The department was established by means of a foundation professorship in Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Bremen (Universität Bremen) in 2006 which will be permanently incorporated into the faculty of the university in 2011. The position is held by Prof Dr. med. Edeltraut Garbe who changed from a professorship in Clinical Pharmacology at Berlin University Medicine Charit� to the University of Bremen.
Main focus of the department is on Clinical Epidemiology and Pharmacoepidemiology.
Clinical Epidemiology conducts research into diseases by employing epidemiological methods. Research topics are occurrence rates of diseases, their geographical distribution, risk factors and prognostic factors, quality of diagnostic tests, natural course of a disease and its course under therapy, identification of prognostic factors for treatment response, and health services research. One important project in Clinical Epidemiology, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, is dedicated to Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) investigating incidence, disease course, prognostic factors, and treatment of ADHD in Germany. This project, like other fields of health services research, is closely connected with pharmacoepidemiology, a classic research field of BIPS.
Pharmacoepidemiology conducts population based research into the use of medications and their associated risks and benefits. Research is based upon a large pharmacoepidemiological database including 14 million insurants which is currently being established by BIPS. An important field of research is the investigation of the quality of treatment with pharmaceuticals regarding observance of therapeutic guidelines, licensed indications, recommended dosage, contraindications, warnings, and interactions. Another essential field of research is the investigation of risks of pharmaceuticals, carried out partly in the framework of governmentally required risk management plans after licensing. BIPS is a member of the European Network of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacovigilance (ENCEPP), an initiative of the European Medicines Agency (EMEA), and maintains numerous international contacts and co-operations. In a project within the EU 7th Framework Programme, the department has taken the lead to organise observational studies on the gastrointestinal and cardiovascular risks of non-steroidal antirheumatics which will be carried out with a common protocol utilizing various European data bases. The department closely cooperates with the Department of Biometry and Data Management of BIPS to advance methodological research in pharmacoepidemiology. A common research group Statistical Methods in Pharmacoepidemiology has been set up for this purpose.
Overall, purpose and goals of the department can be summarized as follows:
The list shows only projects for which the department has the main scientific responsibility. It only includes those projects that are currently running or that ended less than a year ago. The entries are sorted alphabetically.