Jörg Hacker was born in 1952. From 1970 to 1974 he studied biology at Martin Luther University Halle, where he also obtained his PhD in 1979. From 1980 to 1988 he worked at the Department of Microbiology at the University of Würzburg, where he was promoted to Professor in 1986. His research focussed on the molecular analysis of pathogen bacteria and host-microbe interaction. Since 1988 Jörg Hacker worked as Professor at the University of Würzburg and since 1993 also lead the Würzburg Institute for Molecular Infection Biology. In 2000 and 2005, Jörg Hacker did his research at the Pasteur Institute in Paris as a visiting researcher. Furthermore, he taught at Tel Aviv University as guest professor in 2006. From 2003 until 2010, Jörg Hacker was Vice President of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and from 2008 until 2010 he was President of the Robert Koch Institute. Since March 2010, Jörg Hacker has been President of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. He received numerous awards and honours and is honorary citizen of his hometown Grevesmühlen. Jörg Hacker is member in national and international academies, scientific societies and committees. Recently, he has been appointed to the new Scientific Advisory Board, which has been set up by the UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon.