Hedda Wardemann

Hedda Wardemann leads a team that supports the discovery and development of cost-effective vaccines and biologics to protect people from infectious diseases that are a global health priority for the foundation.

With a background in human immunology and academic research, Hedda joined the foundation in 2023. Throughout her scientific career—as an assistant professor at the Rockefeller University in New York, research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, and head of the Division of B Cell Immunology at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany (a post she continues to hold)—she has focused on tracking and understanding the development of human antibody responses and B cell memory to pathogens, aiming to translate these insights into clinical applications.

Hedda received a doctorate from Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg in Germany, where she also completed her undergraduate studies in biology. She is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization, the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the Henry Kunkel Society, and the Academia Europaea.