GENERATION CHANGE AND A NEW CEO AT CHONDROMETRICS

As of January 1^st, 2026 , Wolfgang Wirth has officially assumed the role of the CEO, taking over from Felix Eckstein. This represents important steps in the evolution of the company’s leadership and its team.  Wolfgang has been part of Chondrometrics since its foundation in 2003 and has shaped the company in an unparalleled manner. Over that time he has built the company’s technical backbone:

🔹 A proprietary Class IIa medical device software platform (EU MDR 2017/745)
🔹 An ISO 13485, GCP, and FDA 21 CFR Part 11 compliant quality system
🔹 A new generation of fully automated AI-based tissue analysis models

Along the way, he has become an internationally recognized scientist in quantitative musculoskeletal imaging with an impressive citation index. As CEO, Wolfgang takes the lead on all internal processes, supported by Susanne Maschek as Head of Operations (COO). Anna Wisser, who has been with the company since 2018, will be promoted beyond Senior Project Manager to now assume the role of “Head of Quality Management and Regulatory Compliance” (PRRC). She will lead the continuous updates of the QMS, coordinate team training, and manage regulatory and client audits. Barbara Wehr will support her in the future with project management and Jana Daimer with data processing.

Felix will continue in his role as CMO, mainly responsible for Science Strategy and Business Development. He will focus on external activities: scientific representation at conferences, managing key industry partnerships, and connecting with collaborators and clients. He will continue to place strong emphasis on medical affairs and on driving scientific advance, combining his clinical perspective (on biomarker validation) with technical innovations driven by Wolfgang and his team.

He is supported by:
🔹 Antonia Schumann – consulting on media and communications
🔹 Sharif Karimi –responsible for redesign and management of the new company webpage
🔹 Eva Ivanov Kavkova – support with customer relation management (CRM), clinical trial scouting, and with creating a clinical study database

On the R&D side, Wolfgang leads an expanding international software development team:
🔹 Kowsar Sheikhi Valashani, Computational Scientist, focusing on imaging biomarkers of synovitis
🔹 Fatemeh Salehi (focusing on imaging biomarkers of bone)
🔹 Tyra Lange (joining May 1st 2026, currently Flinders University, Adelaide)

These developments mark a generation change at Chondrometrics, both in leadership and in building a young, international, and dynamic team. With more than 20 years of experience in quantitative imaging, the company is now positioned for an innovative and successful future. This evolution allows us to scale towards fully automated analysis of imaging biomarkers across all relevant joint tissues in osteoarthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions. These advances will make clinical trials faster, more informative, and more efficient, to open the next chapter of Chondrometrics.