Female Professors Program
The MHH was successful in the third round of the Female Professors Program of the federal government and the states with its Equality Future Concept. In the communication from the BMBF on January 22, 2019, regarding the evaluation meeting, it was stated about our application:
"The Equality Future Concept of Hannover Medical School (MHH) is positively evaluated. It meets the basic requirements of the Female Professors Program, particularly regarding sustainability. Given the very difficult objective conditions, MHH has submitted a commendable application. The situation and deficit analysis is convincing and reflective. The specific goals for each status group are defined in detail and ambitious. The package of measures relies heavily on incentives for employing women, especially through performance-based internal funding. The presented concept for personnel development and recruitment demonstrates a strong awareness of the issues. In terms of family-friendliness, the university is well-positioned."
The federal government and the states launched the Female Professors Program in 2008 as one of the measures to address the "leaky pipeline" in science. The program was relaunched in 2013 and 2008. Its aim is to increase the number of female professors at German universities by providing start-up funding for up to three professorships for up to five years (with €150,000 or €165,000 per year for each female professor). Additionally, the program seeks to strengthen the equality structures at universities. In return for the funds received, universities are committed to implementing concrete measures through their Equality or Equality Future Concept. These measures can be financed either from the university's own resources or, when filling regular professorships, from the Female Professors Program funds.
The MHH has been successful in all three rounds of the program. Through equality concepts, nearly €7 million were raised, which could be further supplemented by additional funding from the state of Lower Saxony. Not all potential funds could be fully utilized, for example, because a female professor received another offer and the program funding ended, or because not all professorships could be filled.
The MHH was able to appoint three female professors in 2008 and 2013, and two female professors in 2018 as part of the program. For more details about the funded professors, see here:
Female Professors Appointed 2018
Professor Dr. med. Dr. phil. Sabine Salloch was appointed to the W3 Professorship in Ethics and History at MHH as part of the Female Professors Program III. With this appointment, she succeeds Professor Brigitte Lohff, who retired in 2013 after a long vacancy. As this is the first regular professorship to be filled under the Female Professors Program at MHH, this appointment also marks the first time that funds for targeted equality measures will be made available. MHH has committed to using these funds, among other things, to establish a coordination office at the Competence Center for Gender-Sensitive Medicine and to create a new mentoring program for early-career female scientists (IPM Junior).
Professor Dr. Ines Yang was appointed to the W2 Professorship in "Digitalization and Bioinformatic Data Analysis in Dentistry" in 2019 as part of the Female Professors Program. This position is based at the Clinic for Dental Prosthetics and Biomaterials Science at MHH, led by Professor Meike Stiesch. Her research focuses on microbial processes in oral biofilms, particularly in relation to periodontitis and periimplantitis, which she investigates using data from the latest high-throughput sequencing techniques combined with bioinformatic methods.
Female Professors Appointed 2013
Hildegard Büning is a W2 professor of “Infection Biology of Gene Transfer” at the Institute of Experimental Hematology.
Doris Steinemann is a W2 Professor of "Functional Genomics." She leads the Functional Genomics TEAM at the Institute of Human Genetics. The focus of her research is the identification of the significance of genetic changes in hereditary cancer diseases. The research goal is to detect genetic alterations using the latest techniques that could predispose individuals to cancer, particularly hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, as well as childhood leukemia.
Tanja Zimmermann is a W2 Professor of "Psychosomatics" with a focus on transplantation medicine and oncology. Professor Zimmermann's research addresses coping processes in cancer, the effectiveness of psychosocial support services for cancer patients, and the importance of partnership support in chronic illnesses. Another key area of her work is communication and competence training for adolescents and young adults, as well as parent training.
Female Professors Appointed 2008
Heike Bantel is a W2 Professor of "Translational Hepatology." Professor Bantel focuses on fundamental scientific research addressing clinically relevant questions in hepatology and gastroenterology. One of her research priorities is the identification of new biomarkers for detecting apoptotic cell death, which can indicate disease activity, disease progression, or the response to therapy in hepatological diseases.
Faikah Güler was a W2 Professor of "Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury and Transplantation." Since 1999, she worked at the MHH Clinic for Kidney and Hypertension Diseases, where she researched the mechanisms of acute kidney failure and transplant rejection. Her research focused on investigating the molecular mechanisms that lead to tissue damage due to oxygen deprivation (hypoxia). In 2003, she was appointed Junior Professor of Transplant Dysfunction, and in 2008, she was appointed to the aforementioned professorship as part of the Female Professors Program I.
It is with great sorrow that we learned of the unexpected passing of Professor Faikah Güler on March 19, 2020. Professor Güler was connected to us as a mentee and later as a mentor in the Ina Pichlmayr Mentoring Program at MHH, as well as a long-standing member of the Equality Commission and a scientist interested in gender research. We will cherish her memory.
Susanne Häußler was a W2 Professor of "Pathophysiology of Bacterial Biofilms." The specialist in microbiology led the "Pathophysiology of Bacterial Biofilms" group at TwinCore, the Center for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research in Hannover. Her group focused on the development and treatment of chronic infections caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
The professorship within the Female Professors Program proved to be an important yet brief career stage. Already in December 2011, Professor Häußler was appointed to the W3 Professorship in Molecular Bacteriology. With her acceptance of the position at MHH, she also became the head of the Molecular Bacteriology Department at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig.