Briefly, in 1992 Professor Wendtner initiated his training in Internal Medicine at the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich (Klinikum Innenstadt) under the auspices of Professor Scriba. From 1994 until 1995 he received postdoctoral training at the Max-Planck-Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried (Germany) under Professor Dr. Winnacker and also at the National Institutes for Health (NIH) in Bethesda (USA) in the group of Professor Kotin. Thereafter he completed his clinical fellowship at the University of Munich gaining his German licence in Internal Medicine. From 1998 until 2003 Dr. Wendtner specialised in Hematology and Medical Oncology at the same institution (Klinikum Grosshadern) under Professor Hiddemann. Dr. Wendtner received his postdoctoral lecture qualification at the University of Munich in 2002, and has been Full Professor of Internal Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology (tenure track) at the University of Cologne since 2004.

Dr. Wendtner is a member of multiple national and international societies in the field of Medicine including the American Society of Haematology (ASH), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) and others. He has won several research awards, including a merit award from ASCO. As a founding member of the German CLL Study Group (GCLLSG) in 1996, he participates on the Steering Committee and has been Secretary of the GCLLSG since 2006. In the field of Medical Oncology his is especially interested in the therapy of patients with soft tissue sarcomas. He is director of the EORTC Soft Tissue Bone Sarcoma Group (EORTC-STBSG) Centre at the University of Cologne and of the Soft Tissue Sarcoma Group within the Centre for Integrated Oncology (CIO) Cologne-Bonn. He has been principle investigator for numerous phase I-III clinical trials both in the field of Haematology and Medical Oncology

BlackSwan Pharma GmbH is a biopharmaceutical company specialised in novel substances for the treatment of tumours of the blood building system, in particular chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). Their work is based on an exclusive license to patents and know-how of The Medicines Company (Leipzig) GmbH for the research and development as well as the marketing of the resulting products. Their candidate for development CD-160130 has been registered in the Community Register for Orphan Medical Products for Human Use for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia by the European Union under number EU/3/07/487.