Meet the board: Members of the Executive Board

Dr. Peter Schüßler has been Chairman of the VDGH since 2025. He has been involved in the association for over ten years, including in the Life Science Research department. He has been Managing Director of Bio-Techne for Germany and the EMEA region and part of the Group Management Board in the USA since 2023. He previously held various management positions at Thermo Fisher from 2007 to 2023, including responsibility for the German business. Earlier stages of his career included Operon Biotechnologies and Qiagen. He holds a doctorate in molecular biology and conducted research in the field of parasitology at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. 

Stefanie Giesener has been Deputy Chairwoman of the VDGH since 2025. She has been a member of the Executive Board since 2017 and has been involved in various committees of the association since 1997. She chaired the Quality Management Systems Committee for many years and has chaired the Authorization and Registration Working Group since 2002. She is also co-chair of the Regulatory Affairs Committee.

At European level, she is involved in the umbrella organization MedTech Europe in the Regulatory Affairs, Technical Forum and Globalization committees. Since 2009, she has been Head of Quality Management and Regulatory Affairs at DiaSys Diagnostic Systems GmbH, where she is responsible for a growing team in the areas of quality management, international product registration and compliance management. She began her professional career as a BTA and CTA at Sarstedt and subsequently worked at Merlin Diagnostika.

Dirk Schick has been a member of the VDGH Executive Board since 2019 and serves as the association's treasurer. He also heads the Digital Committee. He is Head of Market Development, Insights and Communications at Roche Diagnostics Deutschland GmbH. Previously, he held various management positions within the Roche Group, including Senior Project Manager Roche Blood Safety Solutions (RBSS) EMEA/LATAM, International Business Leader Virology and Head of Marketing Diabetes Care Germany. From 1998 to 2000 he was co-founder of a start-up. Dirk Schick studied business administration at the University of Mannheim.

Dr. Liane Bauer has been a member of the VDGH Executive Board since 2023. She has been Managing Director for Core Diagnostics Germany, Austria and Switzerland for her company Abbott since 2022. Prior to that, she held various management positions at Abbott since 2011, including Managing Director for Central and Eastern Europe and Director of the Digital Health Business Unit for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She holds a doctorate in biology from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg and a PhD from the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research and the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt. She also completed an Executive MBA at the London Business School.

Dr. Anika Jöcker has been a member of the VDGH Executive Board since 2023 and is Director Market Access DACH at Cepheid. Previously, she held various management positions in bioinformatics and product management at QIAGEN and CLC bio in Germany and Denmark from 2011 to 2020. Since 2020, she has been responsible for Market Access for Germany at Cepheid. Before joining the industry, the bioinformatician led a bioinformatics working group at the German Cancer Research Center. After completing her studies, she spent three years conducting research at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne and received her doctorate from the University of Cologne in 2009.

Dr. Anette Leue has been a member of the Executive Board of the Verband der Diagnostica-Industrie e.V. since April 2023 and Chairwoman of the Life Science Research Division of the VDGH since March 2023. She is a founding member of the department and has been involved in various committees since 2006, including as Chair of the Customer Communication Committee. With a doctorate in biology, she has been Head of Digital Marketing and Communications at Promega GmbH in Walldorf since 2000. From 2014 to 2019, she was responsible for the construction of the new company headquarters in Walldorf as an authorized signatory and project manager. She completed her doctorate at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and the University of Leicester (UK).

Dr. Maxime Ndolumingo has been a member of the VDGH Board of Directors since 2025.  He has headed the Medical Affairs team in Central Europe for BioMérieux as Associate Director since 2022. After studying medicine at the University of Cologne and qualifying as a specialist in anaesthesiology, the doctor of medicine specialized in intensive care and emergency medicine. He gained extensive clinical experience as a senior physician, head of the interdisciplinary intensive care unit and deputy head of department in the Clinic for Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine at the Augustinerinnen Hospital, where he also worked for a time as interim head physician and OR manager, as well as at the Hildegardis Hospital in Cologne. At the same time, Dr. Ndolumingo completed a part-time MBA course.

Dr. Matthias Probst has been a member of the VDGH Executive Board since 2023 and is involved in the association's market research working group. He is Director Sales DACH at QIAGEN GmbH. Previously, he was Director Sales Clinical DACH from 2019 to 2025 and Associate Director QuantiFERON DACH from 2017 to 2019. Other positions at QIAGEN included Associate Director Sales for Austria and Switzerland and National Sales Manager Switzerland. His career at QIAGEN began in 2002 as Account Manager. Dr. Probst studied microbiology and holds a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Bern.

Ulrich Schmid has been a member of the VDGH Executive Board for many years. He was Chairman of the association from 2018 to 2024 and previously Deputy Chairman. He has been involved in various VDGH working groups and committees since 1995. He began his professional career as a regular soldier and completed a degree in education. After leaving active service, he worked as a management consultant at Mercuri International before joining bioMérieux as sales manager in 1995. While working, he completed an MBA in health economics at the University of Bayreuth. Since 2006, he has been Managing Director of Menarini Diagnostics, specializing in pathology, infection diagnostics and diabetes.