The LSC DiPH Scientific Symposium and 2nd Phase Opening Event, held on January 18, 2024, at the University of Bremen and the Übersee-Museum Bremen, was a landmark occasion that highlighted the exceptional strides made in the field of digital public health. 

The event commenced with a warm welcome from Prof. Dr. Hajo Zeeb and Prof. Dr. Benjamin Schüz, the esteemed speakers of the Leibniz ScienceCampus Digital Public Health Bremen.

The symposium featured a series of enlightening presentations from renowned experts. Prof. Dr. Falko Sniehotta discussed the translation of public health evidence into policy, offering insights from England and Germany. Prof. Dr. Anna Odone explored the challenges, progress, and future directions of public health digitalization in Europe, while Prof. Dr. Tanja Schultz's emphasized in her talk the intersection of artificial intelligence and healthcare.

A unique feature of the event was the Flashlight talks from the Early Career Researcher Academy (ECRA), showcasing the innovative work of up-and-coming researchers in the field. This segment underscored the event's commitment to fostering new talent and ideas.

The transition into the 2nd Phase of the LSC DiPH was a focal point of discussion, reflecting on the achievements of the first phase and setting a visionary path for the future. 

The evening event at the Übersee-Museum Bremen provided a splendid backdrop for further interactions and networking. Here, the Board of Directors, along with distinguished guests like Senator Ms. Kathrin Moosdorf, Prof. Dr. Jutta Günther, rector of the University of Bremen, and Dr. Bettina Böhm, Secretary General of the Leibniz Associaton, offered their insights and congratulations.

Dr. Johannes Nießen's keynote speech was a highlight, presenting his role as the head of the BZgA and the planned Prevention Institute BIPAM. The remarks from LSC DiPH partners, including Prof. Dr. Falk Hoffmann, Dr. Jochen Meyer, and Prof. Dr. Horst Hahn, added depth to the discussions, showcasing collaborative efforts across various institutions.

Throughout the event, the speakers universally praised the concept of the ECRA, which fosters collaborative research across different fields and emphasizes transfer and impact-oriented research. This approach aligns well with the overarching goals of the LSC DiPH, driving innovation and practical applications in digital public health.

What support is there for migrants who suffer from dementia and their relatives? Buten un Binnen reports (in German) on our M-Gender project.

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The M-Gender project stands for "Mental Health and Gender - Development and testing of a digital intervention for health promotion among informal caregivers". Even though caring for relatives is often perceived as enriching or meaningful, it can be stressful for the caregiver. Although informal care is primarily provided by women, men are also increasingly taking on more caregiving responsibilities. For many people, informal caregiving is associated with impairments to caregivers’ health and well-being. These impairments are sometimes perceived differently by women and men, which suggests different needs in terms of health promotion.

The M-Gender project aims to identify central needs and requirements for a health promotion program for informal caregivers. For this purpose, we conducted personal interviews with caregiving women and men. The results were incorporated into the development process of a digital intervention to promote mental health among informal caregivers. The development of the intervention took place in regular workshops with users, researchers, and representatives of associations, self-help groups and healthcare providers who are committed to informal caregiving. The M-Gender project is financed by the GKV Alliance for Health and carried out in association with the Institute of Public Health and Nursing Research (IPP) by the Leibniz-Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology - BIPS.

More than 150 stakeholders from science, industry and politics met on September 21, 2023 at the Bremen Conference AI in Health for an active exchange on artificial intelligence and health research. For this purpose, the U Bremen Research Alliance, in cooperation with JUST ADD AI, the Transfer Center for Artificial Intelligence BREMEN.AI and the Integrated Health Campus Bremen invited to the Bremen Überseestadt. The LSC DiPH was strongly represented with numerous contributions.

"The state of Bremen has already established itself as a leading location for artificial intelligence," emphasized Bremen's Science Senator Kathrin Moosdorf in the run-up to the conference. The interface between artificial intelligence and health research, which is already characterized by cooperation, is being driven forward in particular by the AI Center for Health Care in the U Bremen Research Alliance, which is funded by the state of Bremen. Here, a networking structure has been created within which Bremen research institutions such as the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS, the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology - BIPS, the Leibniz Institute for Materials-Oriented Technologies - IWT and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence conduct research together with working groups from the University of Bremen.

"In the AI Center for Health Care, we are developing technologies for the health care of tomorrow. AI is at the center of this as a methodology," explains Prof. Dr.-Ing. Horst Karl Hahn, institute director of Fraunhofer MEVIS and spokesperson for the AI Center for Health Care. Research topics include the improvement of surgical care through robust and user-friendly support systems from the field of AI and multimodal data fusion for the early detection of dementia. Recent research results from the AI Center for Health Care were presented at the conference. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Tanja Schultz, spokesperson of the scientific focus of Minds Media and Machines at the University of Bremen and also spokesperson in the AI Center for Health Care, summarizes the research activities as follows: "Together we are implementing what Bremen stands for: Research and development in AI for the benefit of the individual and for the benefit of the community."

Practical examples of AI use in healthcare in the sessions.

At the heart of AI in Health were four sessions, with topics ranging from individualized healthcare and patient models to technology transfer and the use of AI to improve care processes. JUST ADD AI presented, among other things, how added value can be generated by using ChatGPT to respond to emails in a statutory health insurance environment. A presentation by the Integrated Health Campus provided information on the use of generative AI to create artificial histological skin samples. The technology used here holds out the prospect of improving diagnostic possibilities in the field of pathology. Prof. Dr. Hajo Zeeb, spokesperson of the Leibniz Science Campus Digital Public Health and head of the Department of Prevention and Evaluation at BIPS, outlined together with co-spokesperson Prof. Benjamin Schüz the past, presence and future of AI in the digitization of health data and public health measures. Here, AI offers the opportunity to make the large amounts of health data available and interoperable, he said.

Panel discussion participants see great benefits of AI in healthcare and privacy and ethics as biggest challenges

"If we consistently exploit the opportunities of AI and manage the risks, it will significantly reduce the burden of disease," said Prof. Dr. Lothar Wieler, spokesperson for the Hasso Plattner Institute's Digital Health Cluster, during the conference's lively afternoon panel discussion. Olaf Woggan, CEO of AOK Bremen/Bremerhaven, also thinks AI can help healthcare in a variety of ways. "However, it is important to note that it must be used with special care to ensure data protection and ethics and, above all, quality-assured results," he stressed. Prof. Dr. Iris Pigeot, director of BIPS, sees great potential in AI methods, given that the development of the National Research Data Infrastructure will make cross-sectional health datasets available and provided their use is facilitated by appropriate legislation. "Our bureaucracy and regulatory frenzy will prevent the widespread use of AI in healthcare for a long time to come," fears Roland Becker, CEO of JUST ADD AI. Politicians are called upon to find quick and good solutions for data protection and ethics in dealing with AI in healthcare.

AI in Health conference offered space for exchange between science and industry

The now annual AI in Health conference entered its second round with increased attendance and greater public interest than the previous year. The research and action area of digital health care has taken on greater importance, accelerated by the discernible shortfalls in the Corona pandemic. The AI Center for Health Care includes, among other things, nine interorganizational scientific projects around AI and health as well as measures for science communication and transfer, such as the AI in Health conference.

The University of Bremen and twelve institutes of non-university research funded by the federal and state governments cooperate in the U Bremen Research Alliance. It includes research institutes of the four major German science organizations, i.e. Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Helmholtz Association, Leibniz Association and Max Planck Society, as well as the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence. Collaboration in the U Bremen Research Alliance spans four key scientific areas and thus literally "from the deep sea to outer space".

The new Lusatian Center for Digital Public Health at the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU) is researching the opportunities and risks of the digital further development of healthcare in the region. In doing so, it is cooperating with the Leibniz ScienceCampus Digital Public Health, which BIPS is coordinating. 

People's health is closely linked to the circumstances in which they grow up and live. Digital health services are becoming increasingly relevant in everyday life. They hold potentials, but also risks in terms of disease prevention, health promotion and care. In cooperation with the Robert Koch Institute and the Leibniz Science Campus Digital Public Health, scientists at the new Lusatian Center for Digital Public Health (LauZeDiPH) in Senftenberg are researching these aspects for the population in Lusatia.

"Our central concern is to find out how the further development of health care, promotion and research in Lusatia, supported by digital solutions, can improve the situation of people in reality and reduce health inequalities," explains Prof. Dr. Jacob Spallek, who heads the new center. "Since access to, use of and effects of health services are often distributed differently in the population, we need knowledge about what specific needs exist and what local people's ideas are regarding the further development of health care."

"We are pleased to be able to conduct research together with our partners in Lusatia on key issues related to digital technologies for public health and health care," says Prof. Dr. Hajo Zeeb, spokesperson for the Leibniz ScienceCampus Digital Public Health and head of the Department of Prevention and Evaluation at BIPS. He adds, "The Leibniz ScienceCampus in Bremen has gained a lot of valuable experience and knowledge over the years, which we can now build on together."

More information can be found here.