Oliver Cornely

Oliver Cornely is Director & Chair of Translational Research at the CECAD Institute of the University of Cologne, and Scientific Director of the Center for Clinical Trials. Clinically, he serves as Infectious Diseases Consultant at the University Hospital of Cologne, Germany.

He is board certified in internal medicine, infectious diseases, haematology, oncology, and emergency medicine, and holds degrees in medical mycology and travel medicine.

Originating from an HIV/AIDS clinical research group, Dr Cornely’s research interest centres on infections in immunocompromised hosts, including invasive fungal diseases, antimicrobial resistance, Clostridium difficile infection, and vaccine preventable infections.

Oliver Cornely is past President of the European Confederation of Medical Mycology (ECMM), the roof organization of 28 national mycology societies, and did set up the ECMM Global Guideline Program, ECMM Academy (Fellows program), and ECMM Excellence Center Initiative, designating clinical and microbiological excellence centres after an international audit procedure. He is founder and chair of the Infectious Diseases Scientific Working Group of the European Hematology Association (EHA). Oliver Cornely is a member of the Council of the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM) and serves as Chair of the Infectious Diseases Working Party (AGIHO), a working group of the German Society for Haematology and Oncology (DGHO). He is site spokesman for Cologne for the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF).

Oliver Cornely coordinates guidelines on invasive fungal infections and currently collaborates with mycologists in 87 countries on tailoring management guidelines to health care settings throughout the world. He intends to intensify global networking, which he regards as paramount to improve management and care of these mostly rare diseases.

In January 2021, he founded the VACCELERATE platform, which currently includes 23 countries, 29 partner institutions and 474 clinical trial sites, for the European Commission to accelerate vaccine development against COVID-19 and future pandemic pathogens.

He published over 600 peer-reviewed articles, books, book chapters, and electronic media; runs the YouTube® channel ID in Motion™, and ranks among the Top 1% most cited researchers. He is a reviewer for numerous medical scientific journals, editorial board member for HemaSphere and for Haematologica, and Editor-in-Chief of Mycoses.