Kai C. Wollert is Full Professor and Director of the Division of Molecular and Translational Cardiology at the Hans-Borst-Center for Heart and Stem Cell Research at Hannover Medical School (MHH) in Germany. He also works as an Interventional Cardiologist and Senior Consultant at the Department of Cardiology and Angiology at MHH. He graduated from the University of Mainz, Germany and trained at the University of Freiburg, Germany and the University of California, San Diego. Aiming to identify novel biomarkers and protein therapeutics for patients with heart disease, his research focuses on the role of secreted factors in cardioprotection and heart repair. Some of his recent discoveries have been patented and licensed to Roche Diagnostics and Boehringer Ingelheim. He has received several awards including the 2004 Karl-Ludwig-Neuhaus Prize, the 2006 Albert-Fraenkel-Prize, the 2007 Arthur-Weber-Prize, and the 2018 Honorary Award on Basic Science from the German Cardiac Society. In 2009 he received the ESC Council for Basic Cardiovascular Science Outstanding Achievement Award. He has published 200 papers, including first and senior authorship publications in Circulation, Circulation Research, Eur Heart J, JACC, Lancet, Nature Medicine, and Science.