Jürgen Konrad Mai studied medicine in Freiburg, Germany, Vienna and UT Southwestern Medical School, Dallas, U.S.A. Student and Medical practices in Freiburg (Clinic for Neurosurgery), Berlin and Düsseldorf. Dissertation ("summa cum laude") and habilitation were awarded by the University of Düsseldorf: After a period as GP in private practice (Titisee-Neustadt) he became scientific assistant and senior assistant at the C. and O. Vogt-Institute for Brain Research, University of Düsseldorf (1972 - 1983) and 1983 Professor of Neuroanatomy at the Institute of Neuroanatomy, H.-Heine-University of Düsseldorf. He served as director of the Department of the Institute of Anatomy 1 until retirement in 2011.

The main research interests are (i) the structural and molecular anatomy of the mammalian brain, especially of the human brain and (ii) expression patterns and regulation of terminal carbohydrates in development, cell activation and disease (III) operation planning in stereotactic neurosurgery. He works on a "Digital Brain Atlas for Planning and Interindividual Registration of Targets in Deep Brain Stimulation" and on a "Spatial Information Management Resource for the Human Brain". J. K. Mai has edited the catalogue of human brain sections from the Vogt collection; he is author and editor of several books, e.g. the awarded "Atlas of the Human Brain" with CD-ROM (Academic Press/Elsevier, San Diego), "The Human Nervous System" (Academic Press/Elsevier, San Diego, Amsterdam, 3rd ed. 2012), Funktionelle Anatomie für Zahnmediziner (Quintessenz, Berlin, 2nd. ed. 2008; Sensi Divini (ital., engl., ger, russ. eds). J. K. Mai is CEO of MR-X-Brain GmbH.