New German Center for Health in Children and Adolescents

Childhood and adolescence are key developmental phases, in which the foundations are laid for lifelong health. To ensure the best possible diagnosis and treatment and comprehensive care according to latest medical research during these life phases, a new German Center for Health Research has been founded.

The German Center for Child and Adolescent Health (DZKJ) will become a new partner of the German Centers for Health Research (DZG) as of 1 June 2024. Organized as a nationwide network, the research center will receive 30 million euros in funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research during its two-year start-up phase. With a head office at University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), DZKJ will pool the expertise of university hospitals and universities at seven partner sites: Berlin, Göttingen, Greifswald/Rostock, Hamburg, Leipzig/Dresden, Munich, and Ulm.

Strong network at Munich site

At the Munich site, doctors and scientists from LMU Munich, LMU University Hospital, the Technical University of Munich (TUM), University Hospital rechts der Isar at TUM, Helmholtz Munich, and the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry have founded the Munich Child Health Alliance to address questions of child and adolescent health within the framework of the German Center for Child and Adolescent Health. The principal focus at the Munich site will be on immunology, metabolic medicine, genetics, proteomics, and data sciences.

“We want to help usher in a new era of precision medicine,” emphasizes Prof. Christoph Klein, Director of the Pediatric Clinic in Dr. von Hauner Children’s Hospital at LMU University Hospital and spokesperson for the DZKJ site in Munich. “DZKJ will help us better understand diseases at the molecular level and test and assess innovative methods for personalized therapy and preventive measures. For us in Munich, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child serves as the guiding principle, as children, too, have a right to benefit from scientific progress.”