This year's Baden-Württemberg State Research Prize (Landesforschungspreis) for excellence in applied research has been awarded to Lena Maier-Hein from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ). The jury honored her pioneering work on the development and validation of new methods of AI-based imaging. The award, which is endowed with 100,000 euros, will be presented at a ceremony on October 22.
Informatician Lena Maier-Hein works at the interface of artificial intelligence (AI) and surgical imaging. Her research, which is strongly focused on clinical feasibility, makes a significant contribution to ensuring that oncological surgery is not only dependent on the surgeon's excellent individual expertise: The AI-based methods developed in her division allow surgical teams to gain better insights into internal body processes during an operation.
"We are thrilled that Lena Maier-Hein has received this prestigious award from the state of Baden-Württemberg and congratulate her on her success. She is an outstanding scientist whose innovative research approaches will have a significant impact on the surgery of the future. The prize is very well deserved," says Michael Baumann, Chairman of the DKFZ Board of Directors.
Lena Maier-Hein works closely with scientific, clinical and industrial partners. Her work is highly innovative and has opened new doors that also enable important next steps for other researchers. Her diverse clinical applications and industrial collaborations demonstrate the applicability and marketability of her research. In addition, her work on the clinically relevant validation of AI algorithms has set new standards in translational research on medical image processing.
Lena Maier-Hein heads the Division of Intelligent Medical Systems at the DKFZ and is Managing Director of the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) in Heidelberg. She is a professor at both the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science at Heidelberg University.
After studying informatics at the University of Karlsruhe and at Imperial College in London, Lena Maier-Hein conducted research for her doctorate in the Division of Biological and Medical Informatics at the DKFZ. She received her doctorate with distinction from the University of Karlsruhe in 2009 and her habilitation from the University of Heidelberg in 2013. From 2012, Maier Hein headed the Junior Group Intelligent Medical Systems at the DKFZ, which was transformed into a division in 2016.
Lena Maier Hein already received numerous awards as a student. In the course of her young scientific career, she went on to receive the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize 2013 from the DFG, the Emil Salzer Prize 2016 from the DKFZ, the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy Prize 2017 and the German Cancer Prize 2024. She has already been selected twice by the European Research Council ERC for its prestigious funding and received an ERC Starting Grant in 2014 and an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2021.
Every two years since 1989, the State Research Prize (Landesforschungspreis) has honored outstanding scientific achievements in all disciplines, from biology and philology to finance. As the most highly endowed research prize in a federal state, it is awarded to one researcher from basic research and one from applied research. The state research prize is awarded by an interdisciplinary jury made up of renowned scientists.
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