Medicine

The focus in the coming years will be on attracting funding to advance research in the faculty. Several draft concepts for Collaborative Research Centres, including one Transregional CRC with two Chinese universities, originated from the Medical Faculty in 2008. The proposals for these potential Collaborative Research Centres will be reviewed by the German Research Foundation (DFG) in 2009. Review of the draft concept to re­inforce the focus on oncology by establishing central research facilities is similarly expected in 2009.
At the end of 2007, the Centre for Clinical Studies Essen (ZKSE) was accredited by the Network of Coordinating Centres for Clinical Trials. The Centre is responsible for integrating scientific services within the Medical Faculty. Clinical trials receive practical and quality-specific support in order to advance clinical research in a scientific environment. The main task of the ZKSE is toundertake clinical medical trials and provide skilled support in every aspect of patient-oriented clinical research. This includes pharmaceutical trials before and after licensure, studies of non-medicinal therapies and medicinal products,diagnostic and prognostic studies as well as epidemiological studies. The objective is to improve prophylactic, therapeutic and diagnostic processes and gain new insights into the etiology of diseases and pathogenesis.