Dr Robert Wagner is Professor of Clinical Research of Diabetes and Metabolism and a clinician-scientist at Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, where he serves as Deputy Director of the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes at University Hospital Düsseldorf. He also leads the Clinical Research Center at the Institute of Clinical Diabetology, German Diabetes Center (DDZ) (Leibniz Center for Diabetes Research), Düsseldorf. Since 2025, he has been serving as a Board Member of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) and as a Board Member of the German Diabetes Association (DDG).

He studied economics and business administration at the Budapest University of Economics (today Corvinus University of Budapest) and completed his medical degree at Semmelweis University. Following early clinical training in Budapest, he continued his residency and specialist training in Germany, including Internal Medicine in Sigmaringen and subspecialty training in Endocrinology/Diabetology in Tübingen. He earned his Dr. med. with magna cum laude at University of Tübingen and completed his habilitation (venia legendi) in Internal Medicine there. In 2018, he became board-certified in Internal Medicine, Endocrinology and Diabetes.

Since 2011, Prof. Wagner has been deeply involved in clinical diabetes research and has held several leadership roles spanning academic medicine and large-scale research infrastructures, including positions as senior physician and head of endocrine outpatient services in Tübingen and, subsequently, Head of the Clinical Research Center at Helmholtz Munich’s Institute for Diabetes and Metabolic Research at the Tübingen site. Since 2022, he has led clinical research activities across university medicine and a national diabetes research center in Düsseldorf.

His research is centred on understanding the pathogenetic drivers and heterogeneity of type 2 diabetes, with a focus on pathophysiology-based subphenotyping and the integration of rich clinical and biomarker phenotypes (including laboratory and genetic data), advanced imaging, and computational approaches. His work has contributed to influential publications in the field, including studies on diabetes risk subphenotypes, pancreatic and hepatic fat, and data-driven representations of type 2 diabetes heterogeneity.

Prof Wagner’s achievements have been recognised with multiple awards, including the Werner-Creutzfeldt Prize (2024), the Ferdinand-Bertram Prize (2021), and the Prevention Prize of the German Society of Internal Medicine (DGIM) (2021).