Harvard Leadership Dinner with Prof. Dr. Lothar Wieler

About the lecture:

Decision making and giving recommendations both to political leaders as well as to health professionals during an acute crises like COVID-19 can be a challenging task. In my talk I will outline the legal foundation given to the Robert Koch-Institute as a governmental agency deeply based on scientific excellence and evidence and the chances, barriers and obstacles which influenced political decisions during that crises. One major conclusion is that democracy will suffer if such governmental institutions are not scientifically excellent, well ressourced and recognized as trusted institutions. In addition, ministerial civil servants need to be both competent and resilient, giving them the strength to resist political despotism. Otherwise, single political decision makers will be able to deliberately decide by neglecting facts as well as scientific evidence. Without competent strong and legally soundly founded institutions, it will be hard to keep checks and balances.

About Professor Wieler:

Lothar H. Wieler is Coordinator of the Digital Health Cluster, Chair Digital Global Public Health, Hasso-Plattner-Institute, University Potsdam, and Adjunct Professor at the Hasso-Plattner-Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York.

As a leader in Global Public Health, among others he advised the German government on combating the COVID-19 pandemic as president of the Robert Koch-Institute. He has 40 years experience in infectious disease research, teaching and transfer, and nearly 30 years in leadership positions both in the academic and the public sector. A veterinarian by training, he is microbiologist and global public health expert. His research is on pandemics and infectious diseases that can be transmitted between animals and humans, known as zoonoses. In his work, initially he concentrated on infections involving antibiotic multi-resistant bacteria (AMR) and investigated transmission mechanisms and microevolution, as well as disease-causing factors and disease control strategies. Focusing his research on the molecular pathogenesis, genomic surveillance and evolution of infectious agents, he extended his work on public and global health, disease prevention and containment of pathogens with epidemic and pandemic potential.

Wieler´s goal is to reduce health inequalities by promoting precision public health, at local, national and international levels. Before taking the Chair of Digital Global Public Health at the Hasso-Plattner-Institute at the University of Potsdam in 2023, he has served as president of Germany´s National Public-Health-Institute - the Robert Koch-Institute - for 8 years. Before then, he has been full-professor at the Freie University Berlin from 1998 to 2015. He is member of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Senator of Leopoldina´s section Global Health, Member of the Council of Virchow Foundation, Co-Director of the Digital Health Partnership with Mount Sinai Hospital, and has been member and chair of various national and international commissions and advisory boards, among member others the Strategic and Technical Advisory Board of Infectious Hazards (STAG-IH), WHO, the Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (WHO, UNEP, FAO, WHOA), the Lancet Commission on 21st Century Global Health Threats, or chair of the International Health Regulations Review Committee (IHR-RC), WHO.