6 3 / 2022 // LEOPOLDINA / NEWS
Annual Assembly 2022 on Global Health
EARLY CAREER AWARD PRESENTED TO FRANCESCA SANTORO PROGRAMME
When skin and nerve cells are damaged by injury or disease , innovative bioelectronics can play an important role in speeding up healing . Materials scientist and biomedical engineer Francesca Santoro receives the Leopoldina Early Career Award in recognition of her development of bioelectronic materials capable of providing electrical stimulation to living cells . The award ceremony , which will include a speech by the scientist , will be held during the Annual Assembly . During her PhD , Santoro began investigating the electrical activity of heart muscle and nerve cells and researched techniques to manufacture micro- and nanoscale 3D
structures . Due to their photovoltaic properties , the ultrathin materials she developed do not require any batteries so can remain on the skin for weeks . In Germany Santoro has been leading research groups at RWTH Aachen University and the Forschungszentrum Jülich since the start of 2022 . She is currently working on optimising the interfaces between nervous tissue and electronic microchips with the aim of creating biohybrid neuronal cells . The Early Career Award is financed by the Commerzbank Foundation with a prize of 30,000 euros . ■ LO
Image : Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia
Early Career Award 2022
Friday , 23 September 9:00 am Opening Ceremony
10:30 am Keynote Lecture „ Health Equity in Times of a Pandemic “ with Mike Ryan ( Geneva / Switzerland )
11:30 am Presentation of the Early Career Award und lecture by the Awardee
12:15 pm Inaugural Lecture “ The COVID-19-Pandemic : Lessons for Global Health ” with Lothar H . Wieler ML ( Berlin / Germany )
2:30 pm Session I “ Social Determi nants of Health ” with Clare Bambra ( Newcastle upon Tyne / UK ), Gabriele Stangl ML ( Halle / Saale / Germany ), Jürgen Margraf ML ( Bochum / Germany )
5:00 pm Session II “ Health Economic Aspects ” with Aida Habtezion ( New York / USA ) and Seyed Hasnain ML ( New Delhi / India )
8:15 pm Evening Lecture “ International Health Protection and Health Equity ” by Johanna Hanefeld ( Berlin / Germany )
Social justice in the spotlight
Evening lecture by social scientist Johanna Hanefeld
International networking will be crucial to achieve global health . In her evening lecture “ International Health Protection and Health Equity ” on Friday , 23 September at 8:15 pm , Johanna Hanefeld , a social scientist specialised in global aspects of public health , will explain why resilient public health systems are also indispensable to global health .
Hanefeld completed her academic education in the United Kingdom and has been a Professor of Global Health Policy at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine since 2012 . As the Head of the Centre for International Health Protection , which was established at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin / Germany in 2019 , she can provide insights into the practical implementation of global health initiatives .
“ Interest in global health is growing in Germany . However , it is still in its infancy , including in terms of its establishment as an academic discipline . The event at the Leopoldina will be an important milestone in the subject ’ s development here in Germany ,” she says in anticipation of the Annual Assembly and its focus on global health .
■ AB
Saturday , 24 September
8:30 am Session III “ Health Systems Research ” with Irene Akua Agyepong ( Accra / Ghana ) and Juliet Bedford ( Oxfordshire / UK )
10:30 am Session IV “ One Health – Complex Systems ” with Eva Rehfuess ( Munich / Germany ) and Thomas Wiegand ML ( Berlin / Germany )
1:30 pm Session IV “ One Health – Infectious Diseases ” with Thomas C . Mettenleiter ML ( Greifswald / Germany ) and Susanne Hartmann ML ( Berlin / Germany )
3:30 pm Session IV “ One Health – Mobility ” with Ibrahim Abubakar ( London / UK ) and Frauke Kraas ML ( Cologne / Germany )
Annual Assembly programme