Klaus-Michael Debatin studied medicine at the universities of Ulm, Freiburg and Heidelberg, and was awarded his doctorate in 1979. In 1990 he gained his lecturing qualification and from 1991 to 1994 was a recipient of a Heisenberg scholarship awarded by the German Research Foundation. In 1994, he became head of the hematology/oncology division at the University Children's Hospital, Heidelberg and, one year after this, head of the molecular oncology/pediatrics division at the German National Cancer Center in Heidelberg. Since 1997, Klaus-Michael Debatin has been professor and chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Ulm.

Simone Fulda studied medicine at the universities of Cologne, Boston, San Francisco, Phoenix and Dublin, gaining her doctorate in 1995. After training at the University Children's Hospital at Heidelberg and Ulm, she got her board certificate in pediatrics in 2001. In the same year, Dr. Fulda earned her lecturing qualification and since 2002 she has been a holder of a Heisenberg scholarship, awarded by the German Research Foundation.