René Gottschalk

René Gottschalk is a specialist in internal medicine/infectious diseases, a specialist in medical public health and a Diploma Engineer in Biomedical Technology. Until September 2021, he was the Director of the Health Protection Authority of the City of Frankfurt am Main (Germany). At the Institute of Medical Virology of the University Hospital Frankfurt am Main, he is a professor of medical public health and health protection. Before moving into medicine, he worked in the pharmaceutical industry as a Diploma Engineer in Biomedical Technology. Since its foundation by the Hessian Ministry of Health in 2001, he has been head of the Competence Center for Highly Pathogenic Infectious Agents (KHPI) for the federal states of Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. Also from its inception in 2003 until the end of his position at the Health Protection Authority in 2021, he was spokesperson for the Standing Working Group of Competence and Treatment Centers for Diseases Caused by Highly Pathogenic Pathogens (STAKOB) at the Robert Koch Institute, Berlin (RKI). As a national advisory body, this working group evaluates new findings on specific pathogens/infectious diseases and issues corresponding statements for medical experts. He continues to be a member of this committee. He is a permanent member of the Collaborative Arrangement for the Prevention and Management of Public Health Events in Civil Aviation (CAPSCA) for the implementation of WHO, ICAO, ACI and IATA guidelines. For the World Health Organization (WHO), he is a member of the "International Health Regulation Roster of Experts" as an expert for points of entry of infectious diseases, especially at airports. His areas of expertise and research interests include prevention and management of epidemics and pandemics of High Consequence Infectious Diseases (HCID - namely viral hemorrhagic fevers and bioterrorism), issues and problems of aviation infection control and community public health.