DZIF scientist Berit Lange appointed to the German Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO)
The German Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) has appointed new members to the Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO). Among the 19 experts is Dr Berit Lange, acting head of the department “Epidemiology” at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and coordinator of the DZIF infrastructure Bioresources, Biodata and Digital Health. The STIKO is an independent, voluntary committee of experts with the aim of developing vaccination recommendations for the population in Germany. The newly appointed STIKO will hold its inaugural meeting on March 12 and 13, 2024.
A large number of infectious diseases can be prevented or their course significantly weakened by vaccinations. To provide the population with better guidance on which vaccinations are recommended at which time, STIKO is compiling a regularly updated vaccination calendar. During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in particular, the STIKO recommendations on coronavirus vaccinations were widely followed. HZI epidemiologist Berit Lange has now been appointed to the committee for three years. “I'm looking forward to working with colleagues from many different disciplines,” says Lange. “My goal is to contribute to evidence-based recommendations that reduce the burden of disease from infections in the population in the best possible way.”
Prof Thomas Pietschmann, Deputy Scientific Director of the HZI and member of the DZIF Executive Board, says: “On behalf of the HZI management, I would like to congratulate Berit Lange on her appointment to the STIKO. She is a proven expert in the modeling of respiratory infectious diseases and the effect of vaccinations. She also brings years of clinical experience to the role. This makes her a great asset to this important committee for public health.”
Berit Lange studied medicine in Freiburg, Madrid, Peru and Chile as well as epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). Following a postdoctoral position in infectious disease epidemiology at LSHTM, she worked at the University Medical Center Freiburg as a physician in infectiology and led a research group in infectious disease epidemiology and global health. In May 2019, Berit Lange took over the “Clinical Epidemiology” team in the department “Epidemiology” at the HZI and in March 2023 also became the acting head of the department. Her own research group investigates the dynamics and disease burden of respiratory infectious diseases in the context of clinical and population-based studies, through evidence synthesis and with the help of infection dynamics modeling. Lange has been spokesperson for the Modeling Network for Serious Infectious Diseases (MONID) since 2022 and President of the German Society for Epidemiology (DGEpi) since 2024.
Source: Press release of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI)