Prof. Dr. med. Ralf Eberhardt is senior consultant of the department of pneumology and critical care medicine of the Thoraxklinik at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. He is also principal investigator (PI) of the Translational Lung Research Center Heidelberg (TLRC), member of the German Center of Lung Research (DZL), and the german delegate of the European Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology (EABIP).

His main clinical and research interest and expertise lie in the field of interventional pulmonology. He has been involved in the development and appraisal of endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) for the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer. The subject of his initial publications leading to his habilitation has been the evaluation and improvement of different guidance techniques for the bronchoscopic detection of peripheral lesions.

A new topic in interventional pulmonology is the bronchoscopic treatment of severe emphysema in COPD patients. Since 2004 he has been instrumental in devising and implementing the different techniques in clinical trials. He has published these results widely, leading to a licensed introduction on a broader spectrum.

The Thoraxklinik Heidelberg performs the highest number of endoscopic lung volume reduction procedures worldwide and through this he has been at the forefront of setting the standard for patient selection and treatment algorithms.