Laureate Professor Rohini Kuner
Professor Rohini Kuner (55), Institute of Pharmacology, Heidelberg Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University, investigates how the nervous system changes under persistent stimuli and how chronic pain develops as a result. Her work focuses on neuronal plasticity – the ability of nerve cells to adapt structurally and functionally. Her research demonstrates how pain is stored and amplified in the body, opening up new avenues for therapies that are more targeted and provide long-term efficacy. For these findings, Kuner is awarded the Jung Prize for Medicine 2026, endowed with €300,000.
Kuner is originally from India and moved to the USA in 1991 to pursue her PhD. In 1995, her academic career took her to the Heidelberg University, where she completed her habilitation in 2005. Thanks in part to several mentors, the multi-award-winning pharmacologist quickly moved into neuroscience and pain research there. Since 2015, Kuner has been leading a major Collaborative Research Centre that brings together preclinical and clinical research into chronic pain, and within her own multidisciplinary group she focuses in particular on translational research. “I’m happiest when I’m in the lab, right at the heart of the research.”