ADVISORY BOARD
The members of the Scientific Advisory Board work for the Foundation on an honorary basis.
Prof. Dr. Eva Hoch
Scientific & Managing Director, IFT Institut für Therapieforschung
Leitung der Forschungsgruppe Cannabis, Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
Professor Dr. Eva Hoch is a clinical psychologist. She has been working as a researcher in the field of substande use and substance use disorders for over 25 years. She is scientific and administrative director of the IFT Institute for Therapy Research and head of the cannabinoid research group at the Department of Psychiatry at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich. She teaches as a professor at Charlotte Fresenius University, Munich. She is particularly interested in the health effects of cannabinoids on the human body, especially on the psyche. She is involved in a large international research network and advises the World Health Organisation, the European Drugs Agency, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the German Federal Government and other authorities. Prof. Dr. Hoch is also trained as a psychotherapist and supervisor. She is acting president of the German Society for Addiction Research and Therapy. She has been honoured with various research awards for her work.
Prof. Dr. med Dr. phil. Andreas Heinz
Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie
Universität Tübingen
Calwerstraße 14
72076 Tübingen
Deutschland
Prof. Dr. med. Dr. phil. Andreas Heinz is a Senior Professor at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at Tübingen University Hospital. From 2002 to 2025, he served as Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at Charité Campus Mitte in Berlin. Between 1999 and 2002, he was Professor of Addiction Medicine at the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim.
He studied medicine, philosophy and anthropology at Ruhr University Bochum, Freie Universität Berlin and Howard University in Washington, D.C. His research focuses on the neurobiological, neurocognitive and social foundations of mental disorders, particularly substance use disorders and psychotic disorders. Among other topics, he investigates learning and decision-making processes that contribute to the loss and regain of control over substance use, as well as opportunities for more individually tailored treatments.
Prof. Heinz was spokesperson for the first funding period of Collaborative Research Centre TRR 265 “Losing and Regaining Control over Drug Intake” and served as President of the German Association for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics from 2019 to 2020. He is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz.
Prof. Dr. Rainer Spanagel
Scientific Director of the Institute of Psychopharmacology
Central Institute of Mental Health
Mannheim, Germany
Rainer Spanagel studied biology at the universities of Tübingen and Munich and continued his training in behavioral pharmacology and neurochemistry at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) in Martinsried. In 1990, he moved to the MPI of Psychiatry in Munich, became head of the addiction research group and habilitated in pharmacology and toxicology. In 2000, he moved to the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, a leading European institution for biological psychiatry, to become scientific director of the Institute of Psychopharmacology. Professor Spanagel has received numerous scientific awards, notably the Sir Hans Krebs Award for his pioneering gene x environment studies in rodents, the James B. Isaacson Award for his continuing achievements in alcohol research, and the Reinhardt Koselleck Award for Innovation in Neuroscience. He has published more than 300 articles, is editor-in-chief of the international journal Addiction Biology, and coordinates national activities on electronic addiction medicine.
