Dr. Mark was the Senior Vice President and Global Head of CardioMetabolic Diseases Research at Boehringer Ingelheim, Germany. In this role, he was responsible for the research and development of innovative treatments for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases including type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity, NASH and diabetic microvascular complications like eye diseases as well as kidney diseases. Furthermore, he gained insights and hands on experience in the broad field of cardiovascular diseases at large as well as thromboembolic diseases. He has more than 35 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Early in his career, Dr. Mark contributed to the discovery and development of repaglinide, an approved treatment of type 2 diabetes. He pioneered the discovery of the DPP-4 inhibitor linagliptin (Trajenta) and was instrumental in the initiation of the preclinical work for the SGLT2 inhibitor empagliflozin (Jardiance), both compounds globally launched and marketed. Together with his team he developed a competitive portfolio for cardiometabolic treatment options with various preclinical and several clinical developments projects currently ongoing. Dr. Mark served over 6 years as Project Co-ordinator for SUMMIT, an Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI)-sponsored European consortium of 19 academic centers and six major pharmaceutical partners, which aimed and succeeded to identify and characterize novel biomarkers and genetic markers for diabetic complications. Dr. Mark authored many peer-reviewed publications and meeting contributions and also various book chapters. In addition he holds numerous patents. After retirement end of 2019 Dr. Mark is acting as consultant to several biotech as well as larger pharma companies worldwide for the discovery and developmental aspects of multiple projects.