Klinik für Dermatologie, Allergologie und Venerologie der Universität zu Lübeck: Interaktion von Forschung und klinischer Versorgung

The origins of the Lübeck University Department of Dermatology date back to the 30s of the last century. Over the past few decades, the department has undergone consistent structural development and today has 85 beds on two wards and a day-care clinic. A modern residency training program, based on rotations between 5 different inpatient and outpatient teams, conveys all essential topics of clinical dermatology. The extension of the department in recent years has been based on a close interaction of basic research and clinical activities, in particular in the field of cutaneous autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Since 2007, the scientific development of the department has benefited in particular from funding by the Federal Excellence Initiative (Cluster of Excellence Inflammation at Interfaces). In addition, the German Research Foundation (DFG) has been funding a Research Training Group Modulation of Autoimmunity since 2011 under the auspices of the Dermatology Department. This greatly contributed to the development of young scientists and to the training of numerous PhD and MD students. Since 2015, several scientists of the Department have been funded through a DFG Clinical Research Group entitled Pemphigoid Diseases - Molecular Pathways and their Therapeutic Potential. In 2018, researchers of the department also contributed to the acquisition of a Clinician Scientist program of the DFG, which aims to improve the basic scientific training of clinicians. In recent years, as a spin-off from the Dermatology Department, two additional and independent institutes have been established. These include the Institute of Inflammation Medicine, led by Prof. Diamant Thaçi, which initiates and coordinates clinical trials on inflammatory skin diseases and provides care to patients with inflammatory dermatoses. In addition, the Lübeck Institute for Experimental Dermatology (LIED) has emerged from the Department of Dermatology, in which currently 5 professors with their respective research groups work on different topics of inflammation on the skin. Since 2015, the interdisciplinary scientific activities on skin inflammation on the Lübeck campus have been bundled in a Center for Research on Inflammation of the Skin (CRIS). CRIS recently received a commitment for an independent research building, which is funded by both the Federal Government and the State of Schleswig-Holstein in accordance with § 91 of the German constitution, and is currently being built in the center of the Lübeck campus. The expansion of the department's research structures has been accompanied by the establishment of special outpatient clinics for various inflammatory skin diseases, but also for the treatment of skin cancer and chronic wounds. The department has been certified as a Skin Cancer Center and is part of the Lübeck University Vascular and Cancer Centers. Other important pillars of the department's clinical care include certified diagnostic laboratories for dermatopathology and cutaneous autoimmune diseases.