Senior Consultant, Vice Chair of the Department of Neurology | Member Workstream 3

Tobias Derfuss, MD is Vice Chair of the Department of Neurology and head of the outpatient care unit at the University Hospital Basel. He also leads a research group in Clinical Neuroimmunology at the Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel. Dr. Derfuss received his clinical training at the Department of Neurology, Klinikum Grosshadern in Munich and conducted research at the Max-Planck Institute for Neurobiology, focusing on autoantigens in Multiple Sclerosis and immune response against latent herpesviruses. He received further training in neuromuscular diseases at the Friedrich-Baur Institute and psychiatry at the Max-Planck Institute for Psychiatry in Munich.

In 2009, he became head of the outpatient department and MS clinic at the Department of Neurology of the university clinic in Erlangen. In 2010, he was appointed professor and senior physician at the Department of Neurology and research group leader at the Department of Biomedicine of the university clinic in Basel. Since 2023, he has been Vice Chair of the Department of Neurology in Basel.

Dr. Derfuss's research focuses on discovering biomarkers and analyzing the mode of action of disease-modifying treatments in neuroinflammatory diseases. He is particularly interested in the role of B cells in MS pathogenesis and their interaction with target cells. He is involved in designing and conducting clinical trials for emerging therapies in MS.