Dr. Annika Hess studied Veterinary Medicine at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hannover. She then completed her PhD in Experimental Nuclear Cardiology through the Regenerative Sciences Program at Hannover Medical School, where her thesis focused on translational cardiovascular imaging of inflammation in myocardial infarction to predict outcome and guide therapeutic intervention. She accepted a postdoctoral position and continued her research in the Department of Nuclear Medicine at Hannover Medical School, focusing on imaging markers of fibrosis in ventricle remodeling. This work formed the basis of her first successful Sachbeihilfe grant from the DFG. Her current research focuses on immunomodulatory interventions to modulate inflammation and fibrosis early after myocardial infarction as guided by molecular imaging techniques. She has published in high impact journals including the European Heart Journal, Circulation Research, JACC Cardiovascular Imaging, and Basic Research in Cardiology, and her work has been recognized with Young Investigator Awards from the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging and the International Conference on Nuclear Cardiology and Cardiac CT. Moreover, she is an early career member of a Leducq Foundation Transatlantic Network ‘ImmunoFib’, from which she has earned independent seed grant funding. In the nextGENERATION Medical Scientist Program, Annika will focus on imaging fibroblast activation protein (FAP) in two mouse models of non-ischemic heart failure using positron emission tomography to optimize targeted delivery and timing of FAP CAR T cell therapy to improve functional outcome.