The Steering Committee (SC) of the German Biobank Network (GBN) has elected the Executive Board for the new term of office. PD Dr Sara Nußbeck (Göttingen), Dr Gabriele Anton (Bielefeld), and PD Dr Dr Michael Kiehntopf (Jena) were confirmed as Board members; Dr Ronny Baber (Leipzig) was newly elected. Sara Nußbeck and Michael Kiehntopf will serve as Spokespersons, with Gabriele Anton and Ronny Baber acting as their Deputies. In addition, Sara Nußbeck was reconfirmed as National Node Director.
By resolution of the SC, the Executive Board was expanded from three to four members in order to align the governance structures more closely with those of the Network University Medicine (NUM) and to enable equal representation on the board.
Brief profiles of the Executive Board members
PD Dr Sara Nußbeck is Head of the Central Biobank at the University Medical Centre Göttingen and has been involved in the GBN for many years, including on the Steering Committee and in several working groups.
PD Dr Dr Michael Kiehntopf heads the Integrated Biobank Jena (IBBJ) and the Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Diagnostics at the University Hospital Jena and is significantly involved in the GBN quality programme.
Dr Gabriele Anton is head of the Biobank OWL in Bielefeld and coordinator of the biosample hub at the NUM. She has extensive experience in the field of population cohorts and biobank coordination.
Dr Ronny Baber is Head of the Leipzig Medical Biobank (LMB) and employee of the Institute of Clinical Chemistry, Laboratory and Molecular Diagnostics at the University Hospital Leipzig. At international level, he is involved in the ESBB, BBMRI-ERIC working groups and in standardisation committees.