The Else Kröner graduate study program “Rethinking Health” is going to close the crucial gap between studying for a medical degree and academic careers, and introduces medical students to a substantial scientific activity at an early stage. Accordingly, the graduate study program provides a hook-up at the location to the BIH Charité Clinician Scientist Program, which has been readily established for years at Charité and the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH). Embedded into the “Strategy Charité 2030”, the graduate study program endeavors to attain a new scientific understanding of the condition “health” as an active process driven by mechanisms belonging to continuous adaptation to the environment (microbiome, nutrition, etc.). A better understanding of such health-preserving signaling networks that increase fitness and disease resilience in a species is intended to lead to the identification of molecular target structures for prevention. Additionally, there is a mentoring program for female physicians aimed at raising the number of female physicians appointed to professorships to an above-average level in the coming years.

Proposers: Spokesman Prof. Dr. Andreas Diefenbach is director of the Institute of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Immunology at Charité. Envisaged as deputy spokespersons are Prof. Dr. Chiara Romagnani (DRFZ German Rheumatism Research Center and Department of Gastroenterology, Infectiology and Rheumatology) and Prof. Dr. Felix Knauf (Department of Nephrology and Medical Intensive Care).

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