Heinz Beck

Experimental epileptology and cognition research, University of Bonn, Germany

Heinz Beck is a professor of experimental epileptology and cognition research at the University of Bonn in Germany and current managing director of the Institute for Experimental Epileptology and Cognition Research. He studied medicine in Cologne, and received a degree summa cum laude for his doctoral thesis with Prof. U. Heinemann. He was a Heisenberg Fellow of the DFG at the Department of Epileptology in Bonn from 2001-2004, before becoming a full professor in 2004.

His group has an overarching research interest in understanding the function of recurring motifs in the intricate brain circuitry, and how these give rise to complex functions in the intact brain. His group also has has a strong track record investigating basic mechanisms of epilepsy, the mechanisms of anticonvulsant drug actions and mechanisms of pharmacoresistance in human and experimental epilepsy.

Dr. Beck is a past president of the German Epilepsy Society, is the chair of the integrated research program SFB1089 of the German Research Council, and is founder of numerous educational programs at the University of Bonn. He has been the recipient of the AES Research Award, the International Michael Prize, the Alfred Hauptmann Prize for Epilepsy Research, the Bennigsen-Foerder Prize, and a Cure Frontiers in Research Lectureship.