Professional Career
Since 2023, Lena Wucherpfennig has served as Junior Coordinator of the Imaging platform within the German Center for Lung Research, and in 2025 she was appointed Principal Investigator at the Translational Lung Research Center Heidelberg. After completing her medical studies, she received her doctoral degree in 2019. From 2019 to 2024, she worked as a resident physician in Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at Heidelberg University Hospital. In 2025, she became Associate Senior Physician and Deputy Head of the Section of Pulmonary Radiology within the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at Heidelberg University Hospital. In the same year, she completed her habilitation in Radiology at Heidelberg University. Additionally, she obtained a Master’s degree in Health Business Administration (MHBA) from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in 2023.
Expertise
Together with her doctoral students, Lena Wucherpfennig focuses her research on the use of radiological imaging to investigate the pathogenesis, progression, and treatment response of chronic lung and airway diseases
- Functional lung imaging
- Cystic fibrosis
- Lung Cancer
- Platform Imaging
- CFBE
- LC
- Wucherpfennig L, Triphan SMF, Wege S, Kauczor HU, Heussel CP, Schmitt N, Wuennemann F, Mayer VL, Sommerburg O, Mall MA, Eichinger M, Wielpütz MO. Magnetic resonance imaging detects improvements of pulmonary and paranasal sinus abnormalities in response to elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor therapy in adults with cystic fibrosis. J Cyst Fibros. 2022 Nov;21(6):1053-1060. doi: 10.1016/j.jcf.2022.03.011. Epub 2022 Apr 8. PMID: 35400600.
- Wucherpfennig L, Wuennemann F, Eichinger M, Schmitt N, Seitz A, Baumann I, Stahl M, Graeber SY, Chung J, Schenk JP, Alrajab A, Kauczor HU, Mall MA, Sommerburg O, Wielpütz MO. Longitudinal MRI Detects Onset and Progression of Chronic Rhinosinusitis from Infancy to School Age in Cystic Fibrosis. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2023 May;20(5):687-697. doi: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.202209-763OC. PMID: 36548543.
- Wucherpfennig L, Triphan SMF, Wege S, Kauczor HU, Heussel CP, Sommerburg O, Stahl M, Mall MA, Eichinger M, Wielpütz MO. Elexacaftor/Tezacaftor/Ivacaftor Improves Bronchial Artery Dilatation Detected by Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Patients with Cystic Fibrosis. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2023 Nov;20(11):1595-160. doi: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.202302-168OC. PMID: 37579262.
- Wucherpfennig L, Wuennemann F, Eichinger M, Schmitt N, Seitz A, Baumann I, Roehmel JF, Stahl M, Hämmerling S, Chung J, Schenk JP, Alrajab A, Kauczor HU, Mall MA, Wielpütz MO, Sommerburg O. Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Pulmonary and Paranasal Sinus Abnormalities in Children with Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia Compared to Children with Cystic Fibrosis. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2024 Mar;21(3):438-448. doi: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.202305-453OC. Erratum in: Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2025 Feb;22(2):311. doi: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.22i2Erratum. PMID: 38206973.
- Wucherpfennig L, Becker JKZ, Wuennemann F, Eichinger M, Seitz A, Baumann I, Stahl M, Graeber SY, Zhao S, Chung J, Schenk JP, Alrajab A, Kauczor HU, Mall MA, Sommerburg O, Wielpütz MO. Elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor improves chronic rhinosinusitis detected by magnetic resonance imaging in children with cystic fibrosis on long-term therapy with lumacaftor/ivacaftor. J Cyst Fibros. 2024 Mar;23(2):234-241