We are the team of the Hopp Children’s Cancer Center (KiTZ)

The Hopp Children’s Cancer Center at the NCT Heidelberg (KiTZ) is a therapy and research centre for pediatric oncology and hematology founded by the University Hospital Heidelberg and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ). It was founded in order to create new diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities and to be able to help children with cancer in a more targeted way. Prof. Stefan Pfister is the director of the preclinical programme at KiTZ. His research has been instrumental in understanding how hereditary alterations can contribute to cancer, particularly brain tumours in children.

Together with Prof. Kratz, he heads the Li-Fraumeni Syndrome Cancer Predisposition Syndrome Register and the Working Group Genetic Cancer Predisposition of the Society for Pediatric Oncology and Hematology. The Heidelberg team includes Prof. Pfister and the renowned cancer researcher and physician Dr. Kristian Pajtler, who is also jointly responsible for patients with cancer predisposition syndromes.

Please contact Mrs. Linda Keilbach for appointment requests.

  +49 6221 56-37082
  linda.keilbach@med.uni-heidelberg.de

Your contact persons in Heidelberg

Prof. Dr. med. Stefan Pfister

Principal investigator

  +49 6221 42-4639
  s.pfister@kitz-heidelberg.de

Dr. med. Kristian Pajtler

Contact person for patients

  +49 6221 42-4639
  k.pajtler@kitz-heidelberg.de

Dr. rer. nat. Anna-Lisa Böttcher

Project coordinator

  +49 6221 424594
  a.boettcher@kitz-heidelberg.de

The members of the ZIPO team: PD Dr. med. Till Milde, Sabine Brokmeier, Dr. med. Cornelis van Tilburg, Dr. rer. nat. Martina Nesper-Brock, Linda Keilbach, Prof. Dr. Olaf Witt & Nicole Ludwig

The ZIPO team

The “Hopp Children’s Cancer Center at the NCT Heidelberg” (KiTZ) is also a therapy and research center for oncological and hematological diseases in childhood and adolescence. Its aim is to scientifically fathom the biology of childhood cancers and to closely link promising research approaches with patient care – from diagnosis to treatment and follow-up care.

The aim of the KiTZ Clinical Trial Unit (ZIPO) is to use state-of-the-art molecular diagnostic methods to identify target structures for personalised therapy. New phase I/II clinical studies are being developed and new therapeutic approaches are being tested. With this individualised approach, the study unit is assuming a pioneering role in Germany. The KiTZ Clinical Trial Unit is headed by Olaf Witt.

Tasks of the KiTZ Clinical Trial Unit

  • Treatment in Phase I/II clinical trials with targeted drugs and other therapeutic procedures
  • Molecular diagnostics
  • Consulting and second opinion
  • Development and international coordination of innovative Phase I-III studies

Access to new therapeutic approaches

In the KiTZ Clinical Trial Unit, a multidisciplinary team looks after young cancer patients for whom standard treatment methods have not led to success. In clinical trials, these children and adolescents are given – whenever possible – access to new treatment options under controlled conditions.

Translation into new studies

Translation into new studies: New therapeutic approaches discovered in the preclinical program of the KiTZ are transferred into clinical research. A team of the KiTZ Clinical Trial Unit, consisting of specialised physicians, statisticians, project managers and data managers, develops innovative study protocols in cooperation with the Department of Statistics of the DKFZ and the NCT Study Center and coordinates its own academic studies within the existing pediatric oncology networks on a national and international level.