ECDF professor Dr. Tabea Flügge has been head of the “Digital Technologies for the Rehabilitation of Patients with Complex Facial Defects” department since May 1, 2020. With her position made permanent as of January 1, 2026, she is now also permanently anchored at Charité and the Einstein Center Digital Future. The permanent appointment recognizes her outstanding clinical and scientific work at the interface of digital imaging, computer-assisted treatment planning, and reconstructive surgery.

“The permanent appointment to my professorship is a great honor for me and at the same time confirmation that the combination of clinical practice, digital technology, and interdisciplinary research is the right way forward,” says Tabea Flügge. “Digital procedures make it possible to perform complex reconstructive procedures more precisely, more gently, and with better planning—thereby improving the quality of life of our patients in the long term.”

Research focus: Digital imaging and treatment planning

Tabea Flügge studied dentistry at Charité and completed her further training as a specialist in oral surgery at the University Medical Center Freiburg. Her clinical and scientific focus is on the interdisciplinary reconstruction of complex facial defects resulting from trauma or malignant diseases, with the aim of restoring basic functions such as speaking and eating. A central focus of her research is medical imaging, which she studied in depth as part of her habilitation at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg. The three-dimensional representation of anatomical structures using optical, X-ray-based, and increasingly magnetic resonance imaging techniques forms the basis for digital reconstruction and planning processes in oral and maxillofacial surgery. In her work, she was able to show which imaging techniques are suitable for the complex requirements of the oral cavity and where the current limitations of digital technologies lie. Looking ahead, Tabea Flügge is pursuing the automation of individual steps in treatment planning in order to support practitioners in complex therapies with the help of algorithmic assistance systems.

In addition to her scientific work, Tabea Flügge is actively involved in the strategic development of the ECDF. Since 2024, she has been part of the center's dual leadership team. “Many questions can only be solved with interdisciplinary concepts – the ECDF is the right place for this kind of exchange.”

The continuation of the professorship is part of the long-term strategy of the Einstein Foundation Berlin and the Senate Department for Science, Health, and Nursing to establish the ECDF's sucesses in Berlin as a center of scientific excellence. A total of ten permanent ECDF professorships were promised; the selection process took place in 2020 and 2021. In 2023, 2024, and 2025, several professors have already taken up their permanent positions, with more to follow.