Why are you involved in the NUM?
The pandemic phase has shown how important it is to unite university medicine in Germany with its diverse expertise in areas such as infectiology, microbiology, hygiene, epidemiology and healthcare research. In the first funding period of the NUM, important anchor points (such as infrastructures for pathogen monitoring) were established, which are followed by many concepts. Current projects are investigating the after-effects of the pandemic or dealing with retrospective analyses (e.g. MolTraX with genomics-based infection chain analysis). In my view, it is a very fulfilling task for Bielefeld as a university location with a still young medical faculty to be involved in forward-looking collaboration between different locations. Last but not least, it is also the enthusiasm for the exchange between the participants from the other university medical centres, which would only have been possible to a limited extent without the NUM. The projects in which my "Sustainable Environmental Health Sciences" working group and I are involved (MolTraX, PREPARED, CollPan) have one particularly important aspect in common in my view: the active involvement of the local health authorities, which has resulted in the public health service (ÖGD) being involved in and paying particular attention to NUM projects.
Where do you see the greatest opportunities if all university hospitals conduct joint research?
In my view, the greatest opportunity lies in the potential of NUM to establish the established structures and service units (e.g. in the area of genomic surveillance) in Germany in the long term and sustainably through the future provision of resources. The associated dynamic responsiveness of university medical research offers an essential basis for ensuring progress in medical prevention and care, especially for the challenges of our time (e.g. mutually amplifying factors from climate change, loss of biodiversity, zoonoses).
Tell us a technical term from your job that sounds exciting and that only the real experts understand! What does the term mean?
Genomic surveillance - describes the ongoing analysis of the genetic evolution of medically significant pathogens and the monitoring of the associated medically relevant changes. It also allows pathways of pathogen spread to be traced more precisely. It is a powerful tool for identifying hygiene gaps in the healthcare system and establishing better preventative measures in the future. The combination of genetic data on pathogens with information from traditional contact tracing enables a particularly detailed and, above all, evidence-based reconstruction of infection chains in outbreaks. This opens up better opportunities for the ÖGD to define infection prevention measures dynamically and on an event-driven basis, ultimately enabling it to provide useful information and recommendations to political decision-makers.
What excites you about your job?
As previously mentioned, I consider the linking and active involvement of representatives from the public health service to be very important - not least because of the networking gaps between the public health service and university medicine, some of which have been drastically highlighted by the pandemic. Against this background, I find it particularly exciting that the active involvement of the ÖGD in the projects provides a detailed insight. Furthermore, it is always gratifying to see how the potential of networking between NUM sites and the ÖGD gradually unfolds and ultimately delivers real added value for science, care and ultimately also patients.