Change in management at Fraunhofer ITEM

(Hannover, Germany) After 21 years of successful leadership, Professor Uwe Heinrich ceded his position as Fraunhofer ITEM executive director to Professor Norbert Krug as of January 1, 2017.

© Fraunhofer ITEM

Prof. Dr. Dr. Uwe Heinrich, professor of toxicology and aerosol research at the Hannover Medical School, Germany, became executive director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Aerosol Research in 1996. Since the institute was founded in 1981, Prof. Heinrich has been one of its research fellows and has enriched the institute with his broad knowledge in inhalation toxicology and experimental oncology. This expertise led to the thematic enhancement of the institute in the direction of clinical research and molecular medicine, eventually resulting in the institute’s name being changed to Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM in 2003. By serving on numerous working groups and committees, including the Research Committee of the Health Effects Institute in Boston, USA, Prof. Heinrich has earned great recognition in the field of toxicological research, also at the international level. In 2011, he was awarded the Fraunhofer Medal in recognition of the foundation and more than 10 years of successful chairmanship of the Fraunhofer Group for Life Sciences. Another milestone in Prof. Heinrich’s professional career was the opening of the Clinical Research Center Hannover (CRC Hannover) in 2014, the only medical research center of its kind in Germany, set up and operated in cooperation with the Hannover Medical School (MHH) and the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research. On March 31, 2017, Prof. Uwe Heinrich will enter his well-deserved retirement, after he handed over his management duties to Prof. Norbert Krug already at the beginning of this year.

Prof. Dr. Norbert Krug is professor of immunology, allergology and clinical inhalation research and has been medical director and co-director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM since 2008. He trained in internal medicine and also in respiratory medicine, allergology and intensive-care medicine at the Hannover Medical School. From 1991 to 1993, he was a research fellow at the University of Bochum, Germany, and the University of Southampton, UK. In 2000, he was awarded a full academic professorship in immunology, allergology and clinical inhalation research at the Hannover Medical School and became director of the corresponding division at Fraunhofer ITEM. In the following years, he played a leading role in setting up the institute’s clinical research on the airway diseases asthma, COPD, and allergic rhinitis and established Fraunhofer ITEM as leading cooperation partner to the pharmaceutical industry for the development and testing of novel respiratory drugs.  In 2008, he began planning the Clinical Research Center Hannover in cooperation with the Hannover Medical School and the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research and has been coordinator of this new study center since it was opened in 2014. Prof. Krug is a member of numerous international allergological and respiratory professional societies, in addition to being a reviewer for numerous international journals in these thematic areas. His major research interests are in the areas of allergy, asthma, and COPD, pathogenesis of allergic airway diseases, and relationships between air pollution and airway diseases. He is a member of the scientific advisory board of the German Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology, a member of the German Center for Lung Research, and deputy chairman of the Fraunhofer Group for Life Sciences.

Prof. Krug took over the job of the institute’s executive director already on January 1, 2017, continuing the Fraunhofer tradition of linking academic research with applied science.