Rüdersdorf, 28 July 2025

The Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane (MHB) celebrated the start of a new guest professorship in Public Health Services with a top-flight event on 25 July. Following the example of Munich, Leipzig, Dresden, Cologne and Frankfurt/Main, the State of Brandenburg establishes a further substantial scientific foothold for Public Health – a milestone on the way to a viable, practice-oriented and science-based system of public health.

The professorship was set up at the MHB in the context of a pact to support the role of Public Health Services in teaching and research. The intention is to make this varied field of activity more attractive, to recruit young people and develop sound answers to current challenges like equity in service provision, crisis resilience and health-related participation.

Guest professor Dr. med. Susanne Pruskil, M.Sc. Public Health, presented the scheduled agenda. Objectives are improved visibility for Public Health Services in curricula of medicine and health sciences, new exchange formats and application-oriented research projects with health boards as partners in practice. According to Pruskil, Brandenburg may serve as a model space for an innovative scientific-practical culture within Public Health Services.

Brandenburg’s Ministers of Science and Health sent words of greeting, and MHB president Prof. Hans-Uwe Simon gave the keynote speech. Prof. Martin Heinze from the Center for Mental Health / Immanual Klinik Rüdersdorf acted as presenter. A lively panel discussion with representatives from academia, federal and regional authorities and the local community explored chances, expectations and necessary framework conditions for a sustained integration of Public Health in academic contexts. Among the participants were Dr. Ute Teichert from the public health department / Federal Ministry of Health, Michael Zaske from the Brandenburg Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, and Stefan Pospiech (CEO, association Gesundheit Berlin-Brandenburg e. V.).

The event served to underline an essential need for close cooperation between science, practice and politics to strengthen the resilience of Public Health and promote health among the general public on a sustainable basis. Public Health Services assume a key role in this context – innovative, competent and future oriented.

Contact:
Secretariat, guest professorship Public Health Services
Freda Prinzessin zu Waldeck
Campus Rüdersdorf, Poli E0, F.012
Seebad 82/83, 15562 Rüdersdorf
E-Mail: Freda.Waldeck@mhb-fontane.de