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[Translate to Englisch:] Den Kooperationsvertrag unterzeichnen vorne am Tisch v.l.n.r.: Prof. Dr. Frank Krummenauer und Dr. Cay Christian Lösche, dahinter stehend v.l.n.r.: Michael Anders, Kanzler der UW/H, Prof. Dr. Stefan Wirth, Dekan der Fakultät für Gesundheit der UW/H, Oberbürgermeisterin Dagmar Mühlenfeld (Vorsitzende des Leonhard-Stinnes-Stiftung), Prof. Dr. Martin Butzlaff, Präsident der UW/H und Nils B. Krog, Geschäftsführer des Evangelischen Krankenhaus Mülheim.
17.01.2012
Research for the benefit of patients
The Mülheim Ophthalmic Hospital and UW/H agree on a joint initiative to optimize patient care in ophthalmology.
The Mülheim Ophthalmic Hospital and the UW/H Institute for Medical Biometrics and Epidemiology have established a joint department to evaluate alternative treatment options for ophthalmology patients.
The hospital (leading physician: Dr. med. Cay Christian Lösche) and the UW/H institute (director: Prof. Dr. Frank Krummenauer) have been cooperating for several years in the scientific evaluation of health services for ophthalmology patients. The focus is not on new therapies and testing of such therapies but on the evaluation of existing alternative treatment options from a competent medical perspective.
Recently the German association of ophthalmology surgeons honored the joint work group with an award for a study on Mülheim citizens’ needs of optical aids and treatment. “We shall combine the practical experience and the comprehensive and representative patient base of the Mülheim Ophtalmic Hospital with the Institute for Medical Biometrics and Epidemiology in the field of ophthalmology. This will serve to effectively implement our health services research objectives,” so Dr. Lösche.
The Leonhard Stinnes Foundation as the financial backer of the hospital provides funds to establish a joint research facility of both institutions under the direction of Lösche and Krummenauer. The focus will be on clinical-epidemiological studies on health care services and benefit analysis of diagnostic and therapeutic care options. Prof. Krummenauer: “Ophthalmology has seen tremendous advances over the past two decades. Myopia, e.g., can be virtually corrected today via laser treatment or artificial lenses, so that patients won’t even need glasses afterwards. But these very new therapies might have rare side effects which are not immediately discernible; such aspects require further studies with many patients and sufficient personnel. The scheduled research unit funded by the Leonhard Stinnes Foundation will help to provide the answers.”
To ensure sustainability and public visibility, UW/H assigns an endowed professorship to the field of “patient oriented ophthalmology research” for a period of at least five years. Prof. Martin Butzlaff, UW/H president: “The direction of such a research unit requires researchers with excellent credentials. An endowed professorship will certainly attract the right kind of applicants.” Lösche and Krummenauer: “Our patients will profit most from the new research unit. We shall critically assess the health services provided and find optimum solutions on the basis of sound analysis.”