Gertrud Reemtsma Foundation

Gertrud Reemtsma established the Gertrud Reemtsma Foundation in 1989 in memory of her deceased brother, the neurologist Prof. Dr. Klaus Joachim Zülch, former Director of the Cologne Department of General Neurology at the Max-Planck-Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt. In setting up the Foundation, Gertrud Reemtsma intended to keep the memory of her brother’s scientific work alive and to recognize and promote exceptional achievements in basic research in neurology. Gertrud Reemtsma first came into contact with the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Brain Research in Berlin-Buch at the end of the 1930s, where together with the founder of neurosurgery in Germany, Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Tönnis, her brother worked successfully as a neuropathologist and neurologist.

The Max Planck Society administers the Gertrud Reemtsma Foundation as a trust. The Foundation’s goal is to promote and recognize exceptional scientific achievements in basic neurological research. To this end, two Translational Neuroscience Prize Lectures are financed from the Foundation's funds, which are held as part of the NWG conference in Göttingen and the annual congress of the DGN in Berlin. In addition, the Gertrud Reemtsma Foundation awards the International Prize for Translational Neuroscience each year for exceptional achievements in basic neurological research.

A board of trustees is responsible for awarding the prizes, nominating the prize winners and selecting the lecturers. The Secretary's Office of the Foundation handles the day-to-day business.