Dr. Nina Pilat received her doctorate in genetics and microbiology from University of Vienna in 2009. She began her university career at the Department of Surgery at Medical University of Vienna in 2005, followed by a postdoctoral research fellowship in Sydney at the renowned Garvan Institute. She is currently conducting research as an associate professor of Immunology at the Department of Cardiac Surgery at Medical University of Vienna. Nina was chair of the Basic Science Committee of the European Society of Organ Transplantation (ESOT) and is a board member of the Austrian Society for Surgical Research. Since 2024, she has been deputy editor-in-chief of the journal Transplant International and is active as a reviewer for numerous other journals. With more than 15 years of experience in the field of organ transplantation and immunology, she leads her own research group at the Institute for Biomedical Research and Translational Surgery, which focuses on transplantation tolerance, regulatory T-cell-based therapies and innovations in heart transplantation.