Prof. Dr. Heidi Olze is the head of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin. She obtained her medical degree from the Humboldt University of Berlin in 1992. She has an extensive list of publications and serves on the editorial board of various scientific journals. She is a member or project leader of national and international research associations and has organized national and international congresses as president. In addition to her commitment to the education of medical and dental students, she is also very active in international training programs, especially in the field of ear and cochlear implant surgery. Her research interests include cochlear implants, rhinology, and allergology.
Prof. Dr. Agnieszka J. Szczepek obtained her Master of Science degree in Microbiology/Immunology from the University of Warsaw in Poland in 1986 and her Doctor of Philosophy degree in Medical Sciences from the University of Alberta in Canada in 1999. From 1999 to 2006, she researched at the Max Planck Institute of Infection Biology in Berlin, Germany, investigating the interface between chronic infections, inflammation, and carcinogenesis. In 2006, she assumed a position at the Department of ORL, Head and Neck Surgery at the Charité University Hospital in Berlin, Germany, where she continues to work. In 2017, she was appointed to the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Zielona Gora in Poland. Her research interests include the biology of hearing disorders (e.g., Meniere's disease, tinnitus, hyperacusis, and sudden hearing loss), biomarker discovery in the diseases mentioned above, and the immunology of the inner ear.
