February 6, 2026
Rudolf Schönheimer Medal 2026
This year's Schönheimer Medal of the DGAF The award was presented to Prof. Dr. Ralf Kinscherf from Marburg, who served as President of the DGAF from 2015 to 2018. The award ceremony took place during the DGAF's VMAC Annual Meeting. In his lecture, Prof. Dr. Kinscherf provided an overview of his research on the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis over the past 30 years.
Congratulations!
February 6–7, 2026
W.-H.-Hauss Prize, Young Investigator Award & Poster Prizes at VMAC 2026
This year's W.-H.-Hauss Prize of the DGAF The award was presented to Dr. Nicolas Hense, Dr. Andrea Gorgels, and Dr. Bilal Mir – three young scientists from Aachen University Hospital. Dr. Gorgels presented their joint study entitled “1-Phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate-5-kinase inhibition by apilimod promotes an adipocyte-like phenotype of vascular smooth muscle cells and prevents arterial calcification.”
Furthermore, the VMAC Young Investigator Award 2026 awarded to Dr. Jan Wrobel (Cologne). The four young scientists Xinglin Chu (Aachen), Dr. Mark Colin Gissler (Freiburg), Dr. Berkan Kurt (Aachen) and Yein Park (Cologne) received one DGAF Poster Prize.
We congratulate all the prize winners and thank Prof. Dr. Winfried März once again for personally establishing the W.-H.-Hauss Prize.
February 5–7, 2026
Vascular Medicine and Atherosclerosis Congress (VMAC) 2026 - Highlights
This year, the Congress for Vascular Medicine and Atherosclerosis (VMAC) took place from Thursday, February 5th, to Saturday, February 7th, 2026, at the Leonardo Royal Hotel in Cologne. Following its premiere in 2019, the annual meeting of the three professional societies – the D•A•CH Society for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases (DACH), the German Society for Lipidology (DGFL) – Lipid League, and our German Society for Atherosclerosis Research (DGAF) – was held for the seventh time.
With 200 participants, VMAC 2026 was the largest conference in this series to date. The scientific program covered a broad spectrum of topics in the fields of atherosclerosis and vascular medicine, with a particular focus on basic and clinical research; topics included lipoprotein metabolism, extracellular vesicles, cardiovascular risk factors, prevention, novel therapies, and personalized medicine. This year, the joint session on basic research with the German Society of Cardiology was expanded to include the participation of the European Society of Cardiology and the International Atherosclerosis Society.
We warmly congratulate all the winners of the Schönheimer Medal, the Hauss Prize, the Young Investigator Award, and the poster prizes on their outstanding achievements. With 49 submitted abstracts, the conference also set a new record for scientific contributions.
We are already looking forward to VMAC 2027, which will take place in Cologne from February 18th to 20th, 2027.
