This first Alumni Day at the foundation took place on June 6, 2023 at a guest house belonging to Frankfurt University. Following the welcoming address given by Prof. Dr. Michael Madeja, Chairman of the Management Board at Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung, the agenda featured presentations on the theme of Digital Health. “Utilizing hybrid healthcare and digital platforms for innovation and productivity” was the title of the presentation by Karsten Knöppler from the firm fbeta GmbH in Berlin. PD Dr. Silke Matura, Clinic for Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt am Main, reported on the topic of “The smartphone as instrument for screening. Experiences from the field of psychiatric research.” And the extent to which digital diagnostics are changing dermatology was explained by Dr. Titus J. Brinker from the German Cancer Research Center (“DKFZ”) in Heidelberg.

An interesting round of discussions involving the speakers and the audience was followed by the presentation ceremony for the Publication Prizes 2023 awarded by Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung. Prof. Dr. Stefan Endres, Chairman of the Scientific Commission at EKFS, and Prof. Dr. Michael Madeja presented the certificates to this year’s prizewinners:

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dieter Henrik Heiland, Neurosurgery, University of Freiburg Medical Center, for his paper in Cancer Cell 2022.
Prof. Dr. Melanie Meersch-Dini, Clinic for Anesthesiology, Surgical Intensive Care Medicine and Pain Management, Münster University Hospital, for her paper in the JAMA 2022.
Dr. Dr. Varun Venkataramani, Department of Neurology, Heidelberg University Hospital, for his paper in Cell 2022.

A particular highlight was the subsequent presentation by Ulf Merbold, physicist and astronaut, on “Medical experiments in outer space”. In addition to all the above, the first Alumni Day provided sufficient time for networking and exchanging views among the project managers who have received funding and support.