Professor Dr. Christoph Röcken is Director of the Department of Pathology at the University Hospital Schleswig Holstein (UKSH), Campus Kiel, Germany. In July 2012, he was elected Vice Dean of the Faculty of Medicine.

Professor Röcken studied Chemistry at the University of Münster, Germany, from 1982 to 1984 and from 1984 to 1990 Medicine at the University of Hamburg. From 1990 to 1992 he was medical resident at the Institute of Pathology of the St. Mary’s Hospital Hamburg and then resident at the Institute of Pathology of the University Hospital Hamburg Eppendorf where he gained his medical degree in 1992.

In 1994 he received a training grant and spent a year at the Syl and Molly Apps Medical Research Centre of Queen's University (Kingston) in Canada, followed by a further training abroad as House Officer in General Medicine at Halton General Hospital in Runcorn, England.  

After his PhD he was appointed as a Consultant at the Department for Pathology at the Faculty of Medicine at the Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany. He qualified to teach at professorial level in the specialist field of pathology and in 2002 he was appointed as a university lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine and in 2005 he became Associate Professor. From 2006 to 2009 he was University Professor and Vice Director of the Institute of Pathology, Charité University-Hospital Berlin, and since 2009 he has been University Professor and Director of the Institute of Pathology, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel.

Prof Röcken’s main research focus is in the field of hepato-gastrointestinal pathology and amyloidosis. The aim is to use modern methods in genomics and proteomics to find new prognostic and predictive markers in the diagnosis of gastrointestinal tumours and amyloidosis for the individualised and targeted treatment of patients.

Prof Röcken is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research and the European Society of Pathology. He is also Chairman of the Working Group of Pathology, German Cancer Society as well as board member of the German Society of Pathology and the German Society for Amyloid Diseases.

Since 2004 he has received 10 Peer-reviewed (not industry-sponsored) extramural research grants and 4 Industry-sponsored grants.

To date, Prof Röcken has published 426 articles in hepato-gastrointestinal pathology/diagnostics in several peered-reviewed journals.