Matthias Scheffler studied Medicine with scholarships from the German National Academic Foundation and e-fellows.net in Cologne, with time abroad in Buenos Aires and Lima. As a student, he worked in the Max-Planck-Institute (MPI) for Neurological Research focused on gene therapy of malignant gliomas and participated as a Young Scientist at the 53^rd Nobel Laureate Meetings in 2003. 

In 2007, he joined the Lung Cancer Group Cologne (LCGC) of the Department I of Internal Medicine at the University Hospital of Cologne, in which he continues being involved in early-phase clinical trials with the main focus on targeted treatment of lung cancer. He is currently the local principal investigator (PI) for numerous phase I/II trials, and the national PI of several first-in-man (FIM) trials. 

His clinical training took place in the Department I of Internal Medicine and the Center for Integrated Oncology (CIO) Cologne Bonn and led to the board examination for Internal Medicine, Haematology and Oncology, and to the Venia Legendi (habilitation). In 2013, he participated in an international “Talent on Oncology Program (TOP)”. During training, he was involved in student and patient education. From 2020, he has hosted an educational YouTube channel for students and patients in German. 

Matthias is also a member of the national Network Genomic Medicine (nNGM) in Germany, the goal of which is to provide comprehensive molecular testing for all lung cancer patients. Within this network, he is a member of the Task Forces 1a (Molecular Diagnostics) and 6 (Translational Research). The Cologne-based predecessor of the nNGM received the “Innovation Award of Northrhine Westphalia” in 2015. 

He was a participant in the ESMO Leaders Generation Programme in 2019 and joined the ESMO Lung Cancer Faculty the same year, as well as the EORTC Lung Cancer Group. In 2019, he was one of the participants in the “TrainToESMO” and is a member of the ESMO Climate Change Task Force since 2019. 

Matthias has authored and co-authored numerous research papers and works as editor and reviewer for many renowned journals. He is also a member of different educational steering boards. Since 2021, he heads the joint Molecular Tumour Board (MTB) of the CIO Aachen Cologne Bonn Duesseldorf (ABCD).