Prof. Hans-Joachim Wilke is the Co-Director of the Institute of Orthopaedic Research and Biomechanics of Ulm University, Ulm, Germany, where he is responsible of the spine research group. He has been President of the Spine Society of Europe as well as of the German Spine Society, and is currently co-Editor of European Spine Journal for the basic science papers. Besides, Prof. Wilke is the founder and chairman of the Grammer Award for spine research. He has been involved in several large scale research projects funded by the European Commission.