Epidemiologist Gérard Krause moves to WHO
23.02.2023 16:47
The DZIF scientist and epidemiologist Prof. Gérard Krause will be moving to the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 1, 2023. There he will take over a newly established department for “Surveillance Systems”.
In his twelve-year career as head of the Department of Epidemiology at the Braunschweig Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI), Gérard Krause was instrumental in the development of various digital health tools such as SORMAS, PIA and SafeVac and new laboratory diagnostic procedures, as well as in the conduct of several large epidemiological population studies involved. From 2016 to 2020 he also coordinated the “Epidemiology” infrastructure of the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF). In addition to his activities at the HZI and DZIF, Krause also had close connections to the Hannover Medical School, the TWINCORE and the NAKO health study.
“As an internationally renowned epidemiologist, Gérard Krause has made a number of significant achievements for research and the strategic direction of the HZI over the past twelve years. In particular, the development and national and international dissemination of SORMAS as well as his great personal commitment to public education work on the corona pandemic were contributions of particularly high social value,” says Prof. Dirk Heinz, Scientific Director of the HZI and board member of the DZIF. “His new prominent position at the WHO is a special honor both for him as a scientist and a special appreciation for our researchers who are working to better control current and future infection outbreaks. At the same time, we very much regret Gérard Krause’s impending departure, which will initially leave a big gap.”
After receiving his doctorate in tropical hygiene in 1993, the doctor Gérard Krause initially worked in internal medicine, tropical medicine, hospital hygiene and epidemiology in Germany and the USA. In 2000 he moved to the Robert Koch Institute as head of the department and later department head. After completing his habilitation in 2005, he was jointly appointed to the Chair of Infection Epidemiology at the Hannover Medical School and to the HZI as head of the Department of Epidemiology in 2011. Krause is a co-founder of the NAKO Health Study and founded Germany's first doctoral program in epidemiology in 2013. In 2016 he also became director of the newly established Institute for Infection Epidemiology at TWINCORE, Center for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research. From 2016 to 2017 he was President of the German Society for Epidemiology.
Services to pandemic management
“Prof. Krause has made a great contribution to dealing with the pandemic in Germany through his work at the HZI. In addition to his infection research, he also played a major role in setting up the SORMAS surveillance system. This made it possible to bundle the data on infection events, which is so important for dealing with the pandemic, and prepare it for decision-makers. I wish him every success in his new tasks at the WHO and am sure that he will further advance the WHO in the area of surveillance with his know-how,” says State Secretary Judith Pirscher from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
A windfall for global health
“The fact that we are now saying goodbye to Prof. Gérard Krause from Braunschweig is extremely regrettable for the Helmholtz Association, but a stroke of luck for global health. We are proud that one of our outstanding infectious disease researchers has been appointed to such a top position at WHO. SORMAS is an excellent example of how cutting-edge Helmholtz research can be put into practice at the right time to help solve the major challenges of our time. We sincerely thank Gérard Krause for the great work he has done for Helmholtz research at the HZI, but also for Germany as a research location as a whole,” says Prof. Otmar D. Wiestler, President of the Helmholtz Association.
Krause will take over the management of the newly established department for “Surveillance Systems” at the WHO in Geneva. The department will promote international exchange and the mutual complementation of a wide variety of early warning and survey systems for infectious diseases. Together with experts from the WHO regions, the national public health institutes and science, international standards will be developed and countries will be supported in strengthening their surveillance systems in order to be able to detect epidemics and pandemics at an early stage and contain them in a targeted manner. “Approaching epidemic surveillance in such a holistic and comprehensive way is a real opportunity to better protect the world from future epidemics,” says Gérard Krause. “However, the task is huge. I would like to make my contribution to this.”
“In recent years, Gérard Krause has repeatedly demonstrated how research and innovation work in the area of early warning and surveillance systems can be brought together. It’s great that with him on the team we can now use this experience for the benefit of all WHO member states,” says Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, Assistant Director General at WHO and head of the Division for Intelligence and Surveillance Systems, which also includes the WHO Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence Hub in Berlin.
This year, Gérard Krause will be awarded the DZIF Prize for Translational Infection Research for the development of SORMAS. In addition, SORMAS made it into the top 3 in the final round of the highly endowed Zayed Sustainability Prize from over 900 projects submitted worldwide. On the occasion of the West African Ebola epidemic in 2014/2015, Krause developed the digital open source platform SORMAS together with partners from Nigeria and Germany . SORMAS stands for “Surveillance Outbreak Response Management and Analysis System” and helps with the early detection of epidemics and the management of containment measures. The software is now being used successfully in eleven countries in Africa, Asia and Europe, including in the fight against Lassa fever, monkeypox, meningitis, measles and in the COVID-19 pandemic. In Germany, too, over 130 health authorities have used SORMAS to manage the pandemic. In order to ensure the sustainable further development and expansion of SORMAS, the HZI spun off the SORMAS Foundation, designed by Krause, as a non-profit start-up (www.sormas.org<sormas.org/>).