Prof Dieter Armand Schumann is a senior scientist and maxillofacial surgeon. His main interests are cleft surgery, reconstructive surgery and microsurgery. He also has a great deal of experience in biomaterial science, especially cellulose research. He was Head of the Department of Maxillofacial and Plastic Surgery in Jena from 1983 to 2005. Prof Schumann is one of the founding members of the International Bone Research Association (IBRA), which was established in Zürich in 2004. In 2011, he went to Hyderabad, India, on an international OP mission. He also acts as a board member of POLYMET Jena e.V. and has been a senior research counsellor in Basel since 2007.