Our national and international partners
The Institute of Public Health works closely with national and international organizations.
In particular, cooperation with the City of Cologne's public health department is to be intensified through the new institute: "Successful cooperation between institutes and clinics at the University of Cologne and the City of Cologne's public health department already existed before coronavirus, and then intensified during the pandemic," explains Prof. Dr. med Nicole Skoetz, Head of the new Institute of Public Health. "The establishment of the institute is intended to systematically intensify these collaborations in the form of joint research projects, but also through further training." The focus is on even better networking between the University of Cologne and the public health department, but also with other public health organizations such as the Federal Institute for Prevention and Education in Medicine, the Robert Koch Institute and the World Health Organization (WHO).
National partners
Cologne Health Department
The city of Cologne has the largest health department in Germany. A wide range of tasks are carried out here, from the public medical service, drug, pharmacy and hazardous substance monitoring, counselling on family planning, health planning and promotion to addiction prevention. "We see enormous potential for innovative scientific collaboration for the benefit of the healthcare system and the population in the size of Cologne's public health department and the wide range of topics," explains Prof. Dr. Gereon R. Fink, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Cologne. "We want to use this locational advantage, e.g. to scientifically process data, submit joint funding applications and ensure optimised health and health maintenance for all citizens in Cologne and the surrounding area."
Medical faculties
The institute aims to promote networking between the medical faculties in NRW for the public health sector and strives for cross-location cooperation in research and teaching. Corresponding funding has been applied for from the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs under the Public Health Pact.
Network University Medicine (NUM)
The Institute is involved in projects to develop concepts and infrastructure to prepare for future pandemics (NUM, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research) in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic.
International partners
Cochrane
The Institute of Public Health is part of the editorial base of Cochrane Haematology, a review group of the international non-profit Cochrane network. The Institute is involved in the production and updating, as well as the management and dissemination of Cochrane's high quality systematic reviews.
Prof. Dr. Skoetz will also lead one of the first evidence synthesis units for Cochrane. The evidence synthesis unit is a multi-faceted collaboration between the Institute of Public Health, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Oxford University, the Julius Center at UMC Utrecht, and Bangor University, combining methodological and clinical expertise with local contextual knowledge to produce high quality Cochrane Reviews.
Further information on the first pilot evidence synthesis units can be found here.
Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE)
Employees of the Institute are actively involved in various GRADE project groups, such as the GRADE Time-to-Event Project Group and the GRADE Forecasting Group, in order to further develop the methodology in these areas. Prof. Nicole Skoetz is a member of the GRADE Guidance Group.
World Health Organization (WHO)
Prof. Dr. Nicole Skoetz is the director of a WHO Collaborating Centre for Evidence Synthesis and Evaluation of Novel Cancer Therapies. The subject of distributive justice, even with limited resources, is of particular concern to her.
