Professor Ioanna Gouni-Berthold is an internist, Endocrinologist and Head of the Lipid Clinic and Lipid Research Clinic at the Center for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Preventive Medicine at the University of Cologne, Germany. As an endocrinologist by training, she is recognised nationally and internationally as a distinguished expert in the diagnosis and treatment of hyperlipidemias, and particularly those associated with premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). Her major research interests focus on lipid disorders and cardiovascular prevention as well as on genetically determined dyslipidemias such as familial hypercholesterolemia, hyperlipoproteinemia(a) and familial chylomicronemia syndrome. Among the cardiometabolic diseases, gender medicine, particularly the treatment discrepancies between men and women have been of major interest to Prof Gouni-Berthold.
Prof Gouni-Berthold is Vice-President and President-Elect (President from October 2025), of the German, Austrian and Swiss Society for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases (dach-praevention.eu). She also serves as Member of the Board of Directors of the International Atherosclerosis Society (IAS). Prof Gouni-Berthold serves on the Editorial Boards of several international journals and she has received numerous awards. Her work has been quoted in more than 9.900 publications.
As a Steering Committee member, she has made seminal contributions to several major cardiovascular trials involving third generation lipid lowering agents such as monoclonal antibodies, siRNAs, and antisense oligonucleotides (ASO). These trials include FOURIER, GAUSS-3, Rutherford-2 and COMPASS, and more recently, the ongoing HORIZON and OCEAN(a) trials. Given publication in prestigious scientific journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet and JAMA, the findings in these pivotal trials have had major impact on current medical practice for prevention of ASCVD in dyslipidemic patients at high cardiovascular risk. The Lipid Clinic led by Prof Gouni-Berthold has led global patient recruitment in the first outcome trial of an ASO targeting Lipoprotein(a), HORIZON(a), and equally in the first outcome trial of a siRNA targeting Lipoprotein(a), OCEAN(a).
Finally, Prof Gouni-Berthold has contributed nationally and internationally to educational and training programs for clinicians in the diagnosis and management of atherogenic dyslipidemias.