University of Massachusetts Boston University of Illinois, IGPA Urbana -Champaign Institute Exp.Medicine, RAMS St. Petersburg Medizinische Hochschule Hannover Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin HDZ NRW Ruhr-Universität Bochum RWTH Faculty of Medicine Aachen IALS Life Sciences University Network The IALS Life Sciences University Network is one component in the overall International Academy of Life Sciences IALS (http://www.lifesciences.net/ ). Through our international network of experts, IALS is able to propose and respond to new ideas, initiatives, and proposals in the Life Sciences. IALS is responsive to scientists, clinicians, academicians, government officials, and industry. We seek to provide a forum where multiple stakeholders can obtain research, consultation, technical assistance, training and evaluation. IALS Life Sciences University Network Mission The IALS Life Sciences University Network is a unique and flexible organization designed to specifically encourage and facilitate academic international and interdisciplinary cooperation on critical Life Sciences issues. By hosting a variety of seminars, lecture series, conferences, and educational opportunities in Europe and the U.S., the University Network provides an interdisciplinary, think-tanklike environment that offers: a future forum for cutting-edge issues in the Life Sciences a place for analysis and production of ideas and their diffusion by public understanding a network generating a pool of experts by transdisciplinary approach. Member Universities IALS recognizes and supports the increasingly significant role of Universities in driving innovation in global biosciences arenas. As a neutral host, IALS enables different University Network institutions to find common and cooperative (rather than competitive) ground, and have open and free discussion on issues that may span domestic and / or international interests. The IALS University Network was established in 2006, with the Medizinische Hochschule Hannover and Charité Universitätsmedizin, Berlin. Today the IALS University Network is a self-sustaining global organization; its members include (see more information on these institutions below): Medizinische Hochschule Hannover University of Massachusetts Boston Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin RWTH-Aachen University, Faculty of Medicine, Aachen (New in 2013) HDZ NRW Bad Oeynhausen, Ruhr-Universität Bochum Institute of Experimental Medicine, Dept. of Molecular Genetics, RAMS, St. Petersburg University of Illinois IGPA, Urbana-Champaign 01
IALS Life Sciences University Network Strengths In a global field that is becoming ever more competitive and fragmented, the IALS University Network provides a cooperative haven for academics, professionals, and policy makers to discuss and debate some of the most important issues in Life Sciences today. One of the unique characteristics of IALS is our international and trans-disciplinary combination of education, targeted initiatives, and supporting infrastructure: Our focus on the education and training / development of young clinical scientists is expressed through our BMEP, Global Fellowships, and Career Development activities. Specific initiatives led by our international network of experts address innovation and issues around new technologies, law, management, bio-engineering, global health, and much more. Our supporting infrastructure is made up of our IALS Life Sciences University Network (whose eight international university members provide an interdisciplinary, think-tank-like environment), and all of our valuable IALS Sponsors, Fellows, and individual Members. Through these three focus areas, IALS delivers on our mission of being a vital source for international education, innovation, and research in Life Sciences. All our IALS activities are supported and developed by our IALS Board of Directors (Robert. F. Rich, Chairman); IALS Development Committee (Karsten Dreinhöfer, Chairman) ; and our Working Group: Public Policy & Life Sciences (Axel Mühlbacher, Chairman). IALS and IALS University Network Achievements Education and Training leads to Leadership The IALS BMEP has been promoting excellence in biomedical and health sciences since 1979. To date, nearly 1,800 students, post-graduates, faculty members and scientific assistants have been placed at university and scientific institutes in North America and Europe. Of them, about 800 have been part of our Transatlantic BMEP fellowships supported in large part by DAAD (German Academic Exchange) funding, and in particular through the cooperation of universities and institutes in North America, Germany, and Russia. To date, some 165 BMEP Alumni hold leadership roles and academic positions in Universities, including Assistant, Associate, or Full Professors. Initiatives and Partnerships For more than 25 years the IALS University Network has been engaging in cutting edge Life Sciences issues, across academia, government, and business. Our publications and partnerships lead the industry in areas such as technology transfers in bio medicine (including the Biotechnicum in Greifswald, or the Museum of Civil Aviation in Beiging), and feasibility studies and white papers on gene therapy and other cutting edge technologies. For a comprehensive listing of activitites, please see http://www.lifesciences.net/aboutus/achievements.html. 02
Workshops and Conferences The partnerships and research noted above are often born through the discussions and dialogs generated at IALS conferences and workshops: IALS University Network Transatlantic Workshop, October 2013 Impact of the Life Sciences: New Players in Innovation and its Interfaces in Emerging Economies and Low Income Countries http://www.lifesciences.net/documents/workshop2013.pdf Conference held at the University of Massachusetts, Boston IALS University Network Transatlantic Workshop, August 2012 Advancing Public Policy: Innovation and Risk in Life Sciences http://wiki.acadlife.net/wiki/potsdamconf2012 Conference held at Schloss Cecilienhof in Potsdam, Germany IALS University Network Transatlantic Workshop, October 2011 Advances in the Life Sciences and Uniting Universities, Corporate, and Government Partners http://wiki.acadlife.net/wiki/bostonconfoct2011 Conference held at the University of Massachusetts, Boston 30 Years of BMEP A Celebration of Learning, Sharing, and Leading, December, 2010 http://wiki.acadlife.net/wiki/30yearsbmep Conference held at Ruine, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Kaiserin-Friedrich-Stiftung, Berlin IALS University Network Transatlantic Workshop, February 2010 Transdisciplinary Interfaces of Molecular Biology, Nanotechnology, and Synthetic Biology: International Regulations, Ethics, and Public Issues http://wiki.acadlife.net/wiki/workshop_berlin_2010 Conference held at Langenbeck-Virchow-Haus, Berlin Contacts Prof. Hilmar Stolte, M.D. Univ. Professor em. & President IALs Medizinische Hochschule Hannover Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1 D-30625 Hannover stolte@lifesciences.net fon +49 5731 23941 Mary J. McDermott Representative, IALS Life Sciences University Network US/Canada 5932 Baker Avenue Mays Landing, NJ 08330 ials.bmep.us.alumni@gmail.com Fon +1 609 616 5150 03
IALS Life Sciences University Network members Medizinische Hochschule Hannover The Hannover Medical School, founded in 1965, is one of the world's leading university medical centers. Its research and patient care set national and international standards, and MHH is part of an excellent regional medical network. Within Germany, its interdisciplinary collaborations have earned it the greatest volume of grant funding of all Germany medical universities. From its very beginnings, international relations played an important role at Hannover Medical School. International cooperation and mobility are highly supported, and the worldwide network of contacts with universities and hospitals is constantly growing. MHH is nationally and internationally recognized for excellence in research and teaching. Students, scientists and physicians from abroad are eager to come to Hannover Medical School for their studies, research, or employment. PhD students and scientists from all over the world are involved in a wide variety of research projects at the MHH and partner institutes. MHH has been the mother faculty of the IALS BMEP program since its inception in 1980. Over the last 34 years, approximately 280 MHH graduate students have completed BMEP academic experiences in the US and other countries in the BMEP program. http://www.mh-hannover.de University of Massachusetts Boston 04 The University of Massachusetts Boston is nationally recognized as a model of excellence for urban public universities, with nearly 16,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The university s ten colleges and schools offer more than 100 undergraduate programs and 50 graduate programs. UMass Boston s diverse student body provides a global context for student learning, and its location in a major U.S. city provides connections to employers in industries such as finance, health care, technology, service, and education, offering students opportunities to gain valuable in-school experience via internships, clinicals, and other career-related placements. In recent years, UMB Boston has become been a vital member of the IALS Life Sciences University Network, and the IALS BMEP program. IALS BMEP students have been studying at UMass Boston since 2006; and UMB Boston hosted the annual IALS BMEP Student Conferences in 2012 and 2013. The IALS Transatlantic Workshops begun in 1982 with Tufts University are now implemented with the University of Massachusetts Boston, and IALS and UMass Boston are working closely on several transnational intellectual exchange efforts. In early 2013, IALS and UMass Boston established the European Office of UMass Boston in Potsdam, Germany, to promote educational and academic interests; and in 2014, UMB and IALS will be developing a curriculum for a Ph.D. program in Transatlantic Public Policy. www.umb.edu
Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin The Charité is one of the largest university hospitals in Europe. Here, 3800 doctors and scientists heal, do research and teach at the top international level. More than half of the German Nobel Prize winners in medicine and physiology come from the Charité. The Charité also has an international reputation for excellence in training. It extends over four campuses with more than 100 clinics and institutes bundled under 17 CharitéCenters. With 13,000 employees, the Charité generates about 1.2 billion euros in sales per year and is one of the largest employers in Berlin. In 2010, the Charité celebrated its 300-year anniversary. The Charité has a rich history of partnership and cooperation with IALS and BMEP that began with Freie Universität Berlin in 1984 and continued as the new School of Medicine opened in 1989. To date, 132 students from Freie Universität, Humboldt Universität Berlin, and now Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin have completed the BMEP program. www.charite.de Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin 05 The Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin (DHZB) is an internationally renowned high-performance hospital for the treatment of cardiovascular and thoracic diseases, for the implantation of mechanical circulatory support systems, and for heart and lung transplantation. Each year, DHZP performs more than 2,500 operations using the heart-lung machine and over 2,000 other operations on the heart and blood vessels. In addition, about 2,000 diagnostic and more than 1,800 invasive procedures (heart catheterization) are carried out in patients with congenital and acquired heart disease. Each year more than 6,500 individuals are treated as inpatients and 14,000 outpatients come to the DHZB for treatment. The DHZB has a cooperative partnership with the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Since 2002 the DHZB has been certified by KTQ, "Cooperation for Quality and Transparency in Health Care." This is a national quality control procedure for hospitals, whereby external inspectors assess all aspects of health care institutions. IALS and DHZB have consistently worked together through the BMEP program, which enabled several special advanced doctorate students to participate in the DHZB/IALS Fellowship Program in the areas of Thoracic Surgery and Pediatric Cardiology. http://www.dhzb.de/
RWTH-Aachen University, Faculty of Medicine, Aachen (New in 2013) Formed in 1870, the Royal Rhine-Westphalian Polytechnic School was the first polytechnic school in Prussia. Today it holds an outstanding worldwide reputation for innovative solutions to global challenges in research and industry. With its 260 institutes in nine faculties, RWTH Aachen hosts 37,000 students, including nearly 5,000 international students from more than 120 countries. RWTH Aachen offers a unique, six-year degree program for medicine that builds on the conventional German Licensing Regulations for Physicians requirements with an interdisciplinary approach. This enhanced model introduces individual qualification profiles, and offers more practical experience and earlier contact between students and patients making theory and practice equal parts of the educational program. IALS and RWTH-Aachen have a vibrant relationship through the active involvement of some 20 BMEP alumni who are now part of RWTH-Aachen, and four current-year students (supported by IALS) focused on Global Health. Active IALS BMEP Alumni at RWTH-Aachen include Hans-Christoph Pape, Chairman, Department of Orthopaedic Trauma; and Alexander Schachtrupp, Board Certified Surgeon, Dept. of Surgery (also Chief Medical Officer, SVP Medical Scientific Affairs, B Braun Melsungen). http://www.medizin.rwth-aachen.de/ HDZ-NRW Bad Oeynhausen, Ruhr-Universität Bochum 06 The HDZ NRW is one of the leading international treatment centers for cardiac, vascular and diabetic diseases. It is one of the largest treatment centers for cardiac, vascular, and diabetic diseases in Germany and Europe. Four clinics, three university institutes, plus other institutes and internal service providers affiliated to the HDZ NRW together make up a center of competence which is both a national and an international leader. The Heart and Diabetes Center NRW is setting new standards for the treatment of cardiac, vascular and diabetic diseases. Over 37,000 patients and 100,000 cardiosurgical operations and 250,000 cardiac catheter examinations are testimony to HDZ NRW s wealth of experience. In addition, as a university hospital of the Ruhr-University of Bochum, HDZ NRW makes a significant contribution to research and teaching HDZ NRW operates a Center for Clinical Research and Development, facilitating the translation of clinical knowledge to innovations. The relationship with IALS goes back many years. For example, IALS initiated the Zentrum Technologietransfer Biomedizin Bad Oeynhausen (Center for Technology Transfer Biomedicine) in 1991/1992 (the first biomedicine center in Germany), which is now the Research Center of the Heart Center NRW Bad Oeynhausen. Most recently HDZ-NRW and IALS are coordinating on the initiative Psychology and/or Medicine: New Developments in 2013. http://www.hdz-nrw.de
Institute Experimental Medicine, Dept. of Molecular Genetics, RAMS, St. Petersburg The Institute of Experimental Medicine of the NorthWest Branch of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (IEM NWB RAMS) is the oldest Russian scientific research institute in the field of medicine and biology, founded by Prince Oldenburgsky in 1890. IEM s Department of Genetics has been cooperating with IALS University Network initiatives for several years. In particular, the IALS initiative "IMNC-International Medical Network Center St. Petersburg" has begun, with an exchange of advanced students and young scientists from Germany going to institutions in St. Petersburg and vice versa for specialized training in pediatric oncology and pediatric cardiology. This project will also witness the establishment of an international medical center with a special focus on medical diagnostics, clinical genomics and medical imaging. The IMNC cooperation partners are: IALS University Network Institute for Experimental Medicine RAMS, Department of Molecular Genetics St. Petersburg Pediatric Medical Academy, Department of Pediatric Oncology, Hematology St. Petersburg Pavlov State Medical University Supported by B.Braun Melsungen and the IALS Global Fellowship Program http://www.iemrams.spb.ru University of Illinois Institute of Government & Public Affairs (IGPA), Urbana-Champaign 07 The Institute of Government and Public Affairs is a public policy research organization based in all three University of Illinois campus cities. IGPA's mission is to improve public policy and government performance by producing and distributing cutting-edge research and analysis; engaging the public in dialogue and education; and providing practical assistance in decision making to government and policymakers. The institute's work not only advances knowledge, but also provides real solutions for the state's most difficult challenges. IGPA plays an important role in assisting government to better serve the public good. IGPA provides access to top-quality University of Illinois research to improve decision making at every level of government. IGPA is distinct among premier policy research units because of its dedication to public engagement. IGPA's programming includes seminar series, public lectures, leadership training, and conferences. IALS and IGPA have worked together on a number of projects, including a Mercator Professorship sponsored by the Germany Research Foundation (DFG): Future of Health Care: The Social Contract and the Impact of Life Sciences. IALS and IGPA are currently in the planning stages of a study project, Master International Management Life Sciences, sponsored by the State of Brandenburg; and partnering on Global Health initiatives with Dr. Robert Rich, University of Illinois former Director and Prof. em., Institute of Government and Public Affairs. http://igpa.uillinois.edu/ Updated: January 2014