Christian Drosten

Christian Heinrich Maria Drosten (German: [ˈkʁɪs.ti̯an ˈdʁɔs.tn̩] ⓘ, born 1972) is a German virologist whose research focus is on novel viruses (emergent viruses). During the COVID-19 pandemic, Drosten came to national prominence as an expert on the implications and actions required to combat the illness in Germany.[1]

Christian Drosten
Drosten in 2020
BornChristian Heinrich Maria Drosten Edit this on Wikidata
12 June 1972 Edit this on Wikidata (age 51)
Lingen Edit this on Wikidata
EducationDoctor of Medicine, professor Edit this on Wikidata
Alma mater
OccupationVirologist, university teacher Edit this on Wikidata
Employer
WorksThe coronavirus update with Christian Drosten Edit this on Wikidata
Awards
  • Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2005)
  • German Radio Award (2020, )
  • Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2020)
  • University Teacher of the Year (Sandra Ciesek, 2021)
  • Heinz Oberhummer Award for Science Communication (The coronavirus update with Christian Drosten, Sandra Ciesek, Korinna Hennig, Katharina Mahrenholtz, Beke Schulmann, 2021)
  • Leibniz Medal (2021)
  • Berlin Science Award (2020) Edit this on Wikidata
Websitevirologie-ccm.charite.de

Early life and education

Drosten was born in Lingen and grew up on a farm in Groß Hesepe, Emsland.[2] After graduating from the episcopal college Gymnasium Marianum in Meppen, Drosten initially studied chemical engineering and biology in Dortmund and Münster. From 1994, he studied medicine at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main and completed his third state examination in May 2000. He did his doctorate at the Institute for transfusion medicine and immunohaematology of the German Red Cross (DRK) blood donation service Hessen in Frankfurt am Main. His dissertation (Dr. med.) on the establishment of a high-throughput system for testing blood donors was rated summa cum laude.[3]

Career

From June 2000, Drosten worked as an intern in the laboratory group of the physician Herbert Schmitz in the virology department of the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) in Hamburg, 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. During this time he worked with Isabella Eckerle, who would go on to lead the department of emerging viruses at the University of Geneva.[4] In 2017, he accepted a call to the Charité in Berlin, where he heads the Institute of Virology.[5]

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.[6] Since 2022, he has been serving on the Technical Advisory Panel of the joint World Bank/World Health Organization Pandemic Fund.[7]

Drosten was nominated by Alliance 90/The Greens as delegate to the Federal Conventions for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2022.[8]

Drosten is committed to the transparent distribution of scientific data and therefore, publishes in specialist journals such as Eurosurveillance, where all articles are freely available online.[9]

COVID-19 pandemic

In 2017 Drosten warned that the SARS virus potential needed to be investigated.[10] 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,[11] which was accepted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and which sent test kits to affected regions.[12]

On 19 February 2020, Drosten, along with 26 other scientists, published the Lancet letter 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."[13]

On 17 March 2020, Drosten was appointed to the European Commission's advisory panel on COVID-19, co-chaired by EC President Ursula von der Leyen and ECHSF Stella Kyriakides.[14][15] On 23 March 2020, The Guardian described Drosten as "the [German] country's real face of the coronavirus crisis", and also noted that the Süddeutsche Zeitung had described Drosten as "the nation's corona-explainer-in-chief".[1] He was a counterpart to Lothar Wieler, head of the State's Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, in consulting to German federal and state authorities.[1] 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.[16] 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.[17] On 26 December 2022, he considered that the pandemic was over and that the acquired immunity would protect the following summer.[18] Within a day, federal minister of justice Marco Buschmann then called for the Corona protections to be ended, which was criticized by the Neue Zürcher Zeitung as excessive German deference to authority.[19]

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Drosten had a strained relationship with the German tabloid newspaper Bild that culminated early in summer 2020 with the tabloid's critical article about Drosten's study on Covid infection rates among children.[20][21]

Other scientific activities

Government agencies
  • Centre for International Health Protection (ZIG), Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Member of the Scientific Advisory Board (since 2020)[22]

Miscellaneous activities

Editorial boards

Drosten was

  • Journal of Clinical Virology, Member of the Editorial Board[30]

International agencies

Research

In 2003, Drosten was one of the co-discoverers of SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Together with Stephan Günther, a few days after identification and before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (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 on the internet, even before his article appeared in New England Journal of Medicine in May 2003.[32] Among others, this was honoured by the journal Nature.[33]

From 2012, the research group led by Drosten also researched the Middle East respiratory syndrome-coronavirus (MERS-CoV).[34]

In mid-January 2020, the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 yielded to his method. The virus first came to light on 30 December 2019, because Li Wenliang (the Chinese ophthalmologist 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' group, a RIVM group including Chantal Reusken, Maria Zambon and others, developed a test that was made available worldwide through the WHO.[35] The whole research was published in the journal Eurosurveillance.[11][36]

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 in tissues of the upper respiratory tract" in Nature.[37]

During the early months of the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, Drosten advised politicians and authorities and was invited as an expert in the media, among others in the podcast Das Coronavirus-Update mit Christian Drosten (English: The coronavirus update with Christian Drosten), initially published daily during the week since 26 February 2020, in Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR),[9][38][39] the frequency of the podcast having been gradually reduced from April 2020 until becoming weekly from 15 June 2020.[40] 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 an €8,000 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.[41]

In 2004, Drosten received the GlaxoSmithKline 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, and the post-doctoral award for virology from the Robert Koch Foundation.

In 2005, he was awarded the "Verdienstkreuz am Bande" (Cross) of the Federal Cross of Merit, 2020 he received the "Verdienstkreuz 1. Klasse" (Officer's Cross) for his civil service in time of COVID-19.[42]

On Google Scholar, Drosten has an h-index of 137 as of July 2023.[43]

Personal life

Drosten lives in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg and has a son born in 2017.[44] His long-time partner is also a scientist.[45] 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.[46]

References
  1. Henley, Jon (2020-03-22). "Coronavirus: meet the scientists who are now household names". The Guardian. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  2. Bartsch, Matthias; Buse, Uwe; Eberle, Lukas; Fahrion, Georg; Friedmann, Jan; Grolle, Johann; Hackenbroch, Veronika; Hujer, Marc; Müller, Martin U. [in German]; Schaap, Fritz [in German] (2020-02-21). "Gerät Covid-19 außer Kontrolle? Neue Erkenntnisse zum Coronavirus". Der Spiegel (in German). Archived from the original on 2020-03-16. Retrieved 2020-03-04.
  3. "Falschbehauptungen zum Promotionsverfahren von Prof. Dr. Christian Drosten" (in German). Goethe University Frankfurt. 2020-10-15. Am 4. September 2003 hat der Fachbereichsrat Medizin in seiner turnusmäßigen Sitzung Herrn Drosten die Bewertung seiner Promotion mit "ausgezeichnet" (summa cum laude) zuerkannt und Herrn Drosten wurde die Verleihungsurkunde ausgestellt.
  4. Semmler, Ilia. "Drosten Lab". Institute of Virology. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  5. "Prof. Dr. Christian Drosten" (in German). Institut für Virologie der Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Archived from the original on 2020-03-16. Retrieved 2020-03-16.
  6. Four new members complete the International Advisory Board on Global Health Federal Ministry of Health, press release of 2 July 2018.
  7. Pandemic Fund: The Technical Advisory Panel (TAP) World Bank.
  8. Wahl des Bundespräsidenten: Berliner Grüne nominieren Virologen Drosten für Bundesversammlung Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, 20 December 2021.
  9. Albrecht, Harro (2020-02-07) [2020-02-05]. "Christian Drosten: Der Informant". DIE ZEIT (in German). Vol. 2020, no. 7. Hamburg, Germany: Zeitverlag Gerd Bucerius GmbH & Co. KG. Archived from the original on 2020-03-16. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  10. "Dem Virus voraus sein" [Get ahead of the virus]. www.charite.de. 2017. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  11. Corman, Victor M; Landt, Olfert; Kaiser, Marco; Molenkamp, Richard; Meijer, Adam; Chu, Daniel KW; Bleicker, Tobias; Brünink, Sebastian; Schneider, Julia; Schmidt, Marie Luisa; Mulders, Daphne GJC; Haagmans, Bart L; van der Veer, Bas; van den Brink, Sharon; Wijsman, Lisa; Goderski, Gabriel; Romette, Jean-Louis; Ellis, Joanna; Zambon, Maria; Peiris, Malik; Goossens, Herman; Reusken, Chantal; Koopmans, Marion PG; Drosten, Christian (2020-01-23). "Detection of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) by real-time RT-PCR". Eurosurveillance. 25 (3). doi:10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.3.2000045. PMC 6988269. PMID 31992387.
  12. "Report of the WHO-China Joint Mission on Coronavirus Disease 2019" (PDF). World Health Organization. 16–24 February 2020.
  13. Calisher, Charles; Carroll, Dennis; Colwell, Rita; Corley, Ronald B.; Daszak, Peter; Drosten, Christian; Enjuanes, Luis; Farrar, Jeremy; Field, Hume; Golding, Josie; Gorbalenya, Alexander; Haagmans, Bart; Hughes, James M.; Karesh, William B.; Keusch, Gerald T.; Sai Kit Lam; Lubroth, Juan; Mackenzie, John S.; Madoff, Larry; Mazet, Jonna; Palese, Peter; Perlman, Stanley; Poon, Leo; Roizman, Bernard; Saif, Linda; Subbarao, Kanta; Turner, Mike (2020-03-07). "Statement in support of the scientists, public health professionals, and medical professionals of China combatting COVID-19". The Lancet. 395 (10226): e42–e43. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30418-9. PMC 7159294. PMID 32087122.
  14. COVID-19: Commission launches European team of scientific experts to strengthen EU coordination and medical response European Commission, press release of 17 March 2020.
  15. Commission's advisory panel on COVID-19 (E03719) European Commission.
  16. "Infektion ohne Risiko: Drosten sagt, wann Sie die ideale Corona-Immunität haben" [Infection without risk: Drosten says when you have the ideal corona immunity]. www.focus.de (in German). 2022-02-21. Die ideale Immunisierung ist, dass man eine vollständige Immunisierung hat – mit drei Dosen – und auf dem Boden dieser Immunisierung sich dann erstmalig und auch zweit- und drittmalig infiziert mit dem wirklichen Virus [The ideal immunization is that one has a complete immunization - with three doses - and on the basis of this immunization one is then infected with the real virus for the first time and also for the second and third time.]
  17. "Drosten: Starke Corona-Welle "noch vor Dezember"" [Drosten: Strong Corona wave "before December"]. www.prosieben.de (in German). 2022-09-12. Retrieved 2022-12-27. Ein Infizierter, dessen letzte Infektion länger als drei Monate zurückliegt, trägt genauso viel Virus im Rachen und kann deshalb wahrscheinlich genauso viele andere infizieren wie jemand, der noch nie infiziert war. [An infected person whose last infection was more than more than three months ago carries just as much virus in his throat and is therefore likely to infect just as many others as someone who has never been infected.]
  18. "Christian Drosten zur Corona-Lage in Deutschland: "Nach meiner Einschätzung ist die Pandemie vorbei"" [Christian Drosten on the Corona situation in Germany: "In my assessment, the pandemic is over".]. www.tagesspiegel.de (in German). 2022-12-26. Retrieved 2022-12-27. Wir erleben in diesem Winter die erste endemische Welle mit Sars-Cov-2, nach meiner Einschätzung ist damit die Pandemie vorbei [We are experiencing the first endemic wave with Sars-Cov-2 this winter, in my estimation this means the pandemic is over]
  19. "KOMMENTAR: Christian Drosten erklärt die Pandemie für beendet – die Reaktionen zeigen, wie autoritätsgläubig Deutschland bis heute ist" [COMMENTARY: Christian Drosten declares pandemic over - reactions show how faithful to authority Germany remains to this day]. www.nzz.ch (in German). 2022-12-27. Retrieved 2022-12-31.
  20. "Charité-Virologe gegen Boulevard-Blatt: Warum Drosten die "Bild"-Zeitung so scharf angeht". www.tagesspiegel.de. 2020-05-26. Retrieved 2023-07-29.
  21. "12 Rügen - u.a. für Bericht über Corona-Studie". www.presserat.de. 2020-09-11. Retrieved 2023-07-29.
  22. Scientific Advisory Board of the Centre for International Health Protection (ZIG) Robert Koch Institute (RKI).
  23. Scientific Advisory Board Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).
  24. Internal Advisory Board National Research Platform for Zoonoses.
  25. "About – Leadership – Scientific Committee". World Health Summit. 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-03-23. Retrieved 2020-03-23.
  26. Editorial Board Emerging Infectious Diseases.
  27. Editorial Board Eurosurveillance.
  28. Editorial Board Journal of Virology.
  29. Editorial Board One Health Outlook.
  30. Editorial Board (Old version captured by Internet Archive Server) Journal of Clinical Virology.
  31. "Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens — About us — Members". World Health Organization. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  32. Drosten, Christian; Günther, Stephan [in German]; Preiser, Wolfgang; van der Werf, Sylvie; Brodt, Hans-Reinhard; Becker, Stephan [in German]; Rabenau, Holger F.; Panning, Marcus; Kolesnikova, Larissa; Fouchier, Ron A. M.; Berger, Annemarie; Burguière, Ana-Maria; Cinatl, Jindrich; Eickmann, Markus; Escriou, Nicolas; Grywna, Klaus; Kramme, Stefanie; Manuguerra, Jean-Claude; Müller, Stefanie; Rickerts, Volker; Stürmer, Martin; Vieth, Simon; Klenk, Hans-Dieter [in German]; Osterhaus, Albertus "Albert" Dominicus Marcellinus Erasmus; Schmitz, Herbert; Doerr, Hans Wilhelm [in German] (2003). "Identification of a novel coronavirus in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome" (PDF). The New England Journal of Medicine. Massachusetts Medical Society. 348 (20): 1967–1976. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa030747. PMID 12690091. pasteur-00167033. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-03-16. Retrieved 2020-03-16.
  33. Abbott, Alison (2003). "SARS testing: First past the post". Nature. 423 (6936): 114. Bibcode:2003Natur.423..114A. doi:10.1038/423114a. PMC 7095456. PMID 12736651.
  34. Christian Drosten publications indexed by Google Scholar includes papers of the Drosten group on MERS, they can be found by searching for the phrases "MERS" or "EMC".
  35. "Diagnostic detection of Wuhan coronavirus 2019 by real-time RT-PCR" (PDF). World Health Organization. 2020-01-13. Retrieved 2022-10-01.
  36. Kastilan, Sonja (2020-02-02). "Das neue Coronavirus - Was uns erwartet". Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (Interview with Christian Drosten). Wissenschaft: Medizin & Ernährung (in German). No. 5. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH. p. 53. Archived from the original on 2020-03-16. Retrieved 2020-03-16.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  37. Wölfel R, Corman VM, Guggemos W, et al. (May 2020). "Virological assessment of hospitalized patients with COVID-2019". Nature. 581 (7809): 465–469. Bibcode:2020Natur.581..465W. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2196-x. PMID 32235945.
  38. Heine, Hannes; Spannagel, Lars (2020-03-14). "Christian Drosten ist Deutschlands einflussreichster Arzt – Was Charité-Chefvirologe Christian Drosten rät, versucht die Politik umzusetzen. Warum selbst die Bundeskanzlerin diesem Mediziner zuhört". Der Tagesspiegel. Politik (in German). Archived from the original on 2020-03-16. Retrieved 2020-03-15.
  39. Gasteiger, Carolin (2020-03-13). "Virologe Christian Drosten: Corona-Aufklärer der Nation". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 2020-03-16. Retrieved 2020-03-15.
  40. "Corona-Podcast: Alle Folgen in der Übersicht". ndr.de. Norddeutscher Rundfunk. Ab dem 15. Juni beantwortet Drosten nur noch einmal in der Woche Fragen zur aktuellen Situation
  41. "Virologen des Tropeninstituts erhalten Preis der Werner Otto Stiftung – Identifizierung des SARS-Coronavirus gewürdigt" (press release) (in German). Bernhard-Nocht-Institut für Tropenmedizin. 2003-12-04. Archived from the original on 2020-03-16. Retrieved 2020-03-14.
  42. "bundespraesident.de: Der Bundespräsident / Veranstaltungen / Ordensverleihung "Vereint und füreinander da"".
  43. "Christian Drosten". scholar.google.de. Retrieved 2023-07-29.
  44. "Christian Drosten: Alter, Familie, Ausbildung des Virologen". chip.de (in German). 2021-01-19. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
  45. "Plötzlich Promi: Der Virologe, über den die Welt spricht". gala.de (in German). 2020-06-30. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
  46. "Christian Drosten will mit Punk rock Band auftreten".

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