Roland W. Pfäffle study of Medicine at the Universities of Aachen in Germany and Edinburgh in Scotland (1980-1986). He wrote a thesis in Human Medicine at the Institute of Pharmacology, RWTH Aachen school of Medicine (Prof. W. Schmutzler). Between 1986 and 1989 he had a training in Pediatrics at the Department of Pediatrics, RWTH Aachen School of Medicine (Prof. G. Heimann).  From 1990 to 1992 he also received the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Research Fellowship at the Molecular Endocrinology

Laboratory at Emory University School of Medicine, Clinical Fellowship at Egleston Childrens Hospital,  Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA (Prof. J.S. Parks). He consequently continued training at the Department of Pediatrics, RWTH Aachen, research leader at the molecular endocrinology laboratory at the Dept of Pediatrics, RWTH Aachen School of Medicine, until 1994. From then to 2002 he was Oberarzt at the Department of Pediatrics, RWTH Aachen School of Medicine. In 1999 he received the Associate Professorship, RWTH Aachen School of Medicine. Since 2002 he has been Head of the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology, Gastroenterology and Nutrition (C3) at the Department of Pediatrics, at the University of Leipzig (Prof. W. Kiess). Since 2010 he has also been Head of the CrecNet Growth database at the University of Leipzig Medical School. Roland W. Pfäffle currently covers the role of physician, university professor, scientific adviser in court, consultant for the biomedical industry, providing service in various University committees and advisory boards, in addition to being reviewer for 5 international scientific journals, member of the editorial board of 2 international scientific journals. His research interests are transcription factors of pituitary development, molecular basis of genetic GH deficiency, genetics of growth, molecular basis for GH insensitivity and epidemiology of growth disorders. He has published 143 original papers, 23 reviews, 22 book chapters and 2 monographies. In 1992 he won the Friedrich Linnerweh-Prize of the German Academy for pediatric Research; in 1999 the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Preis of the University of Aachen Medical School  and in 2001, 03 und 04  “STEPS Award” of the German Society for Paediatric Endocrinology APE.