Change in the management of the Research and Teaching Unit Medical Psychology

On April 1, 2023, Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Dipl.-Psych. Karin Lange handed over the management of the Research and Teaching Unit Medical Psychology at the Center for Public Health Nursing of the MHH to Prof. Dr. phil. Dipl.-Psych. Thomas von Lengerke.

Prof. Lange has decisively and sustainably shaped and shaped medical psychology at the MHH since 1990 as a scientist and since 2005 as head. Her research focuses on the psychosocial aspects of the development, progression and treatment of chronic diseases. Her projects are dedicated to topics such as disease burden, coping with illness, therapeutic behavior and rehabilitation, for example in type 1 and type 2 diabetes, obesity and rare chronic diseases of childhood and adolescence. The medical specialty that she has shaped like no other psychologist is diabetology in general and psycho-diabetology in particular. Her exceptional achievements and tireless commitment to research, education, teaching and advocacy in relation to children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes have been recognized with virtually every relevant award in the field - to name but a few, the Gerhardt Katsch Medal of the German Diabetes Association (DDG) in 2015, the 2021 Research Prize of the Heinz Bürger-Büsing Foundation for the Research and Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus in 2019, the ISPAD Lestrated Prize of the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes in 2022 and, most recently, the Gold Badge of Honor, which the DDG awarded to Prof. Lange in May 2023 as part of the DDG's Diabetes Day. Lange will be honored in May 2023 at the Diabetes Congress in Berlin. Likewise, (university) teaching has always been close to her heart and a top priority, as shown not least by a teaching award in 2020 and the personal farewell by the speaker of the second year of medical studies, Mr. Felix Martin, during her last lecture on 3.3.2023 (see photo above). A more comprehensive overview is beyond the scope of this article and is available at www.karin-lange.net. In any case, the Research and Teaching Unit Medical Psychology is very pleased that Prof. Lange will remain with it as a scientist for the time being!

Prof. von Lengerke has been working in the Research and Teaching Unit Medical Psychology since 2005. Together with Prof. Lange, he has established and expanded the Simulation Patient Program (SPP-MHH), which now has more than 70 SPs, a wide variety of applications in several MHH study programs and sustainable funding from the MHH budget and study quality funds. His public health and health services research orientation has developed from his diploma thesis in health psychology (FU Berlin) to his doctorate in an EU-Biomed2 project on strategies for disease prevention and health promotion (TU Chemnitz) and his habilitation with data from the Cooperative Health Research in the Augsburg Region (KORA) on the utilization of health-related care in obesity. His research now focuses on the promotion of professional compliance with evidence-based interventions and guidelines for the prevention of nosocomial infections. He is a member of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM) and a representative of the German Society for Medical Psychology (DGMP) in the German Society for Public Health (DGPH). He also writes statements for the DGMP and the German Society for Medical Sociology (DGMS) as member societies of the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany (AWMF) on the draft recommendations of the Commission for Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention (KRINKO) at the Robert Koch Institute. In the "Preparedness and Pandemic Response in Germany (PREPARED)" project of the University Medicine Network (NUM), he is involved in the "Personnel Management" work package. He sees his new leadership position as an exciting challenge and would like to thank Prof. Lange for her unreserved support during this transition.