33
Peter  Rieckmann  received  his  medical
degree  from  the  University  of  Göttingen
in  1989.  After  a  postdoctoral  fellowship  in
molecular immunology at the NIH, Bethesda,
USA he completed his training in Neurology
at the National Institute for Nervous Disease,
London, UK and the University of Göttingen,
Germany.  Professor  Rieckmann  received
Board certification in Neurology in 1995. His
academic and clinical positions have included
Senior  (staff)  Neurologist  and  Professor
for  Neurology,  Dept.  of  Neurology,  as  well
as head of the Clinical Research Group for
Multiple  Sclerosis  and  Neuroimmunology,
at  the  Julius-Maximilians  University  of
Würzburg.  He  holds  several  positions  as
visiting professor across the globe. In 2007
Professor  Rieckmann  became  the  MS
Society  of  Canada  Research  Chair  and
Director of the MS Program at the University
of British Columbia and Vancouver Hospital,
Canada. Under his leadership the Vancouver
program  was  awarded  Western-Pacific
Research  and  Training  Center  by  the  MS
Society of Canada. He is founding member of
the EndMS campaign in Canada. His major
research  interests  are  disease  modifying
factors  and  regeneration  in  multiple
sclerosis as well as functional aspects of the
blood  brain  barrier  in  neuroimmunological
diseases.  Professor  Rieckmann’s  clinical
goals  include  enhancing  awareness  and
education  about  MS,  developing  effective
and  properly  resourced  services  for  MS
outpatient  care,  and  providing  more
customized  treatments  for  patients.  As
a  clinician  scientist  he  has  been  actively
involved  in  different  efforts  to  transfer
bench results to clinical developments and
serves  on  steering  committees  of  various
international multi-centre MS trials (Phase
II and III). In September 2009 he started a
new position as Director of the Neurological
Clinic at the Academic Hospital in Bamberg,
and Professor of Neurology at the University
of Erlangen, Germany. Professor Rieckmann
is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians
and  Surgeons,  Canada.  He  has  received
numerous awards and research grants and
has  over  200  papers  to  his  credit  in  peer-
reviewed medical journals.