The BMFTR-funded program PROMISE is a structured qualification program for Advanced Clinician Scientists that fosters long-term and sustainable career trajectories. It supports physicians who, alongside clinical duties, engage in basic, translational or clinical research within the interdisciplinary field of neuroscience.
PROMISE complements the existing Medical & Clinician Scientist Program (MCSP) at LMU Munich in the area of career development for advanced clinician scientists (ACS).
PROMISE will bring competitively selected Advanced Clinician Scientist (ACS) candidates into permanent leadership positions and, drawing on input from ACS, implement a novel concept for integrative neuroscience and patient care. PROMISE will integrate clinical research with insights on disease mechanisms (vertical integration) and across clinical disciplines (horizontal integration). The program builds on strong links with basic research as represented by the participating institutions, the Excellence cluster SyNergy and various collaborative research centers (CRCs).
PROMISE fellows pursue independent research programs with a protected overall split of 50-50% for clinical and research time, have an” ACS group leader” status with secured lab and office space, receive priority access to unique infrastructure, technology, and resources for disease-oriented research, and can rotate into collaborating research institutions. PROMISE fellows benefit from strategic support measures and an individualized qualification and mentoring program that is geared to the competencies of established researchers. PROMISE is monitored and fellows undergo an interim and tenure review before moving to permanent positions. LMU Medicine commits to create new professorships and additional alternative leadership positions offering a variety of career options for ACS.
The impressive development of diagnostic and therapeutic options for neurological diseases (e.g., stroke, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s disease) and emergence of novel approaches for conditions that have traditionally been considered inaccessible to treatment such as Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, or muscular dystrophy poses new challenges for organising research and patient care across traditional clinical disciplines. For instance, the reduction in stroke mortality rates has shifted attention to the psychiatric long-term consequences of stroke (dementia, depression).
Also, the development of novel anti-amyloid treatments for Alzheimer’s disease illustrates the need to invest in early diagnostics (nuclear and laboratory medicine; neuroradiology) and prepare services both in neurology and psychiatry for the requests from patients to come. The range and complexity of unresolved questions in clinical and translational neuroscience including ethical aspects requires a strong contribution of qualified clinician scientists and collaboration across different disciplines. Comprehensive Neuroscience is as a multidisciplinary approach that emphasizes the need to integrate clinical research with insights on disease mechanisms (vertical integration) as well as across clinical disciplines (horizontal integration) with the aim to better detect, prevent and treat neurological conditions with their multiple trajectories, complications, and comorbidities (examples for selected conditions in Figure below).
The program will have a focus on comprehensive neuroscience, foster new types of collaborations between disciplines (exemplified for stroke, epilepsy, dementia) and integrate knowledge from different fields to improve risk prediction, prevention, and treatment. The program will be open to multiple disciplines and serve as a nucleus for future expansion of the ACS program to other research foci at LMU’s Faculty of Medicine.
© ISD / Antonia Weingart
© Dominik Paquet
Outstanding institutions for neuroscience and patient care provide PROMISE fellows with a broad range of opportunities extending across multiple clinical disciplines and covering basic, translational and clinical aspects.
These institutions closely collaborate with major research institutions in the Munich area that have a strong focus on Neuroscience including the LMU Biomedical Center, the three Max-Planck Institutes (Psychiatry, Biological Intelligence, Biochemistry), and the Helmholtz Zentrum Munich (HMGU).
© Dominik Paquet
The BMFTR promotes, beyond the individual Advanced Clinician Scientist programmes, the creation of a shared platform EMPOWER-ACS. The platform organizes regular network meetings to foster network-building and knowledge exchange among ACS fellows and to increase visibility. The central coordination office based in Würzburg collaborates with ACS and their program coordinators to plan joint events, such as annual network meetings, to promote ongoing cooperation and dialogue.
Bonn: ACCENT – Advanced Clinician Scientist Program Bonn
Dresden: CAMINO – Career Advancement in MultIdimeNsional tumOr targeting
Erlangen: iIMMUNE_ACS – Interfaces in Immunomedicine
Essen: UMEA2 – Promoting Excellence in Translational Medicine
Frankfurt: INITIALISE – Innovations in Infection Medicine
Freiburg: IMMediate – Immune-Mediated Diseases
Hamburg: iSTAR – integrative Advanced Clinician Scientists Targeting Inflammatory and Infectious Diseases
Würzburg: INTERACT – Interfaces in Translational Research
The PROMISE-fellows are part of the Medical & Clinician Scientist Program (MCSP). The MCSP is a structured funding program of the LMU Medical Faculty to support young scientists at the LMU University Hospital who are pursuing an academic career and the further development of university medicine.
The MCSP provides a uniform framework for promoting scientists (e.g., protected research time, qualification, career development through mentoring and coaching, quality assurance measures) and creates a local interdisciplinary network for them through various exchange formats (regular meetings, annual retreat).
Details on how to apply can be found in the following download-documents:
Incomplete applications or applications not submitted by the deadline cannot be considered.
In principle, additional third-party funding is welcome, although double funding must be ruled out.
Submission of the application by 15.05.2026
as a single PDF-file
by email to the PROMISE Coordination Office.
If you have any questions, please contact the PROMISE Coordination Office.
Female physicians are explicitly encouraged to apply.
Positions will be open to both internal and external candidates.
The Selection of PROMISE-Fellows involves a three-stage selection process:
Principle investigator
Co-Principle investigators