Dr. Stefan Volkenstein received his medical degree from the Julius-Maximilians-University of W¸rzburg, Germany, in 2004. This included a year of international medical school rotations in London, England, and Zurich, Switzerland. Upon completion, he began his residency in Otorhinolaryngology at the University-Hospital of Essen, Germany. Later, he moved to the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery of the Ruhr-University in Bochum, Germany, at the St. Elisabeth-Hospital. He finished his residency here in 2011 and was promoted to his current position as consultant in 2012. His clinical expertise includes especially implantable hearing devices, as well as diagnosis and treatment of M. MeniËre. Research has been a focus throughout his career and began with spending two months in Prof. Allen Ryanís Lab at the University of California in San Diego, CA, USA, in 2001. He finished his doctorial thesis entitled ìGrowth behaviour of cochlear nucleus cells on different semiconductor materialsî in 2005 in W¸rzburg for which he received the Plester award of the German Society of Otorhinolaryngology. In addition, he completed a two year research fellowship at Stanford University School of Medicine in California, USA, made possible by a grant from the German national Academy of Science ìLeopoldinaî. During his time at Stanford, he was honoured with the resident-research-award of the Prosper-Meniere-Society in 2008. Upon his return to Bochum, Germany in 2009, he founded his own lab which focuses on neural stem cells of the auditory system and the bioelectrical interface of implantable hearing devices. His deep concern for quality global health care, efficiency of hospital organization and financing of the health care system stems from his broad international training. He continues to be involved in the clinical training of residents, medical students, nurses and speech therapists where he emphasises the importance of interprofessional interactions in holistic patient treatment.