Christian Drosten
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Christian Heinrich Maria Drosten (, born 1972) is a German
virologist Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, their ...
whose research focus is on novel viruses ''( emergent viruses)''. During the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, Drosten came to national prominence as an expert on the implications and actions required to combat the illness in Germany.


Early life and education

Drosten was born in Lingen and grew up on a farm in ,
Emsland Landkreis Emsland () is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany named after the river Ems. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Leer, Cloppenburg and Osnabrück, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (district of Steinfur ...
. After graduating from the episcopal college in Meppen, Drosten initially studied chemical engineering and biology in
Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...
and
Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...
. From 1994, he studied medicine at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main and completed his third
state examination The ("state examination" or "exam by state"; pl.: ''Staatsexamina'') is a German government licensing examination that future physicians, dentists, teachers, pharmacists, food chemists, psychotherapists and jurists (i.e., lawyers, judges, p ...
in May 2000. He did his doctorate at the Institute for
transfusion medicine Transfusion medicine (or transfusiology) is the branch of medicine that encompasses all aspects of the transfusion of blood and blood components including aspects related to hemovigilance. It includes issues of blood donation, immunohematology ...
and immunohaematology of the German Red Cross (DRK) blood donation service Hessen in
Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
. His dissertation (Dr. med.) on the establishment of a high-throughput system for testing blood donors was rated .


Career

From June 2000, Drosten worked as an
intern An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...
in the laboratory group of the physician Herbert Schmitz in the virology department of the
Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (Bernhard-Nocht-Institut für Tropenmedizin) (BNITM) in Hamburg is Germany's largest institution for tropical medicine, with a workforce of about 250 people in Hamburg. It is member of the Leibniz-A ...
(BNITM) in
Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...
, where he headed the laboratory group ''Molecular Diagnostics'' and established a research program for the molecular diagnostics of tropical viral diseases. From 2007, Drosten headed the Institute of Virology at
University Hospital Bonn The University Hospital Bonn is a maximum care hospital with more than 1306 planned beds. Our more than 8,500 employees perform tasks in research, teaching and patient care as well as in public health at the highest level. History At the same ...
. During this time he worked with
Isabella Eckerle Isabella Eckerle is a German virologist who is the co-Head of the Centre for Emerging Viral Diseases at the Geneva University Hospitals and the University of Geneva. Her research considers infectious diseases and the development of cell lines t ...
, who would go on to lead the department of emerging viruses at the
University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centu ...
. In 2017, he accepted a call to the
Charité The Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Charité – Berlin University of Medicine) is one of Europe's largest university hospitals, affiliated with Humboldt University and Free University Berlin. With numerous Collaborative Research Cen ...
in Berlin, where he heads the Institute of Virology. From 2017 until 2019, Drosten was a member of the German Ministry of Health's International Advisory Board on Global Health, chaired by
Ilona Kickbusch Ilona Kickbusch (born 27 August 1948) is a German political scientist best known for her contribution to health promotion and global health. She is adjunct professor at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. Ear ...
. He was nominated by
Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a Green politics, green List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens ...
as delegate to the
Federal Convention The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Although the convention was intended to revise the league of states and first system of government under the Articles of Confederation, the intention fr ...
s for the purpose of electing the
President of Germany The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...
in
2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
. Drosten is committed to the transparent distribution of scientific data and therefore, publishes in specialist journals such as ''
Eurosurveillance ''Eurosurveillance'' (''Euro surveillance : bulletin Européen sur les maladies transmissibles'', "European communicable disease bulletin") is an open-access medical journal covering epidemiology, surveillance, prevention and control of communic ...
'', where all articles are freely available online.


COVID-19 pandemic

On 23 January 2020, Drosten, along with other virologists in Europe and Hong Kong, published a workflow of a real-time PCR (RT-PCR) diagnostic test, which was accepted by the
World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...
(WHO) and which sent test kits to affected regions. On 19 February 2020, Drosten, along with 26 other scientists, published the
Lancet letter The ''Lancet'' letter (also referred to as ''Calisher et al. 2020'') was a statement made in support of scientists and medical professionals in China fighting the outbreak of COVID-19, and condemning theories suggesting that the virus does not hav ...
in support of scientists and medical professionals in China fighting the outbreak and condemning theories suggesting that the virus does not have a natural origin, which it referred to as "conspiracy theories." On 17 March 2020, Drosten was appointed to the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
's advisory panel on
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, co-chaired by EC President
Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; Albrecht, born 8 October 1958) is a German politician who has been serving as the president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 an ...
and ECHSF
Stella Kyriakides Stella Kyriakides ( el, Στέλλα Κυριακίδου, ; born 10 March 1956) is a Cypriot psychologist and politician of the conservative Democratic Rally party who has been serving as European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety since 201 ...
.COVID-19: Commission launches European team of scientific experts to strengthen EU coordination and medical response
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
, press release of 17 March 2020.
On 23 March 2020, ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' described Drosten as "the
erman Erman Rašiti may refer to: Given name * Erman Bulucu (born 1989), Turkish footballer * Erman Eltemur (born 1993), Turkish karateka * Erman Güraçar (born 1974), Turkish footballer * Erman Kılıç (born 1983), Turkish footballer * Erman Kunter (b ...
country's real face of the coronavirus crisis", and also noted that the ''
Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat. History ...
'' had described Drosten as "the nation's corona-explainer-in-chief". He was a counterpart to Lothar Wieler, head of the State's
Robert Koch Institute The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) is a German federal government agency and research institute responsible for disease control and prevention. It is located in Berlin and Wernigerode. As an upper federal agency, it is subordinate to the Federal ...
in Berlin, in consulting to German federal and state authorities. In Februar 2022 he stated that the "ideal" immunity would be achieved by complete Covid vaccination (with 3 doses) and one or more Covid infections on top of that. In September 2022 he stated that a strong Covid wave would occur before December and that a previously undergone Covid infection does not impede virus replication in the throat after three months and that therefore it likely does not protect against transmission. On 26 December 2022, he considered that the pandemic was over and that the acquired immunity would protect the following summer. Within a day, federal minister of justice
Marco Buschmann Marco Buschmann (born 1 August 1977) is a German lawyer and politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as Federal Minister of Justice in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's cabinet since 2021. He has served as a member of the Bundes ...
then called for the Corona protections to be ended, which was criticized by the ''
Neue Zürcher Zeitung The ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'' (''NZZ''; "New Journal of Zürich") is a Swiss, German-language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zürich. The paper was founded in 1780. It was described as having a reputation as a high-quality ne ...
'' as excessive German deference to authority.


Other scientific activities


Government agencies

* Centre for International Health Protection (ZIG),
Robert Koch Institute The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) is a German federal government agency and research institute responsible for disease control and prevention. It is located in Berlin and Wernigerode. As an upper federal agency, it is subordinate to the Federal ...
(RKI), Member of the Scientific Advisory Board (since 2020)


Miscellaneous activities

* Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Member of the Scientific Advisory Board (since 2021) * National Research Platform for Zoonoses, Member of the Internal Advisory Board *
World Health Summit The World Health Summit is an international conference that has been held in Berlin every October since 2009. It has developed into one of the world's leading global health conferences. It was held for the first time on the occasion of the 300th an ...
, Member of the Scientific Committee


Editorial boards

* '' Emerging Infectious Diseases'', Member of the Editorial Board * ''
Eurosurveillance ''Eurosurveillance'' (''Euro surveillance : bulletin Européen sur les maladies transmissibles'', "European communicable disease bulletin") is an open-access medical journal covering epidemiology, surveillance, prevention and control of communic ...
'', Member of the Editorial Board * '' Journal of Virology'', Member of the Editorial Board * ''One Health Outlook'', Member of the Editorial Board Drosten was * ''Journal of Clinical Virology'', Member of the Editorial Board


International agencies

*
Scientific Advisory Group for Origins of Novel Pathogens Scientific Advisory Group for Origins of Novel Pathogens (or SAGO) is a permanent advisory body of the World Health Organization, formed in July 2021, with a broad objective to examine emerging infectious diseases, including COVID-19. According ...


Research

In 2003, Drosten was one of the co-discoverers of SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Together with , a few days after identification and before the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...
(CDC) in Atlanta, he succeeded in developing a diagnostic test for the newly identified virus. Drosten immediately made his findings on SARS available to the
scientific community The scientific community is a diverse network of interacting scientists. It includes many " sub-communities" working on particular scientific fields, and within particular institutions; interdisciplinary and cross-institutional activities are als ...
on the internet, even before his article appeared in '' New England Journal of Medicine'' in May 2003. Among others, this was honoured by the journal ''
Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
''. From 2012, the research group led by Drosten also researched the Middle East respiratory syndrome-coronavirus (MERS-CoV). In mid-January 2020, the coronavirus
SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...
yielded to his method. The virus first came to light on 30 December 2019, because Li Wenliang (the Chinese
ophthalmologist Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgery, surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Followin ...
whistleblower who later died of the virus) forced the Chinese government to broadcast its existence the next day. In early January 2020, the research group led by Drosten, together with
Marion Koopmans Maria Petronella Gerarda Koopmans (born 21 September 1956) is a Dutch virologist who is Head of the Erasmus MC Department of Viroscience. Her research considers emerging infectious diseases, noroviruses and veterinary medicine. In 2018 she was aw ...
' group, a RIVM group including , Maria Zambon and others, developed a test that was made available worldwide through the WHO. The whole research was published in the journal Eurosurveillance. In April 2020, the Drosten research group published "a detailed virological analysis of nine cases of COVID-19 that provides proof of active
virus replication Viral replication is the formation of biological viruses during the infection process in the target host cells. Viruses must first get into the cell before viral replication can occur. Through the generation of abundant copies of its genome an ...
in tissues of the upper respiratory tract" in ''
Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
''. During the early months of the course of the
COVID-19 pandemic in Germany The COVID-19 pandemic in Germany has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. On 27 January 2020, the first case in Germany was confirmed near Munich, Bavaria. By mid February, the arising cluster of cases had been fully containe ...
, Drosten advised politicians and authorities and was invited as an expert in the media, among others in the
podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
(English: ''The coronavirus update with Christian Drosten''), initially published daily during the week since 26 February 2020, in
Norddeutscher Rundfunk Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR; ''Northern German Broadcasting'') is a public broadcasting, public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR broadcasts for the German states of Lower Saxony, M ...
(NDR), the frequency of the podcast having been gradually reduced from April 2020 until becoming weekly from 15 June 2020. Drosten now shares his spot on the Podcast with fellow virologist Sandra Ciesek with either being interviewed by a science journalist of the NDR every two weeks to keep the weekly schedule of the podcast while allowing Drosten more time to focus on his research work.


Recognition

At the end of 2003, Drosten, together with Stephan Günther, was awarded a prize by the '' Werner Otto Foundation for the Promotion of Medical Research'' for the identification of the SARS coronavirus and the establishment of a rapid diagnostic test system. In 2004, Drosten received the
GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc, is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with global headquarters in London, England. Established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. GSK is the ten ...
funding award for clinical infectiology, the '' Abbott Diagnostics Award'' of the ''European Society for Clinical Virology'', the '' bioMérieux Diagnostics Award'' from the
German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology The German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (german: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hygiene und Mikrobiologie, DGHM), formerly known as the Society for Microbiology, is a German medical society, which works to advance research in the fields of in ...
, and the post-doctoral award for virology from the . In 2005, he was awarded the "Verdienstkreuz am Bande" (Cross) of the
Federal Cross of Merit The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...
, 2020 he received the "Verdienstkreuz 1. Klasse" (Officer's Cross) for his civil service in time of COVID-19.


Personal life

Drosten lives in Berlin- Prenzlauer Berg and has a son born in 2017. His long-time partner is also a scientist. His hobby is playing the guitar. During the height of the corona crisis, the popular punk band ZSK released a song about his work, which went viral.


References


Further reading

* *


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Drosten, Christian 20th-century German physicians Physicians of the Charité Academic staff of the University of Bonn 1972 births Living people People from Lingen German virologists Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina COVID-19 pandemic in Germany COVID-19 researchers