by Carl Kruse
The Harvard Club of Berlin invites the Ivy Circle Berlin to a leadership dinner with Professor Lothar Wieler at 6:30pm on April 22.
Info below.
Cheers!
Carl Kruse
Director, Ivy Circle Berlin
Carl Kruse – Berlin Chair, Princeton Alumni Association of Germany
Dear members and friends of the Harvard Community in Berlin,
The Harvard Cub of Berlin is honored to invite you to a Leadership Dinner with Professor Lothar Wieler.
The lecture was originally scheduled for October 2025, and we are very pleased to be able to welcome Professor Wieler to our club this April.
About the lecture:
Decision making and giving recommendations both to political leaders as well as to health professionals during an acute crises like COVID-19 can be a challenging task. In my talk I will outline the legal foundation given to the Robert Koch-Institute as a governmental agency deeply based on scientific excellence and evidence and the chances, barriers and obstacles which influenced political decisions during that crises. One major conclusion is that democracy will suffer if such governmental institutions are not scientifically excellent, well ressourced and recognized as trusted institutions. In addition, ministerial civil servants need to be both competent and resilient, giving them the strength to resist political despotism. Otherwise, single political decision makers will be able to deliberately decide by neglecting facts as well as scientific evidence. Without competent strong and legally soundly founded institutions, it will be hard to keep checks and balances.
About Professor Wieler:
Lothar H. Wieler is Coordinator of the Digital Health Cluster, Chair Digital Global Public Health, Hasso-Plattner-Institute, University Potsdam, and Adjunct Professor at the Hasso-Plattner-Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York.
As a leader in Global Public Health, among others he advised the German government on combating the COVID-19 pandemic as president of the Robert Koch-Institute. He has 40 years experience in infectious disease research, teaching and transfer, and nearly 30 years in leadership positions both in the academic and the public sector. A veterinarian by training, he is microbiologist and global public health expert. His research is on pandemics and infectious diseases that can be transmitted between animals and humans, known as zoonoses. In his work, initially he concentrated on infections involving antibiotic multi-resistant bacteria (AMR) and investigated transmission mechanisms and microevolution, as well as disease-causing factors and disease control strategies. Focusing his research on the molecular pathogenesis, genomic surveillance and evolution of infectious agents, he extended his work on public and global health, disease prevention and containment of pathogens with epidemic and pandemic potential.
Wieler´s goal is to reduce health inequalities by promoting precision public health, at local, national and international levels. Before taking the Chair of Digital Global Public Health at the Hasso-Plattner-Institute at the University of Potsdam in 2023, he has served as president of Germany´s National Public-Health-Institute – the Robert Koch-Institute – for 8 years. Before then, he has been full-professor at the Freie University Berlin from 1998 to 2015. He is member of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Senator of Leopoldina´s section Global Health, Member of the Council of Virchow Foundation, Co-Director of the Digital Health Partnership with Mount Sinai Hospital, and has been member and chair of various national and international commissions and advisory boards, among member others the Strategic and Technical Advisory Board of Infectious Hazards (STAG-IH), WHO, the Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (WHO, UNEP, FAO, WHOA), the Lancet Commission on 21st Century Global Health Threats, or chair of the International Health Regulations Review Committee (IHR-RC), WHO.
We look forward to seeing you at our Harvard Leadership Dinner.
When?: Wednesday, April 22, 2026, at 6:30 pm
Where?: Restaurant Il Punto, Lasagneria
Neustädtische Kirchstraße 6, 10117 Berlin
Dresscode: Smart Casual
Tickets:
Members & partners: 45 € p.p.
Non-Members: 55 € p.p.
Welcome drinks and two course menu are included.
Drinks with the meal will be charged separately.
30 tickets are available for this event.
Please register via the following link: registration link until April 15, 2026.
Payment options:
- Bank transfer: Please transfer the ticket to our bank account:
Harvard University Alumni Club of Berlin e.V.
IBAN: DE33 1007 0848 0036 7532 00
BIC: DEUTDEDB110
Reference: your name & HLD Wieler
- Paypal: frohn@pwwl.de family and friends
Reference: your name & HLD Wieler
Harvard University Alumni Club of Berlin e.V.
c/o Pusch Wahlig Workplace Law
Berliner Freiheit 2
10785 Berlin
Tel.: +49 (0)30 20629530
Fax: +49 (0)30 206295399