Affiliation: Department II of Internal Medicine and Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany

Thomas Benzing is Professor of Medicine and Chairman of the Department II of Internal Medicine and the Director of the Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany. His research is focused on the pathogenesis of genetic kidney diseases, particularly podocyte disorders on one hand and ciliopathies on the other. Recently, his team provided the first experimentally validated model of glomerular ultrafiltration. Benzing has received numerous prizes and awards including the Young Investigator Award of the American Society of Nephrology, the Volhard Prize of the German Society of Nephrology, the prestigious Ernst Jung Prize in Medicine among many others. He is elected member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI), the American Clinical and Climatological Association (ACCA), and Honorary Fellow of the American Society of Nephrology.