Two women from Heidelberg University's Medical Faculty have one again made it onto the 2025 list of the world's most “highly cited” researchers

Publications are classified as “highly cited” if they rank among the top 1 percent of the most cited papers in their respective field and publication year. This international evaluation identifies researchers whose work has been cited most often worldwide within their field or who have demonstrated outstanding publication performance across multiple disciplines.  
The list has existed since 2001, was revised for the first time in 2014, and been published annually since then. Currently, it includes just over 7,100 entries from researchers across 60 countries. 

Heidelberg University is represented in the 2025 list of “Highly Cited Researchers” with a total of 16 scientists. Among them are eight researchers from the Medical Faculty Heidelberg and Heidelberg University Hospital, including the only two women featured on the list. 

Heidelberg University, Medical Faculty Heidelberg 
Head of  a Schaller Research Group in the Department of  Virology at the Center for Infectious Diseases, Heidelberg University Hospital 

Frauke Mücksch studied Biology and Biomedicine in Frankfurt and Marburg before completing her PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) in Virology at the Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University in 2017, graduating summa cum laude. She carried out her postdoctoral research both in the Virology Department in Heidelberg and at Rockefeller University in New York. Since 2022, she has received a distinguished fellowship for young scientists in biomedical basic research as a group leader funded by the Chica and Heinz Schaller Foundation, an excellent award that enables her to conduct independent research as a principal investigator. 

In addition to this foundation support, Dr. Mücksch is also actively involved in several collaborative research initiatives funded by the DFG and DZIF, among them the Excellence Cluster SynthImmune, which will start in 2026, and Collaborative Research Center 1129 (SFB1129). For her scientific achievements, she received the Aventis Life Science Bridge Award in 2025. To date, Dr. Mücksche has published around 50 papers in international journals, which have been cited more than 15,000 times (see Google Scholar profile Frauke Muecksche). Her main research focuses are the biology and immunology of HIV/AIDS and SARS-CoV-2. 

This year, she has once again succeeded in being recognized as one of only two women from Heidelberg University included in the Highly Cited Researchers 2025 list. Congratulations! 

Heidelberg University, Medical Faculty Heidelberg 
Head of the Section of Dermatological Oncology and Research Group Leader at the Department of Dermatology, Heidelberg University Hospital; 
Adjunct Professor at the Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University 

Jessica Hassel studied Human Medicine in Würzburg, where she graduated with distinction and completed her doctoral thesis summa cum laude. She then spent a year as a postdoctoral researcher at the University Hospital of Zurich, laying the foundation for her career as a scientist in the field of skin diseases. Afterwards, she completed her specialist training in dermatology at the Dermatology Clinic in Ludwigshafen and subsequently joined the Clinical Cooperation Unit for Dermatological Oncology of the DKFZ and the Mannheim Department of Dermatology as a senior physician and research associate, later serving as an acting head of the unit. After the birth of her daughter rin 2010, she moved to Heidelberg University Hospital, where she established and developed the Section of Dermatological Oncology into an internationally recognized division within the Department of Dermatology at the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg. In 2016, Jessica Hassel completed her habilitation in the field of clinical-translational dermatological oncology research and was appointed Adjunct Professor in 2019. She also serves as Head of Skin Tumor Center Heidelberg and is a member of the Board of Directors of the CCC/NCT Heidelberg. 

Her scientific work in the field of skin tumors, with a particular focus on melanoma, has been recognized with numerous scholarships and awards, including the Deutscher Hautkrebspreis in 2018. In addition, Dr. Hassel has received honors for her interdisciplinary projects on patient support, such as participatory decision-making, among them the Hans-Roemer Prize of the Collegium for Psychosomatic Medicine and the MSD Health Award, together with colleagues from Psychosomatic Medicine. 

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Since 2021, Dr. Hassel has been part of the group of “Heidelberg Highly Cited Researchers”, in some years as the only women, and has once again achieved this distinction in 2025 through her outstanding publications in international scientific journals. We extend our warmest congratulations!