The German Health Centres pool expertise in order to study common diseases even better. Photo: Helmholtz/Annette Spicker

A Year of Health

2011 is characterised by health - with new challenges, but also with promising opportunities. A major topic is the establishment of the German Health Research Centres in which Helmholtz Centres will play an important role. We therefore welcome the initiative of the German Research Minister Annette Schavan regarding the founding of the German Health Centres and look forward to the role assigned to us. We see this as an opportunity to strengthen health research in Germany even further.

In May of this year, BMBF called on universities and research centres to take part in the public competition for the establishment of the German Health Centres in the areas of infection research, cardiovascular research, translational cancer research and lung research. It is now certain that four Helmholtz Centres are in the final round: the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, the Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine Berlin-Buch, the German Cancer Research Centre and the Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Centre for Environmental Health. By the first quarter of 2011, the selected partners must present an overall concept to an international review panel. If successful, the Helmholtz centres will be significantly involved in several German Health Centres. Already in 2009, the German Centre for Diabetes Research under the aegis of the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases, which is part of the Helmholtz Association, went into operation. Together with our partners and medical faculties, we can thus advance German health research dynamically and pool our expertise in order to more effectively combat the rapidly increasing common chronic diseases.

back