Press Release

Vice-President for Medicine: Prof. Christopher Baum

As the Vice-President for Medicine, a Member of the Executive Board of the University and a Member of the Board of Directors for Research and Education at UKSH

Prof. Dr Christopher Baum has just started his job as the first full-time Vice-President for Medicine at the Universität zu Lübeck. This new position was created under the reformation of higher education medical schools in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. In this post, the Vice-President for Medicine will become one of five members of the Executive Board of the University zu Lübeck, alongside the President, the Vice-Presidents for Education, Digitization & Technology Transfer, and the Vice-Chancellor. His full-time role covers medical research and education. He will also serve at the University Medical Centre of Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH) as a member of the board of directors by succeeding the former board member, Prof. Dr Thomas Münte, as the Science Director at the Lübeck Campus.

Under the Higher Education Act, the medicine section at the Universität zu Lübeck and the medical faculty at the Christian Albrechts University of Kiel are bound to cooperate closely with each other and with the University Medical Centre of Schleswig-Holstein, in order to define their focus and coordinate activities. Moreover, one expects close interaction and coordination with the full-time dean at the medical faculty in Kiel, to represent research and education on the board of UKSH.

Interaction and Coordination
After being appointed in September 2018 by the University’s Academic Senate, Prof. Baum said, “Lübeck is the centre of creativity that coalesces the core tasks of research, education, and healthcare into a modern, patient-centric medicine programme at the university. I really appreciate being entrusted by the Senate to carry out the most important task at the university and in UKSH.” The prerequisites for applicants for the post of Vice-President for Medicine were an outstanding career in research and education underpinned by longstanding management experience in university committees, and in the field of healthcare. Prof. Dr med. Christopher Baum, born in 1962, became the President of the Hannover Medical School (MHH) in 2013. After studying philosophy in Mainz and medicine in Essen, Freiburg and Hamburg, he did his residency at the Medical Centre Borstel in Bad Oldesloe. He obtained his doctorate in 1991, and habilitated in the field of molecular medicine in 1999 at the University of Hamburg. In 2000, he joined the Hannover Medical School, initially as a professor for stem cell biology, moving up in 2006 to the post of Head, Institute of Experimental Haematology. Here he also served as the ombudsman for Good Scientific Practice and the Dean of Research. His scientific achievements cover the development of gene vectors, discovery and prevention of insertional mutagenesis in gene therapy, as well as the development of preclinical procedures for testing the biosafety of genetically modified blood stem cells. In the field of research management, he shaped national and international networks on transitional research in stem cell and gene therapy. He introduced the voluntary year of science as a new form of social work for a year, the clinician scientist programme “Youth Academy of MHH” and the further education programme “TRAIN Academy” for translational sciences. His initiative led to a redesign of the architectural master plan for the Hannover campus, and he was responsible for overall coordination to ensure excellence.

Prof. Dr Gabriele Gillessen-Kaesbach, President of the University, thanked Prof. Münte and Prof. Dr Detlef Zillikens
for their excellent contributions during their past terms of office as vice-presidents.