Michael Ghadimi, born in 1968 in Munich/Germany, is professor of surgery and since 2012 head of the Department of General, Visceral and Pediatric Surgery at the University Medical Center (UMG) of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen/Germany. He has held numerous academic posts and is currently executive member of the board of the Göttingen Comprehensive Cancer Center, President of the German Cancer Society (DKG), permanent deputy of the Chief Medical Officer of the UMG, member of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina e. V. - German National Academy of Sciences and member of the Scientific Committee as well as member of the Board of Trustees of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ).

His surgical specialties are pancreas, rectum, esophagus, liver, minimally invasive robotic surgery, endocrine surgery and complex abdominal surgery for gastrointestinal stromal tumors and sarcomas.

His scientific focus is on the tumor biology of solid tumors (pancreas, rectum, esophagus), the individualized therapy of rectal cancer and clinical trials of gastrointestinal tumors as head of clinical trials (LKP) and principal investigator (PI).

He is also committed to the innovative development of surgical training in response to the particular challenges facing surgery now and in the future. Following this vision, he established the Göttingen School of Surgery in 2022. His major future project, the Center for Digital Surgery, was opened in 2023: this broadly networked center aims to drive forward the digital transformation of surgery using innovative technologies such as virtual and augmented reality.

Professor Ghadimi published more than 290 papers and 27 book articles and edited 9 books.

He is spokesman for the German Rectal Cancer Study Group in the field of surgery. His department is heavily involved in the recruitment of a large number of patients in German national trials such as the CONKO-007, -006 and -005 trials (pancreatic cancer) and the trials of the German Rectal Cancer Study Group.

Professor Ghadimi received the Johann Georg Zimmermann Prize for Cancer Research, the Von Langenbeck Prize from the German Society of Surgery and the Georg Heberer Prize for Surgical Research from the Chiles Foundation, Oregon, USA.