Professor Dr. Johanna Apfel-Starke serves as the Chief Scientific Information Officer (CSIO) at Medizinische Hochschule Hannover (MHH), where she heads the "IT Research and Teaching" staff unit and advises the MHH Executive Board on strategic IT concepts. In tandem with her leadership role at MHH, she is a Professor of Medical Informatics at the Hochschule Hannover. Operating as a key translator between healthcare research and digitisation, her work centers on implementing intelligent research data management, introducing structural interoperability, and formulating holistic data governance models to support translational "bench-to-bedside" clinical paths. She has a deep background in strategic medical IT project management—including coordination for major initiatives like HiGHmed—and holds a Master’s degree in Medical Information Management alongside a PhD in Molecular Oncology from the University of Würzburg.