Prof. Baum has been Chief Executive Officer of the BIH since October 2020 and Chairman of the BIH Board of Directors since January. This leadership function is also associated with the position of Chief Translational Research Officer. "On the Charité Executive Board, I will primarily represent the interests of BIH and the federal government to shape new ways of translational research in line with BIH's dedication. Turning research into health and creating concrete applications from scientific findings that help people is a core concern of mine," explains Professor Baum. He adds, "I am also happy to contribute to the development and implementation of Charité's Strategy 2030 together with the other board members."
Born in Marburg, he is a science manager and expert in translation, molecular medicine and gene therapy. Most recently, he was the first full-time Vice President of Medicine at the University of Lübeck and a board member of the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein. Professor Kroemer welcomes the new board member: "We are pleased to be able to recruit Christopher Baum for this newly established board position. He combines two important requirements for this position: he is both an experienced science manager and a proven expert in translation. I am sure that he will strongly promote the transfer of research results into clinical application in the independent BIH, making maximum use of the synergy effects with Charité for the benefit of patients."
Short vita Prof. Dr. Christopher Baum
Professor Christopher Baum was born in 1962 in Marburg. He studied philosophy for two semesters in Mainz, and medicine in Essen, Freiburg and Hamburg. He obtained his doctorate in 1991, and qualified as a professor in the field of molecular medicine in 1999 at the University of Hamburg. In 2000, he joined the Hannover Medical School (MHH) as a professor for stem cell biology, and was also an associate professor of pediatrics at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in the United States from 2002. In Hanover, he led the Institute of Experimental Hematology from 2006 and served as both the Ombudsperson for Good Scientific Practice and the Dean of Research. He was elected President of the MHH in 2013. At the beginning of 2019, Baum moved to the University of Lübeck as its first full-time Vice President for Medicine and a member of the Board of Directors of UKSH – Germany’s second largest university hospital after Charité. Since October 2020 Christopher Baum has been Chief Executive Officer of the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH).