UKE co-ordinating new German paediatrics centre

25 March 2021

EUR 500,000 in German government funds for centre - new research network to boost child and adolescent therapy

The University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) has been selected as co-ordinator of the new German Centre for Paediatrics. The UKE will develop a concept for the research centre in a network with other hospitals, according to the German Ministry of Research. The ministry has earmarked EUR 500,000 in funds to fight diseases occurring in children and adolescents and to put the results of research into practice swiftly.

New approaches for treating children and adolescents

"The collaboration between the best paediatricians and basic researchers in the German Centre for Paediatrics will help develop new approaches to diagnosis and treatment for children suffering from rare and very serious diseases," said Prof. Dr. Ania C. Muntau, Director of UKE's Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. The UKE was among 22 other applicants and was selected as the co-ordinator for Hamburg after a multi-stage procedure. The Altona Children's Hospital and the Heinrich Pette Institute are also involved. The other applicants include Berlin, Göttingen, Greifswald, Leipzig, Munich and Ulm.

UKE involved in research network

The research network will develop a concept for the new centre within six months. Emphasis is on developing a research and collaboration strategy with other locations as well as content-related structural objectives. The centre should improve diagnostics, treatment and prevention in child and adolescent health and mental illness. "Many children suffer from rare diseases for which research frequently has no answers," said Katharina Fegebank, Senator for Science, Research and Equality. "The new research network helps us - especially in north Germany - to close these gaps and get much closer to innovative therapeutic approaches."

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