Achim Hekler received his degree in computer science from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). From 2019 to 2023, he was the head of the multicenter Skin Classification Project in the Brinker junior research group at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ). In this project, it was demonstrated under research conditions that AI-based systems have the potential to serve as valuable tools in supporting skin cancer diagnosis. However, for a successful translation of these systems into clinical practice, it is crucial to address other aspects beyond performance, particularly the system’s ability to communicate when it is uncertain or lacks sufficient knowledge, to build trust among users and patients.

Since 2023, Achim Hekler has been part of Florian Büttner’s research group, where he focuses on addressing these translation gaps. His work focuses on uncertainty estimation, with particular emphasis on the calibration of neural networks to ensure that predictions are not only accurate but also reliable. In particular, he investigates this under the characteristics of real-world datasets such as data scarcity, distribution shifts, and class imbalance. Tackling these challenges is essential for ensuring the effective and safe deployment of AI systems in real-world practice.