Rheumatism Foundation enables new endowed professorship for healthcare research for people with rheumatism
20.09.2012 12:44
With the help of an inheritance donation from the German Rheumatism League, the Rheumatism Foundation awarded an endowed professorship for health services research in rheumatology in August 2012. 600,000 euros in funding is available over the next five years. After an international assessment, the foundation's board selected the one from the Charité and the German Rheumatism Research Center Berlin (DRFZ) from six concepts as the most sustainable. All medical faculties in Germany were able to take part in the tender.
“The DRFZ’s good cooperative relationships with rheumatologists and patients and the many long-term studies already underway offer an ideal starting point for the new professorship,” says Rotraut Schmale-Grede, chairwoman of the Rheumatology Foundation and board member of the German Rheumatism League. “In view of the sometimes precarious care situation for people with rheumatic diseases in Germany, the new professorship is urgently needed in order to systematically research the care of adults and children with rheumatic diseases and their deficits and to develop new care concepts. The focus must be on the perspective of those affected and on improving their situation.”
“Healthcare-related research has been carried out at the DRFZ for many years, but never with stable institutional funding,” adds Prof. Angela Zink, head of the epidemiology research area at the DRFZ Berlin. “This will now change fundamentally, because the DRFZ is funding the new professorship again with the same amount and guarantees its continuation after five years.”
The Rheumatism Foundation considers the close integration with clinical care, which is guaranteed by the Charité Clinic, to be particularly advantageous. Prof. Gerd-Rüdiger Burmester, Director of the Clinic for Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology at the Charité: “The new professorship will further strengthen the already very close scientific collaboration between our clinic and the DRFZ and thus also the care of patients.”
The Rheumatology Foundation is a joint foundation of the German Society for Rheumatology and the largest patient organization with over 260,000 members, the German Rheumatism League Bundesverband eV