Spotlight on #WomenInELLIS on Lena Maier-Hein, Professor at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), with photo of Lena
April 16th, 2025

Spotlight on Lena Maier-Hein

#WomenInELLIS
Get to know Lena Maier-Hein, Professor at the German Cancer Research Institute and Director of the NCT 🇩🇪

She is an ELLIS Fellow and member of the ELLIS Unit Heidelberg and ELLIS Program “ELLIS Health.”

Her research areas includes Medical Imaging AI, Surgical Data Science, AI Validation and a career milestone has been the development of the first intelligent system for AI-enabled real-time imaging in laparoscopic surgery. She and her team were recognised with 2 prestigious awards, including the German Cancer Award 2024 for Translational Research.

She said she wanted to participate in this campaign because, “representation matters, especially in fields like AI, where women are still underrepresented. By sharing my journey and experiences, I hope to inspire other women to pursue careers in this exciting field, showing that it is possible to overcome challenges and succeed. Furthermore, I truly believe that diversity drives innovation.”

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