Rafael Kramann is Professor of Medicine, Chair of the Department of Medicine 2 (Nephrology, Transplantation, Rheumatology, Clinical Immunology and Hypertension) at RWTH Aachen, Germany. He further directs the Laboratory of Translational Kidney and Cardiovascular Research at the Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam, NL. He received his MD in cardiology at RWTH Aachen University in 2007, a PhD in internal medicine at Erasmus MC, Rotterdam and postdoctoral training at Brigham and Women´s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston MA. His basic and translational research focuses on understanding chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular diseases and organ fibrosis (www.kramannlab.com). He integrates state of the art genetic fate tracing, gene editing, single cell, multi-omics and systems biology technologies together with clinical datasets to unravel mechanisms, identify novel therapeutic targets and develop targeted therapeutics for patients with chronic kidney disease, heart failure and organ fibrosis. Dr. Kramann is recipient of various prestigious awards including the Grand Prize in the Harvard Innovation Lab Dean´s Health and Lifescience Challenge 2013 the Stanley Shaldon Award of the European Renal Association (ERA-EDTA) 2014, a European Research Council Starting Grant 2015, the Nils Alwall, Carl Ludwig and Franz Volhard Awards 2014, 2015 and 2019 of the German Society of Nephrology, the Bernd Tersteegen Award 2015 of the German Dialysis Association, the Desiderius Award of the Erasmus University in 2018,  the Theodor Frerichs Award of the German Society of Internal Medicine (DGIM) and the Wilhelm Vaillant Award in 2021. He is further NWO-VIDI Laureate 2021 and ERC Consolidator Grant Recipient 2022. He is coordinator of the ERA-CVD NET MEND-AGE and the BMBF CureFib consortia and PI at the British Heart Foundation Center of Excellence at the University of Edinburgh, UK where he holds an honorary Professorship.