Dear Sir or Madam,

The German capital region Berlin-Brandenburg stands for “freedom of speech, sustainability, diversity and equality in all dimensions.” Outstandingly qualified and motivated women play a special role in this. As in so many areas of society, the healthcare sector still has a long way to go before women’s equality is achieved. 

However, there are many positive examples and best practices which show successful ways to achieve this goal. With our main topic in this issue “Women in the healthcare sector”, we present initiatives that help to reduce inequalities. The pharmaceutical company Takeda has been scientifically addressing the topic of “Equal opportunities” since 2017 and Christiane von der Eltz, Executive Board member at BERLIN-CHEMIE, reports on her personal experiences with networks.

Many things are also happening in our HealthCapital cluster: Prof. Dr. Heyo Kroemer, Chairman of the Board of Charité, the largest university hospital in Europe, is our new cluster spokesman. We look forward to working together and would like to thank the outgoing cluster spokesman Peter Albiez for his commitment!

Great opportunities for international exchange in spring will be the DMEA for digital health solutions from 25 to 27 April and our next BIONNALE. It will be held from 16 to 17 May 2023. Make sure you to note the date!

Your
Dr. Kai Uwe Bindseil

Focus topic: women in the healthcare sector

German business is slowly but surely becoming more female. Is this picture also reflected in the healthcare sector? It may have some catching up to do, but the capital region is well on the way to reducing existing inequalities. This is because company-independent networks and initiatives as well as private-sector programs have made it their task to support women in the healthcare sector in Berlin-Brandenburg. 

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BERLIN-CHEMIE: A woman for business in Germany

Christiane von der Eltz was appointed to the Board of Directors of BERLIN-CHEMIE on June 1 of this year and is responsible for the Pharma Germany division. The qualified pharmacist brings with her a wealth of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Previously, she was General Manager and Country Speaker of Merck Switzerland and has many years of experience in various therapeutic areas such as general medicine, diabetes, specialty medicine as well as oncology. Among other things, we spoke to her about her new position at BERLIN-CHEMIE and her plans in the capital.

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Takeda lives diversity

The biopharmaceutical company Takeda has various locations in Germany, including Berlin and a production facility in Oranienburg. In recent years, Takeda has made intensive internal efforts to improve gender equality at its Berlin location. To this end, together with the sociology professor Christiane Funken from the TU Berlin, it has launched a program that has succeeded in increasing the proportion of female managers.

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Aignostics raises €14m series A to advance AI-powered pathology

Aignostics, a spin-off from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, developing novel digital pathology solutions with “Explainable AI” for pharmaceutical research and diagnostics, announced the closing of an oversubscribed €14m Series A financing round.

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Charité’s improved cystic fibrosis treatment is Science Breakthrough of the Year

The Falling Walls Foundation has awarded Prof. Dr. Marcus Mall of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin the title Science Breakthrough of the Year 2022 in Life Sciences for a new treatment approach to cystic fibrosis. The new treatment, developed by Prof. Mall and his team in cooperation with international partners, addresses the underlying causes of the as-yet-incurable disease and considerably improves the therapy.

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Algorithms developed at the Max Delbrück Center are able to detect new SARS-CoV-2 variants and other pathogens in wastewater

Algorithms developed at the Max Delbrück Center are able to quickly detect new SARS-CoV-2 variants in wastewater. But that’s not all: the tool, which Altuna Akalin and his colleagues have now presented in “Science of the Total Environment”, can also find other pathogens.

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