Department of Neurology & Interdisciplinary Neuro-Oncology

The Department of Neurology and Interdisciplinary Neuro-oncology (Director: Prof. Ghazaleh Tabatabai) is a department covering both inpatient and outpatient clinical care.

The scientific focus includes the entire spectrum of neuro-oncological diseaes and thus builds a bridge between the priority research foci oncology/immunology and neurosciences of the Medical Faculty Tübingen. The spectrum includes primary and metastatic tumors in the nervous system as well as neurological side effects of tumor therapies. The department currently comprises three research groups: the junior research groups "Experimental Pediatric Neurooncology" (Dr. rer. nat. Daniel Merk) and "Neurooncological Health Care Research" (PD Dr. med. Mirjam Renovanz) and the research group "Experimental and Clinical Neurooncology" (Prof. Tabatabai). Prof. Tabatabai is a founding member of the Cluster of Excellence Image-guided and functionally instructed tumor therapies (iFIT) at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen.

The department's mission is characterized by the dedicated will of all staff members to improve the lives of patients through their research and research-oriented clinical care. To this end, they pursue an integrative approach that brings together basic science and clinical research.  Only an ongoing expansion of biological knowledge about tumors of the nervous system through basic science enables the development of innovative therapeutic strategies. These new therapeutic approaches can be extensively studied preclinically and rapidly evaluated in clinical trials and incorporated into the spectrum of clinical treatment options.

The department's mode of operation is characterized by its interdisciplinary networking in clinical and research settings. Thus, in patient care, the department has established outpatient clinics together with the Department of Neurosurgery and Radiation Oncology. Together with the Clinics of Neurosurgery, Radiation Oncology, Internal Medicine, Neuropathology and Neuroradiology, the department forms the Center for Neurooncology (ZNO) with Prof. Tabatabai as spokesperson and PD Dr. Constantin Roder as coordinator. The ZNO is a tumor-specific center of the Comprehensive Cancer Centrum Tübingen-Stuttgart. Among the > 40 certified neuro-oncology centers nationwide by the German Cancer Society, Tübingen is ranked first in the "primary case" criteria (as of 2021). For molecular-based therapy strategies outside of clinical trials, the department is anchored in the Molecular Tumor Board of the Center for Personalized Medicine and represents neuro-oncology here.

The Department of Neurology with an interdisciplinary focus on neuro-oncology was newly established at HIH in 2020 as the sixth department. With her appointment as a Department Chair, Prof. Dr. Dr. Tababatai is the first woman on the HIH Board of Directors.

Website of Prof. Dr. Dr. Tabatabai at the University Hospital Tübingen