What characterises infectious diseases medicine at the University Hospital of Cologne?

The CIM was founded at the end of 2022 with the overall aim of providing the best possible medical care for patients with infectious diseases. Over the past two decades, the University Hospital of Cologne has built up extensive expertise in the detection, treatment and research of infectious diseases - today it is one of the leading European institutions in the field of infectious diseases medicine.

The experience gained during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the resulting even stronger networking in infectious diseases medicine further strengthened and accelerated the establishment of the Center for Infectious Diseases. Through intensive cooperation with national and international partners, Cologne was able to make important contributions to overcome the pandemic.

The spread of SARS-CoV-2 has brought the threat of infectious diseases into the public eye and into everyday life. The fact that infections pose considerable health risks in a variety of ways is reflected in the assessment published by World Health Organization (WHO) before the pandemic, which identified six infectious disease issues as among the top ten threats to human health, including antimicrobial resistance, dengue, HIV and vaccine hesitancy.

By establishing the CIM at the University Hospital of Cologne we have taken an important step in order to fulfill the complex requirements of modern infectious diseases medicine in the best possible way.

In September 2022, the University Hospital of Cologne was one of the very first hospitals in Germany to receive approval from the North Rhine State Chamber of Physicians for further training as a specialist in internal medicine and infectious diseases. On the one hand, this underlines our professional expertise and at the same time makes us responsible for continuously contributing to ensuring that patients can be cared for by highly qualified experts.