Prof. Thomas L. Schwarz

was an Excellence Chair holder from 2019 until 2025. 

He is Professor of Neurology and Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School and neuroscientist at Boston Children's Hospital. Dr. Schwarz is an established leader in studying the cell biology of the nervous system and an expert in mitochondrial dynamics. A single cell contains hundreds to many thousands of mitochondria, which move along cellular highways and provide the cell with energy. Defects in the interaction and movement of mitochondria have been implicated in various neurodegenerative diseases and it was this mitochondrial dynamics that the former Excellence Chair was investigating together with his host Prof. Rita Groß-Hardt and other scientists from the University of Bremen and the University of Münster.

Former Host: Prof. Dr. Rita Groß-Hardt