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Uğur Şahin
Photo: BioNTech, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons40

Uğur Şahin

German oncologist and immunologist (born 1965)

Uğur Şahin (Turkish: [uˈuɾ ʃaː.hin]; born 19 September 1965) is a German medical researcher, entrepreneur, and businessman. He is the co-founder and CEO of BioNTech, which developed the world’s first mRNA-based vaccine against COVID-19.2

From Wikipedia’s article on Uğur Şahin (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Sep 19, 1965.1

About

He also serves as chairman of the scientific management board of the Helmholtz Institute for Translational Oncology (HI-TRON), a Mainz-based cutting-edge biopharmaceutical research laboratory he co-founded in 2018. He is co-inventor of more than 500 filed patents applications and patents. His main fields of research are cancer research and immunology.

Şahin's family, originally from Turkey, moved to Germany when he was four years old. He grew up in Cologne and studied medicine at the University of Cologne, completing a doctoral thesis there in cancer immunotherapy. He initially remained in academia, in patient care as an oncohematology physician and conducting research at university hospitals in Saarland and Zürich. He founded a research group at the University of Mainz in 2000 and became a professor of experimental oncology in 2006.

In 2001, while maintaining his position at the University of Mainz, Şahin began to engage in entrepreneurial activities, co-founding two pharmaceutical companies, in 2001 and 2008, with his partner and spouse Özlem Türeci. The second of these companies, BioNTech, together with Pfizer Inc, developed one of the major vaccines used to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. As a result of the company's increase in value, Şahin and Türeci became the first Germans with Turkish roots among Germany's 100 wealthiest people.

From Wikipedia’s article on Uğur Şahin, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Holdings

Stock this person has reported owning, from the forms officers and directors file with the SEC. See the biggest insider stakes.

Shares held

  • BioNTech BNTX39,432,320 shares30$3.5B at $89.17Sep 30, 2026

As of each latest filing. The line shows shares held over time.

Recent filings

  • Sep 30, 2026Sold 32,000 shares at $98.12 of BioNTech30
  • Sep 29, 2026Sold 34,000 shares at $98.26 of BioNTech30
  • Sep 28, 2026Sold 34,000 shares at $98.47 of BioNTech31
  • Sep 25, 2026Sold 27,000 shares at $98.69 of BioNTech31
  • Sep 24, 2026Sold 39,000 shares at $98.99 of BioNTech32
  • Sep 23, 2026Sold 30,000 shares at $99.40 of BioNTech32
  • Sep 22, 2026Sold 46,000 shares at $100.72 of BioNTech33
  • Sep 21, 2026Sold 33,000 shares at $97.81 of BioNTech33
  • Sep 18, 2026Sold 30,000 shares at $96.22 of BioNTech34
  • Sep 17, 2026Sold 34,000 shares at $98.60 of BioNTech34
  • Sep 16, 2026Sold 15,000 shares at $96.09 of BioNTech35
  • Sep 15, 2026Sold 34,000 shares at $96.49 of BioNTech35
  • Sep 14, 2026Sold 41,000 shares at $99.45 of BioNTech36
  • Sep 11, 2026Sold 45,000 shares at $96.93 of BioNTech36
  • Sep 10, 2026Sold 20,500 shares at $96.31 of BioNTech37
  • Sep 9, 2026Sold 36,000 shares at $97.78 of BioNTech38
  • Sep 8, 2026Sold 37,000 shares at $99.20 of BioNTech38
  • Sep 4, 2026Sold 31,500 shares at $103.52 of BioNTech39
  • Sep 3, 2026Sold 45,000 shares at $102.85 of BioNTech39

Early life and education

  • 1984 to 1992University of Cologne doctorate; medicine3
  • 1992 to 1994Saarland University mathematics3
  • Date not recordedErich Kastner Gymnasium Abitur3

Şahin was born on 19 September 1965 in İskenderun into a Turkish family. He moved with his mother to Germany at the age of four to join his father, who worked in Cologne's Ford factories. He was interested in football and popular science books, which he borrowed from the library. Initially, his primary school teacher recommended that he attend a hauptschule, which would not have readily enabled him to attend university. Upon intervention of his German neighbour, he went to a gymnasium instead. Taking advanced courses in mathematics and chemistry, he graduated from the Erich-Kästner-Gymnasium in Cologne-Niehl in 1984, and was the first child at the school with Turkish guest worker parents.

Şahin met his future wife, Özlem Türeci, during his work at the Saarland University Hospital (Universität des Saarlandes) in Homburg, where Türeci completed her last year of medical studies. The couple married in 2002 and had a daughter four years later.

He and his wife are among the hundred richest people in Germany because of the value of their shareholding in BioNTech. As of February 2022, Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimated his net worth at US$7.22 billion.

Read more

Education

Şahin studied medicine at the University of Cologne from 1984 to 1992. He received his doctorate in 1992 with a thesis on immunotherapy against tumor cells (bispecific monoclonal antibodies for the activation of cytostatic precursors on tumor cells), which was graded summa cum laude. His thesis supervisor was Michael Pfreundschuh. From 1992 to 1994, he studied mathematics at the Fernuniversität Hagen.

University Medical Center Mainz

In 2000, Şahin became head of the junior research group of SFB 432 (Sonderforschungsbereiche, Collaborative Research Centers) of the University Medical Center Mainz, and in 2003 chair of the Tumor Vaccine Center. From 2006 to 2013, he was Associate Professor at the Department of Experimental and Translational Oncology at the University of Mainz. Since 2014, he holds a W3 professorship at the University Medical Center of the university.

Sahin is deputy director of the University Center for Tumor Diseases Mainz (UCT Mainz), founded in 2011. The UCT Mainz is an association of all active institutions at the University Medical Center Mainz that focus on clinical oncology or oncological research. In 2017, Sahin was involved in establishing the new Helmholtz Institute HI-TRON, which is a cooperation between the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and TRON. A project that Sahin led at the University Medical Center for developing innovative vaccines against cancer was one of twelve projects awarded a sponsorship prize by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research in 2006 as part of the newly created biotechnology start-up offensive (GO-Bio).

Translational Oncology at the University Medical Center (TRON)

In 2010, he co-founded TRON (Translational Oncology at the University Medical Center of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz). TRON is a non-profit (private) biopharmaceutical research institute that develops new diagnostic tools and drugs to treat cancer and other diseases with a high unmet medical need. Its focus is on individualized medicine and cancer immunotherapy. For his work in this field, Şahin was awarded the German Cancer Prize.

From its foundation until September 2019, he was TRON's scientific director. Since then, he has been working as a scientific advisor and supervisor of Ph.D. students.

Helmholtz Institute (HI-TRON)

He is one of the scientific directors of the new Helmholtz Institute. During the founding ceremony, Şahin declared that he believes "cancer can be defeated in the future".

From Wikipedia’s article on Uğur Şahin (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: immunologist, researcher, oncologist, entrepreneur, university teacher, academic, physician, chairperson of the executive board.9

Şahin worked as a physician in internal medicine and hematology/oncology from 1991 to 2000 at the University Hospital of Cologne chaired by Volker Diehl and then at the Saarland University Hospital in Homburg. He habilitated in 1999 in the field of molecular medicine and immunology. After a one-year sabbatical with Hans Hengartner at the Institute for Experimental Immunology of the University Hospital of Zürich in 2000, he joined Christoph Huber at the University Medical Center Mainz. There, he has been working in various leading positions in cancer research and immunology since 2001 and has been a professor for experimental oncology at the Department for Internal Medicine/Oncohematology since 2006. Şahin sees himself as an immune engineer who tries to use the body's antiviral mechanisms to treat, for example, cancer, when the immune system is otherwise unable to fight it. He sees his vision in guiding the immune system is to "protect us from or alleviate certain diseases".

Ganymed Pharmaceuticals

Şahin co-founded the company Ganymed Pharmaceuticals in 2001 with his wife Özlem Türeci and his mentor Christoph Huber. Ganymed developed the monoclonal antibody Zolbetuximab, for use against esophageal and gastrointestinal cancer. In 2016, after showing in a randomized clinical trial that this drug significantly boosted advanced gastric cancer patients' overall survival, the company was sold to Astellas Pharma for over €400 million. The drug is in Phase III trials as of 2020.

BioNTech

Together with Özlem Türeci and Christoph Huber, Şahin founded the biotechnology company BioNTech, based in Mainz, Germany, in 2008 and serves as its CEO. BioNTech is focused on developing and manufacturing active immunotherapies for a patient-specific approach to the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases. The main focus of his research work is the discovery of mRNA-based drugs for use as individualized cancer immunotherapies, as vaccines against infectious diseases, and as protein replacement therapies for rare diseases. He holds a minority interest in the listed company. Since April 2020, BioNTech has been researching a vaccine for the disease COVID-19 under Şahin and Türeci, who is also a member of the company's board of directors. Şahin is involved in several patents that he has filed with his company and partners.

Against the background of the debate about the distribution of a potential vaccine, Şahin stated that one key in the fight against COVID-19 is international cooperation and equality of distribution. He said there was "no discussion" about whether a vaccine would be made available exclusively to individual countries. Şahin opposes compulsory vaccination and emphasizes the voluntary nature of the vaccination.

In fall 2020, he entered a partnership with the U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer and planned to obtain approval for a vaccine before the end of 2020. In November, the company reported a 95 percent efficacy of the BNT162b2 vaccine.

Özlem Türeci and Şahin will leave BioNTech and establish a new biotechnology company in 2026.

From Wikipedia’s article on Uğur Şahin (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Personal life

  • BornSep 19, 1965, İskenderun10 11
  • CitizenshipTurkey, Germany12 13
  • SpouseÖzlem Türeci11 14

Awards

  • 2022Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine15 21
  • 2022Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize15 23
  • 2022University Teacher of the Year15
  • 2022Warren Alpert Foundation Prize15 24
  • 2022honorary doctor of the University of Antwerp15 22
  • 2021Axel Springer Award15 19
  • 2021Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany15
  • 2021Princess of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research15 17
  • 2021William B. Coley Award15 18
  • 2021honorary doctor of University of Cologne15 20
More awards (5)
  • 2020Financial Times Person of the Year15
  • 2019German Cancer Award15
  • 2019Mustafa Prize15 16
  • 2005Georges Köhler Prize15
  • Date not recordedEMBO Membership15

Sources

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    Wikidata and SEC EDGARBioNTech, Chief executive officer
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