Change at the Top – CPC-M Welcomes New Director

Prof. Dr. Ali Önder Yildirim is the new director of the Munich DZL site CPC-M and member of the DZL Board of Directors. As of March 1, 2024, the position was passed on by Prof. Dr. Erika von Mutius.

Among other roles, Von Mutius served as head of the Asthma and Allergy Outpatient Clinic at the Dr. von Haunerschen Children's Hospital of the LMU and continues to lead the Institute for Asthma and Allergy Prevention (IAP, Helmholtz Munich). Within the DZL, she has long coordinated the disease area of Asthma & Allergies and, among other initiatives, initiated the multicentric and interdisciplinary ALLIANCE-All Age Asthma Cohort.

"We thank Erika von Mutius for her tremendous dedication to the DZL and her continuous enrichment of the DZL board with creativity, resourcefulness, and collegiality. At the same time, we look forward to a new chapter and are pleased that the leadership and representation of the Munich site have now been entrusted with care and consideration into the capable hands of Ali Önder Yildirim," summarized Prof. Dr. Werner Seeger, spokesperson of the DZL, the transition.

Prof. Dr. Yildirim is a leading expert in the field of immune mechanisms at the interface between the environment and chronic lung diseases. His core expertise lies in deciphering the molecular mechanisms of chronic lung diseases and the role of the immune system.

Prof. Dr. Yildirim earned his PhD in Veterinary Medicine from the Justus Liebig University Giessen and was a postdoctoral researcher at Philipps University Marburg in the clinical research group "Chronic Respiratory Diseases." Since 2006, he has been with the Helmholtz Zentrum München, initially serving as the group leader for "Immunopathology of COPD" at the Comprehensive Pneumology Center (CPC)/Institute of Lung Biology and Disease (ILBD).

Currently, Prof. Dr. Yildirim is the Director of the Institute for Lung Research and Immunity (LHI) and a member of the Executive Committee of the Center for Environmental Health.