Internal member Rohini Kuner
Prof. Dr Rohini Kuner directs the molecular pharmacology department at the Institute of Pharmacology of the Medical Faculty Heidelberg.
After studying pharmaceutical biotechnology in India she obtained her doctorate in 1994 at the University of Iowa (USA). She then continued her academic career from 1995 to 1998 as a post-doc at the Centre for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University and the Heidelberg-based Max Planck Institute for Medical Research. After two years in a research position at a life science company in Heidelberg, she changed in 2000 to the Institute of Pharmacology at Heidelberg University. In the framework of the DFG-funded Emmy Noether programme she established her own, independent research group and earned her habilitation in 2005 at the Medical Faculty Heidelberg. In 2006 Rohini Kuner was appointed to a full professorship for Pharmacology and Toxicology and in 2009 she became the director of the Institute of Pharmacology at the Medical Faculty Heidelberg.
The emphasis of Prof. Kuner’s research lies on the molecular mechanisms underlying the chronification of pain and the development of new strategies for pharmacological treatments. She is known for her work on the neurobiological foundations of pain perception, processing and encoding, as well as underlying neuronal plasticity in connection with the emergence of chronic pain. Prof. Kuner is the spokesperson and leading scientist at the Heidelberg pain consortium, a collaborative research centre funded by the German Research Foundation (SFB1158), which comprises research activities from over 40 researcher groups. She is the chairperson of the board of directors of the Chica and Heinz Schaller Foundation to promote biomedical research and in 2017 received the Heidelberg Molecular Life Sciences award for her sustained commitment to Heidelberg as a research location. Prof. Kuner has received a host of national and international scientific prizes for her research activities, including the Feldberg Prize in 2018. Prof. Kuner is a member of a number of scientific advisory boards and committees. Since 2013 she has been a member of the jury for the ERC (European Research Council) Starting Investigator grants, as well as of the DFG review board for neurosciences and the Emmy Noether programme.
Rohini Kuner is married and the mother of two children.
She has been a member of the Heidelberg University Council since 2018.