Transcript of video
Hello from New York. We’re very excited to bring you today a conversation with a real rock star of lung medicine, pulmonology, Dr. Tobias Welte. Professor Tobias Welte is a past president of the European Respiratory Society. He is one of the world’s leading experts in treating lung diseases in general and lung infections in intensive care units, in particular. So Professor Tobias Welte is a perfect expert for this time. We will discuss Coronavirus vaccines, and we will answer some of the questions about COVID-19 vaccines that you have on your mind. Professor Tobias Welte, hello and welcome to Diagnostic Detectives Network expert conversations! Yeah, welcome! My greetings to the US. So I think there is a picture of New York behind you. So I missed being in the States now. I had not been there for about ten months, so I would be happy to come back. It is true. You’ll be most welcome in New York. It misses all the people from around the world, that’s for sure. And you know, it’s a gray, gray morning today in New York, right here. It is slightly above the freezing point. So in Celsius is like, you know, three, four, but it goes back and forth. Climate change is real. Yeah, that’s the same in Germany. So we had a lot of snow in the mountains during the last days. I hope this snow stays. But then again, all the ski lifts are staying too, unfortunately. Yeah, that’s COVID-19. Yeah. Let me first briefly review your illustrious career in respiratory medicine and infectious disease. And I will start from your own words, that you got interested in respiratory medicine for very personal reasons. You mentioned that when you were a child, you grew up with your grandparents. And they both died of lung conditions. So you said in one of the interviews that lung conditions were always on your mind. Very early in your medical career, you were focused on pulmonary medicine. Dr. Tobias Welte became professor of pulmonary medicine and Director of the Department of Pulmonary and Infectious Diseases at Hannover University School of Medicine in Hannover, Germany. He also received his doctorate in respiratory medicine from Hanover University. And previously, Professor Tobias Welte held the position of Professor of Pneumology and Intensive Care Medicine at the University of Magdeburg in Germany. Professor Tobias Welte is a Past President of the European Respiratory Society and the German Society of Pneumology. He’s the Vice President of the German Society of Sepsis. Sepsis is a life-threatening blood infection with very high death rates. Dr. Tobias Welte was also a president of the German Society of Internal Intensive Care. He serves on various executive boards, including the Executive Board of the German Society of Clinical Care. Professor Tobias Welte also is a board member of the German Center for Lung Research. He is an internal advisory board member for the German Center for Infectious Disease Research. He chairs various panels, very importantly, he is a chairman of the Competence Network Community Acquired Pneumonia foundation. Community-acquired pneumonia is a huge, huge problem with morbidity and mortality around the world. Professor Tobias Welte leads a multicenter research group focused on epidemiology, diagnosis, and management of respiratory conditions. He published around 800 papers in peer-reviewed international medical journals worldwide and contributed to chapters in over 150 books. Professor Tobias Welte, it is a real honor to have you here! And I hope we’re going to have a very interesting conversation, and very pertinent conversation to the times today. Thank you very much for this kind of introduction. It’s a great pleasure to be here and to discuss the current problems with COVID-19 with you!