Prof Mike P. Wattjes is the new head of the Institute of Neuroradiology at Charité

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Prof. Dr. Dr. Mike P. Wattjes © Charité | Pia Nitz 

Berlin, 02 May, 2024

Prof. Dr Dr Mike P. Wattjes has taken over the Chair of Neuroradiology and the Head of the Institute of Neuroradiology at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin on 1 May. The internationally recognised expert in the field of diagnostics and characterisation of infectious and inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system is moving from Hanover to the Spree.

With his research work on neuroradiological imaging, Prof. Wattjes has made a significant contribution to improving the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment response of diseases of the nervous system – particularly infectious diseases such as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy and inflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis is the most common chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system in younger adults. The disease can be diagnosed and monitored using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain and spinal cord. In order to create binding global standards for these scans, Prof Wattjes has worked with an international panel of experts to develop new guidelines for routine clinical practice. The recommendations were published in 2021 in the journal The Lancet Neurology.

Focus on interdisciplinary work

At Charité, Mike P. Wattjes will continue to drive forward the broad spectrum of interdisciplinary neuroscientific research and plans to strengthen the neurovascular focus of Berlin University Medicine: “Together with my colleagues, I would particularly like to further expand image-based stroke therapy, research and care structures as well as endovascular care for vascular diseases of the central nervous system.”

In the field of neuroinfectiological diseases, the neuroradiologist would like to focus in particular on the imaging of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) and develop new diagnostic criteria. He also intends to establish MRI more firmly as an instrument for diagnostics, monitoring progression and proving the effectiveness of new therapies.

Mike P. Wattjes is also taking over the W3 professorship for neuroradiology at the Charité. He would like to incorporate his commitment to training young doctors and radiologists into teaching at the Charité and plans to use interactive teaching methods with case-based e-learning modules in the future.

Short CV of Prof. Dr Dr Mike P. Wattjes

Mike P. Wattjes studied medicine at Hannover Medical School, where he completed his doctorate in 2001. In 2009, he habilitated at the Medical Faculty of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn on the subject of “High-field magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy in the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis”. After many years as a research fellow and senior physician at the Radiological Clinic of the Free University of Amsterdam, he became a senior physician at the Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology at Hannover Medical School in 2017.