Prof. Dr. med.
Joachim Schmidt
Associated Principal Investigator
Life Sciences & Health
Further information
Prof. Dr. med. Joachim Schmidt is Director of the Department of Thoracic Surgery at University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and Professor of Thoracic Surgery at the University of Bonn. In parallel, he serves as Head of the Department of Thoracic Surgery at Helios Hospital Bonn/Rhein-Sieg and as Chairman of the interdisciplinary Lung Cancer Center Bonn/Rhein-Sieg.
He went to medical school at Philipps University Marburg and spent an early research fellowship at Georgetown University and the Vincent T. Lombardi Cancer Center in Washington, D.C., where his doctoral research focused on molecular mechanisms in tumor biology. From 2005 to 2007, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, conducting NIH-funded research on immunological and inflammatory mechanisms in sepsis and postoperative pathophysiology. His work during this period was recognized, among others, by the Excellence in Research Award of the American College of Surgeons.
After further clinical and scientific training at the Universities of Bonn and Münster, focusing on thoracic surgery and lung transplantation, he specialized in minimally invasive and oncological thoracic surgery. Since 2016 he leads the Department of Thoracic Surgery at Helios Hospital Bonn/Rhein-Sieg and, since 2020, holds a professorship for Thoracic Surgery at the University of Bonn. He is a co-founder and co-spokesperson of the Bonn Surgical Technology Center (BOSTER), which focuses on the digital transformation of surgery.
His current clinical and translational research focuses on robotic and minimally invasive thoracic surgery, artificial intelligence in diagnostics and surgical decision-making, image-guided interventions, augmented and extended reality, and patient-specific digital technologies. Together with the interdisciplinary surgical team at BOSTER and the University Hospital Bonn, he is driving the integration of AI-supported diagnostics, robotic surgery and advanced imaging into clinical workflows, with the aim of translating technological innovation into more precise and individualized treatment of lung cancer and other thoracic diseases.