After a turbulent and challenging year 2021 – marked by the far too early death of Prof. Dragun – a Clinician Scientist Retreat was successfully held at the beginning of this year and, thus, traditionally at the end of January; for the first time purely virtually with about 200 participants. The program of the two-day retreat consisted of scientific lecture sessions, strategy, information and networking sessions and a panel discussion. The lecture sessions (Fellows' project presentations) were not grouped by discipline as for previous retreats, but along the "Translational Value Chain" by BIH. This allowed not only to reflect the diverse profiles of the Fellows, but also to stimulate interdisciplinary collaborations. A "networking session" provided a platform for personal interactions with representatives of the core facilities – at virtual tables the fellows could directly address their questions to the contact persons for interdisciplinary specific methods. A special highlight was the panel discussion on "Challenges of academic personnel development and program funding during the pandemic" with high-profile panelists (including BIH and Charité board members), which allowed the topic to be examined from very different perspectives.
The panelists included:
- Christopher Baum |Chairman of the Board of Directors of the BIH at Charité and Chief Translational Research Officer of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
- Carla Eysel | Chief Human Resources Officer / Chief Nursing Officer, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
- Martin Kreis | Chief Medical Officer, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
- Britta Siegmund | Interim Program Director of the BIH Charité Clinician Scientist Program and Medical Director of the Medical Department, Division of Gastroenterology, Infectiology and Rheumatology (CBF), Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
- Isabella Heuser-Collier | Medical Director Department of Psychiatry (CBF), Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
- Dominique Piber | Fellow at BIH Charité Clinician Scientist Program, Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences (CBF), Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin