Career of Dr. Ali Yildiz

Founder and CEO of Sernitas Group

Dr. Ali Yildiz is a German-Turkish scientist, entrepreneur, and founder of the Sernitas Group, which unites science, business, and humanity in an integrated ecosystem. His biography tells the story of an immigrant child who drew strength and ambition from challenging circumstances, achieved top performance in education, research, and business, and forged a model of responsible entrepreneurship. From the child of an immigrant family to a neuroscientist with a doctorate, from a shaper in the education sector to the founder of an international company – his path is characterized by unwavering dedication to achievement, grounded in integrity and responsibility. His career unfolds in six formative chapters:

Born in Turkey and having immigrated to Germany as a child, Ali Yildiz learned early on to navigate between languages, cultures, and expectations. Just two years after arriving, he skipped a grade due to his outstanding academic performance and completed secondary school at the age of only 14. He graduated at the top of his class and simultaneously volunteered as an elected state delegate and board member of the North Rhine-Westphalia State Student Council, where he represented the interests of his generation in discussions with the Ministry of Education. For his academic and social achievements, he received a scholarship for gifted students from the Hans Böckler Foundation – an early indication of his ability to combine academic success with social awareness.

Ali Yildiz studied psychology and cognitive neuroscience at Ruhr University Bochum. As part of the German Research Foundation’s (DFG) Excellence Initiative, he worked in the Emmy Noether Research Group on questions of human decision-making processes, stress processing, and information integration. His research on neurocognitive mechanisms of parallel information processing garnered international attention and shaped his scientific understanding of perception, behavior, and resilience. This period laid the foundation for an attitude that combines scientific rigor with social responsibility.

After completing his doctorate, Dr. Yildiz moved into the applied healthcare sector. At TÜV Hessen and later at TÜV SÜD, he headed the medical-psychological diagnostics department and was responsible for international business development. In this role, he established collaborations between science, politics, and industry and founded the Think Tank for Human Diagnostics and Digitalization, with offices in Berlin and Brussels. This think tank developed strategies for the future of diagnostic systems and contributed to European concepts for quality, ethics, and digitalization.

His academic training was followed by an MBA in Management, which honed his analytical precision with strategic, financial, and governance-oriented perspectives. In international management roles, he combined evidence-based thinking with business discipline and a modern leadership culture. After his time at TÜV, he moved into executive management: As Chief Operating Officer of the Wicker Group, one of Germany’s largest private hospital groups, Dr. Yildiz assumed operational responsibility for hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, and psychiatric institutions with over 4,000 employees. His years in various top management leadership positions shaped an understanding of leadership that not only manages but also revitalizes systems – and laid the foundation for the establishment of the Sernitas Group.

Becoming a father gave the next chapter of his life a clearer focus and direction. From his history of immigration and early upward social mobility through education, research excellence, an MBA, and years in top international management, a clear path emerged: to translate his vision into a sustainable structure. In 2022, he founded the Sernitas Group – an integrated ecosystem of clinics, care facilities, institutes, HR, residential care, and an academy that reliably links economic success with social value. Sernitas creates the framework in which people arrive, learn, work, and grow – and makes responsibility measurable. It combines ambition and a commitment to peak performance with the dedication to realizing visions consistently and with a people-centered approach.

Today, Dr. Yildiz heads the Sernitas Group, based at the BioMedicineCenter at Ruhr University Bochum. He is active as a lecturer, researcher, and international speaker, and regularly appears in press articles, expert interviews, and television programs – including his TEDx talk “Why We Are More Than Our Brain” at RWTH Aachen University. His thinking remains shaped by the conviction that progress only makes sense if it serves humanity. “Roots provide stability. Attitude creates the future.” This sentence not only summarizes his biography but also serves as a guiding principle for his work, his company, and his understanding of responsibility.

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