual prize to well-known scientists in the field of cancer research. Stefan Pfister's other numerous scientific awards include the German Cancer Prize 2013, the Léopold Griffuel Award 2021, the Baden-Württemberg State Research Prize 2022 and the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize 2023 of the German Research Foundation.
