Mobile Health Applications: Fluch oder Segen? (DE)

Director Digital Society Initiative and Professor (Ph.D.)

Abraham Bernstein is a Full Professor of Informatics as well as Director of the Digital Society Initiative at the University of Zurich (UZH), Switzerland. His current research focuses on various aspects of the semantic web, data mining/machine learning, and collective intelligence. His work is based on both social science (organizational psychology/sociology/economics) and technical (computer science, artificial intelligence) foundations. Prior to joining the University of Zurich, Mr. Bernstein was on the faculty at New York University and also worked in industry. Mr. Bernstein is a Ph.D. from MIT and holds a Diploma in Computer Science (comparable to a M.S.) from the Swiss Federal Institute in Zurich (ETH).

Co-Director Digital Society Initiative

Claudia M. Witt, MBA is a doctor and epidemiologist. She is a Professor at the University of Zurich (UZH) and, in her role as Vice Dean, responsible for international cooperation of the Faculty of Medicine. She does research on the effectiveness and safety of health apps at UZH and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. At the UniversityHospital Zurich, she heads the Institute for Complementary and Integrative Medicine. Digitization plays an important role in her clinic. As Co-Director of the Digital Society Initiative at UZH, she advocates a reflective approach to digitalization in medicine.

Vice Dean/Director

Friedemann Paul is the Head of International Affairs and Steering Committee for International Affairs and Vice-Dean of Clinical Research at the Charité. In addition he is director of the Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC) as well as group leader of the Clinical Neuroimmunology department of the NeuroCure Clinical Research Center at the Charité. He finished his medical education in Berlin and is a board certified Neurologist since 2003. Friedemann Paul is a senior Neurologist in the Charité since 2004. Since 2010, he heads the Neuroimmunology outpatients’ clinic in Buch, a suburb of Berlin. From 2011 to 2016 Paul was Professor (W2) of Neurology at the NeuroCure Clinical Research Center of Charité.

In 2016 he joined as a tenured Professor (W2) of Clinical and Experimental Neuroimmunology at Charité. In 2018 he became a Scientific Director of the Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC) and since 2020 Vice Dean for Research with a clinical focus.  His research focuses on Neuromyelitis optica (Devic’s Syndrome), Neurodegeneration and Neuroprotection in Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis (EAE), Neurological Complications of Chronic Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, Diagnostic Tools in Neuro-immunology (Imaging (OCT, MRI, Ultrasound), Laboratory, and CSF Biomarkers) as well as the association of structural damage and dysfunction of the visual system in autoimmune disorders of the Central Nervous System.

Journalist

Karsten Lemm is a freelance writer in Berlin focusing on technology and business and oversees the preparation of journalistic content at the Innovations Conference DLD. Previously, he was an editor at the German version of WIRED, focusing on tech themes. Lemm is also well connected with Silicon Valley; between 1998 and 2014 he lived in San Francisco, where he was a correspondent for the “Stern” as well as various other German publications concerning all aspects of digitization.

Head of Department “Digitization and Innovation”

Since April 2018, Dr. Gottfried Ludewig has been Head of the newly founded Department “Digitization and Innovation” at the German Federal Ministry of Health. In this role, he is responsible for legislative proposals such as the Digital Supply Act and the Patient Data Protection Act. These legislations initiated, among other things, electronic patient files, electronic law, the right of insured persons to be supplied with digital health applications (“apps on prescription”), and a comprehensive research data center. He also introduced the COVID warning app. Before that, he was a member of the Berlin House of Representatives for six years, where he acted as spokesman for health policies and as Deputy Chairman of the CDU parliamentary group. In addition to his parliamentary mandate, he worked part-time for PwC.

Physician and Neuroscientist

Samuel Knauss is a physician and neuroscientist at the Charité. He has years of experience in the planning, implementation and scientific evaluation of projects in digital health with a focus on digital global health. As co-founder of the project “mTOMADY” he is responsible for the development and implementation of a digital solution for healthcare financing in low- and middle-income countries. He is research group leader of the Charité Global Digital Health Lab, project leader in the Berlin Institute of Health’s Digital Health Accelerators and Digital Clinician Scientist Program.

Head, BARMER.i

Dr. Regina Vetters studied political science in Berlin, New York and Paris and did her doctorate on European communication policy. After positions in journalism and as a research assistant at HU Berlin, she worked as a management consultant in the healthcare sector at McKinsey from 2007 to 2017. Since April 2017, she has been heading BARMER.i – the digital unit of BARMER in Berlin.

Until May 2019, Julia Hagen was responsible for the Health & Pharma division of the digital association Bitkom, where her main focus was on the regulatory framework for digital health. She studied Public Management & Governance at Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen and Sciences Po Paris. Working on numerous topics on rural health care and communal welfare she came into contact with telemedicine and connected health. After being active for 2.5 years in the field of European Affairs, she completed her Master of Public Administration (MPA) at Sciences Po Paris and the London School of Economics.