Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Senior Consultant | Member Workstream 2 and 4

Jens Kuhle, MD, PhD is Head of the Neuroimmunology Unit at the University Hospital Basel and founder and Principal Investigator of the Swiss Multiple Sclerosis Cohort (SMSC). He received his MD from the Eberhard-Karls University in Tübingen, Germany and specialized in neurology and neuroimmunology at the University Hospital Basel.

After completing his PhD in Neuroimmunology at Queen Mary University in London from 2012 to 2014, he returned to Basel as a research group leader in the Clinical Neuroimmunology unit at the Department of Clinical Research and Biomedicine. He later became Deputy Head of the Outpatient Clinic and MS Centre at the University Hospital Basel.

In 2018, he was appointed Associate Professor and Head of the Multiple Sclerosis Center. In 2021, he became Head of the Neuroimmunology Unit.

Jens' research focuses on the development of neurofilament light chain (NfL) as a biomarker for disease activity and prognosis in MS and other neurological diseases, including acute COVID. He established NfL as the first blood-based biofluid marker validated for personalized medicine.

He initiated and leads the Swiss MS Cohort (SMSC), which has become one of the largest biobanks and clinical and imaging resources worldwide, with over 1700 patients followed longitudinally. The SMSC serves as a platform for biomarker discovery, clinical outcome research, and pragmatic trials in MS in national and international projects.

Jens aims to establish additional biomarkers, such as glial fibrillary acidic protein, to complement NfL in assessing progression in MS. His research is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Swiss MS Society, and the International Progressive MS Alliance. He has authored over 350 scientific publications and was named a 'Highly Cited Researcher' in 2022 and 2023.