Prof. Dr. Hallek elected new chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board
13.12.2022 16:51
Prof. Dr. Michael Hallek is the new chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board (WB) of the German Medical Association (BÄK). At their 105th plenary meeting on December 10, 2022, the WB members voted with a large majority in favor of the hematologist/oncologist from Cologne, who will now head the committee for three years. The advisory board confirmed Prof. Dr. as deputy chairman. Dr. Manfred Dietel from Berlin. In addition, Prof. Dr. Stefan Endres from Munich was newly elected as deputy chairman. Prof. Dr. was re-elected as additional members of the Advisory Board. Dr. Norbert Haas, Prof. Dr. Sabine Kliesch, Prof. Dr. Wilhelm-Bernhard Niebling and Prof. Dr. Fred Zepp.
Prof. Dr. Hallek replaces Prof. Dr. Dr. Peter C. Scriba, who held the office of WB chairman for more than twenty years. “With the election of the new chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board, an era is coming to an end. “Peter Scriba has made an outstanding contribution to the constructive interaction between scientific medicine and professional politics and has thus had a decisive influence on the way the Scientific Advisory Board works,” emphasized BÄK President, Dr. Klaus Reinhardt, after the announcement of the election results. In recognition of his special achievements, the BÄK board has therefore appointed Prof. Scriba as an extraordinary member of the WB. “We are very pleased that Prof. Scriba will continue to advise the advisory board,” said the BÄK President. “With Prof. Hallek, the Scientific Advisory Board has an experienced chairman who has been very committed to contributing his medical-scientific expertise and practical experience to the work of the Advisory Board for eight years,” said Reinhardt.
Under the leadership of the Cologne internist, among other things, the current guidelines for the production and use of hematopoietic stem cell preparations were developed. The statement “Post-COVID Syndrome (PCS)”, published in October this year, was also created under his chairmanship. “It is important to me to enable the German Medical Association, as an interdisciplinary and cross-sector representative of all doctors in Germany, to speak on current issues with evidence-based position papers and thus support technically sound policy advice,” explains Prof. Hallek. The director of Clinic I for Internal Medicine at the University Hospital of Cologne, who is not only an outstanding doctor and internationally recognized scientist, but also a member of the Science Council and the Leopoldina, among other things, is looking forward to his new task: “I am taking on a great role from Peter Scriba established committee. I am particularly pleased that all colleagues on the board have agreed to participate in the new term of office in the interest of a continuous transition.”
In the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Medical Association, scientists from various medical fields work together on an interdisciplinary basis. In terms of its composition, the advisory board is a forum for scientific and health policy discussion and exchange, whose success is rooted in its network of voluntary specialist experts.
According to its statutes, the advisory board advises the BÄK on medical-scientific and research questions that are submitted to it by the board of the German Medical Association. The advisory board can also be called upon to advise on fundamental and individual questions.
On behalf of the BÄK board, the advisory board develops, among other things, guidelines for the German Medical Association in accordance with the Transplantation Act and the Transfusion Act. This year, for example, the working groups of the advisory board updated the “Guideline for determining irreversible brain function loss” and issued statements on the “Post-COVID syndrome (PCS)” and to “Survey of malformations in newborns” published. At their meetings on December 9th and 10th, the board and the plenum of the advisory board discussed the update of the “Hemotherapy Guideline”.