At the DZIF General Assembly on 8 November 2023, Prof Thomas Pietschmann was unanimously elected as a new member of the five-person DZIF Executive Board. In addition to his roles at three closely linked DZIF member institutions — the HZI in Braunschweig and the MHH and TWINCORE in Hannover — Pietschmann has held a variety of other roles at the DZIF over many years. Among other things, he has served as spokesperson for the DZIF Hannover-Braunschweig partner site and as a member of DZIF's Internal Advisory Board since 2019. Thanks to his many years of work at TWINCORE (since 2007), on the steering committees of DFG Review Boards and the RESIST Cluster of Excellence—a network of six German partner institutions led by the MHH—and as a programme spokesperson at the HZI, Pietschmann brings a wealth of experience at the interfaces between Helmholtz and university medical research to his new role.
"I am delighted to have been elected to the DZIF Board," says Pietschmann. "With my experience in science management and as a virologist and institute director, I hope to help strengthen translational infection research in Germany and make further important contributions to the fight against infectious diseases as a member of the Board," he adds.
As a newly elected member of the Executive Board, Thomas Pietschmann now succeeds Prof Dirk Heinz, who will step down as a member of the DZIF Executive Board on the date of the General Assembly. Prof Heinz has served the DZIF as a member of the Board since its foundation in 2012.
"Thomas Pietschmann has been committed to the DZIF for many years and is an excellent choice as a new member of the Executive Board due to the experience he has gained here and his scientific expertise," says the Chair of the DZIF Executive Board, Prof Dirk Busch.
"I would also like to express my sincere thanks to Dirk Heinz, who played a key role in setting up the DZIF from the very beginning and invested a great deal of time and effort in driving the Center forward and helping it achieve its current visibility. Thanks to his commitment, the DZIF has always had a reliable and strong partner in the HZI."
