Dr Ulrike Heiden is a founding member of the Mende Nazer Foundation. She is the treasurer of the foundation.

Dr Ulrike Heiden met Mende for the first time at an author reading in 2009. As she listened to Mende, she realised that Mende was the same age as her eldest son Pierre at the time of her abduction and rape. Deeply touched by Mendes’ terrible ordeal, she decided to support Mendes’ efforts to bring a positive change to the people in the Nuba Mountains.

After studying dentistry at the University of Heidelberg, she completed her doctorate in 1985 and then specialised in oral surgery. In the same year, she moved to Karlsruhe and set up her own practice. She is the proud mother of two sons, born in 1996 and 1998.

In 2008, she joined the Free Democratic Party (FDP), of which she is currently deputy district chairwoman.
She was nominated as a candidate for the state parliamentary elections in Baden-Württemberg in 2011 and is running for local elections in Karlsruhe in 2014.