Prof. Dr. Fabian Leendertz has been researching zoonoses, i.e. primarily pathogens from the animal kingdom that spread to humans, for more than 20 years. He is one of the world's leading experts in this field and made himself a name in the ad hoc examination of the origins of deadly disease outbreaks such as anthrax, Ebola, monkeypox and SARS-CoV-2. His research centres on the African tropics. The occurrence of novel zoonoses is particularly likely in these regions due to high biodiversity, intensive and frequent human-animal contact, major environmental changes, including those caused by climate change, increasing mobility and an inadequate health infrastructure.
As Founding Director of the Helmholtz Institute for One Health (HIOH) in Greifswald, which was founded in 2021, Fabian Leendertz will have the opportunity to expand his key field of research and use the One Health concept, for example, to investigate the development and ecology of zoonoses. He and his team are currently working on establishing a large-scale One Health long-term observation study in two African model regions, which is to run for decades. "Our goal is to use two African regions as examples to show how the One Health concept can work in practice," says Fabian Leendertz. “It's also about making such surveillance projects that monitor and prevent pandemics, copyable and scalable, thus making them transferable to other regions of the world."
By awarding the Hamburg Science Prize 2023 to Fabian Leendertz, the Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Hamburg is honouring his fundamental work in the field of zoonotic infectious diseases using the One Health concept. Leendertz's research contributes significantly to a better understanding of the mechanisms of disease development and transmission between humans, animals and the environment. With the One Health long-term observation study in sub-Saharan African countries, the veterinarian and microbiologist is making an important contribution to the prevention of epidemics and pandemics.
Fabian Leendertz will use the prize money of 100,000 euros for the groundwork for this large-scale study at the Helmholtz Institute for One Health (HIOH) in Greifswald. Over the next few months, a team of anthropologists will be exploring the possibilities, boundaries and framework conditions of intercultural cooperation with participating citizens in the Central African Republic and Côte d'Ivoire.
Prof. Dr. Katharina Riedel, Rector of the University of Greifswald and provisional Founding Director of the HIOH 2021/22: “With Fabian Leendertz, the University of Greifswald has appointed an internationally recognised scientist who has assembled an excellent research team, with whom he is dedicating himself to the topic of 'One Health' with impressive commitment and great passion. By advancing the integration of complementary expertise from the HIOH founding partners, the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, the Faculty of Medicine (University Medicine) and the University of Greifswald, he is laying the foundation for a better understanding of the development, spread and pathogenesis of zoonoses and the development of effective and sustainable strategies for their prevention and treatment."
The award winner Prof. Dr. Fabian Leendertz
Fabian Leendertz, born in Krefeld in 1972, studied veterinary medicine at the University of Budapest and at the Freie Universität Berlin. For his thesis, he investigated the frequent deaths of chimpanzees in the Taï National Park in Côte d'Ivoire and discovered a new type of anthrax. As a postdoctoral researcher, Leendertz headed the group on primate diseases at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. After leading the junior research group on "Emerging Zoonoses" at the Robert Koch Institute, he was head of the project group "Epidemiology of Highly Pathogenic Pathogens" from 2012 to 2021. In 2021, the veterinarian was appointed to the ten-member WHO expert group investigating the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. He previously led the examination into the origins of the West African Ebola outbreak in 2014.
After qualifying as a vet specialising in microbiology, Fabian Leendertz completed his habilitation in microbiology at the Freie Universität Berlin in 2016.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) honoured Fabian Leendertz with the "Champion of the Earth Award" in the "Science and Innovation" category in recognition of his commitment to nature conservation in 2020.
Source
Press release 18/2023 of the ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES IN HAMBURG (12/10/2023)
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