New leadership in UoC’s KPA “Aging-associated diseases”
© UoC/D8
The KPA Aging-Associated Diseases (AGING) of the University of Cologne pursues to provide solutions for the demographic change towards an aging society, which poses urgent socio-economic and health challenges.
We are delighted to announce that Prof. Björn Schumacher has been elected as the new spokesperson and Prof. Natalia Kononenko as the deputy of the KPA AGING in Jan. 2026. Both came to Cologne as CECAD recruits. Björn Schumacher has become Full Professor and Head of the Institute for Genome Stability in Aging and Disease in 2013, Natalia Kononenko received an Associate professorship in Molecular and Cellular Physiology in 2020. In accordance with new set-up of the KPA structures, a KPA Executive Board has been established and we would like to welcome Prof. Lea Ellwardt (Department of Sociology and Social Psychology), Prof. Cristina Maria Polidori (Department II Internal Medicine) and Prof. Kai Vogeley (Dep. of Psychiatry) as the newly elected members.
Congratulations on your new role. We wish you great success in your upcoming responsibilities.
On behalf of new leadership team, we would like to express our sincere thanks to Prof. Carien Niessen, the former KPA spokesperson, and deputy Prof. Thorsten Hoppe for their strong commitment and valuable contributions for the KPA.
The KPA aims to develop evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies for healthy aging by promoting further interactions between researchers across the different disciplines of the University of Cologne and partnering institutions in order to gain deeper insights into how the aging process and age-related diseases are influence by environmental, gender-specific, transgenerational factors, and social, socioeconomic, and anthropological conditions.
If you’re excited to learn more about KPA activities or would love to become a member, we’d be thrilled to welcome you — visit the website to get started!
Best wishes
Björn Schumacher
Further Information:
uni-koeln.de/forschung/ueberblick/forschungsprofil/key-profile-areas