Prof. Dr. med. Philipp Zanger
MD, MSc
Professor in Epidemiology
Head of the Field Epidemiology Research in German Public Health group (FEGPH)
The work of Philipp Zanger focusses on population health at its intersections with hygiene, infection prevention, and migration. This work includes outbreak investigations and other population-based studies on determinants of infectious diseases, including antimicrobial resistance.
Since 2016, he leads the Field Epidemiology Research in Public Health group (FEGPH). Conceptually, FEGPH applies advanced analytical tools to real world data, thus aiming to bridge the widely discussed gap between the public health service (“öffentlicher Gesundheitsdienst (ÖGD)”) and academic public health in Germany. Within FEGPH, researchers from academia and “ÖGD” closely interact on providing data driven answers to questions from the “field”, thus improving the evidence base for public health action in Germany. Examples of this work include research outputs that improved the evidence base with regard to
- carbapenemase-producing bacteria in migrants,
- COVID-19 in schools,
- COVID-19 and social gatherings,
- COVID-19 in day-care centres, and
- COVID-19 PCR-testing.
Philipp is also founder and co-coordinator of StaphTrav - the multi-center network on imported S. aureus. Together with his ongoing interest in antimicrobial resistance, this work goes back to what he studied with his group at University of Tübingen. There, he mainly conducted immune-epidemiological studies on host factors as determinants of Staphylococcus aureus colonization and infection and developed an expertise for the molecular epidemiology of S. aureus.
Philipp is board-certified specialist in internal and in tropical medicine. After studying medicine in Tübingen and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, he trained as physician and researcher for 15 years in Tübingen and Heidelberg University Clinics. During this period, he conducted research in Ghana, Gabun, Republic of the Congo, and Bangladesh within projects based at the Institutes of Tropical Medicine at Charité Berlin and University of Tübingen, and at HIGH. In 2011, he received an MSc Epidemiology from the London School, and in 2013 the venia legendi for Internal Medicine, University of Tübingen and in 2014 the venia legendi for Epidemiology, University of Heidelberg, faculties of medicine.
Since 2015, Philipp holds a permanent position as head of public health microbiology laboratories and infectious diseases epidemiologist to the Federal State of Rhineland-Palatinate while teaching and conducting research as professor in epidemiology (apl.) at HIGH.
Education
- 1992-1999 - Medical Degree, University of Tuebingen
- 1996-1997 - Master of Public Health, Epidemiology, School of Public Health, UNC, Chapel Hill
- 2007 - Board Certification, Internal Medicine, Ärztekammer Reutlingen
- 2008 - Board Certification, Tropical Medicine, Ärztekammer Reutlingen
- 2011 - MSc in Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
- 2013 - Habilitation Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tuebingen
- 2014 - Habilitation Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Heidelberg
- 2015-heute Leitung, Institut für Hygiene und Infektionsschutz, Landau
AWARDS AND PRIZES
- 2004: Post-Doc Fellowship in Tropical Medicine Research, awarded by German Academic Exchanges Service (DAAD)
- 2011: Best oral presentation at 12th Congress of the International Society of Travel Medicine, Boston, USA: “Importation and Spread of Panton-Valentine Leukocidin Positive Staphylococcus aureus Through Nasal Carriage and Skin Infections in Travelers to the Tropics and Subtropics”
- 2014: Best poster presentation at 103rd Congress of the German Society of Tropical Medicine & International Health in Munich (presented by M. Gaile): “Hormonal Contraceptive Use and Irritable Bowel Syndrome in Travellers to South- and Southeast Asia.”
- 2014: Paper of the Year 2014, awarded by Faculty of Medicine, University of Tübingen (1.000 €): Zanger P et al. (2013) “Effectiveness of rifaximin in prevention of diarrhoea in individuals travelling to south and southeast Asia: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial.” Lancet Infectious Diseases 13:946
- 2015: Albrecht-Johann-Berblinger Research Award in Travel Medicine (10.000 €)
Contributions
PROJECTS
Prevalence of Enteropthogens in Asylumseekers
Impact of duplicate notifications on statutory surveillance of Hepatitis B in Germany
Intergrated molecular surveillance for the prevention of nosocomial transmission of MRSA
GRANTS
Federal State of Rhineland-Palatinate (intramural)
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Philipp-Zanger
Publications
Schoeps A, Walter J, Vogt M, Bent S, Zanger P; Palatina Public Health Study Group (2023)
Direct and indirect vaccination effects on SARS-CoV-2 infection in day-care centres: Evaluating the policy for early vaccination of day-care staff in Germany, 2021.
Epidemiology and Infection 151:e80. doi: 10.1017/S0950268823000638.
Schepers M, Zanger P, Jahn K, König J, Strauch K, Gianicolo E (2022)
Multi-household social gatherings contribute to the second SARS-CoV-2 wave in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, August to November 2020.
Journal of Infection 84:551-557. doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2022.01.028.
Schoeps A, Hoffmann D, Tamm C, Vollmer B, Haag S, Kaffenberger T, Ferguson-Beiser K, Kohlhase-Griebel B, Basenach S, Missal A, Höfling K, Michels H, Schall A, Kappes H, Vogt M, Jahn K, Bärnighausen T, Zanger P (2021)
Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in educational institutions, August to December 2020, Germany.
Epidemiology and Infection 22:e213. doi: 10.1017/S0950268821002077.
Nurjadi D, Fleck R, Lindner A, Schäfer J, Gertler M, Mueller A, Lagler H, Van Genderen PJJ, Caumes E, Boutin S, Kuenzli E, Gascon J, Kantele A, Grobusch MP, Heeg K, Zanger P; StaphTrav Network (2019)
Import of community-associated, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus to Europe through skin and soft-tissue infection in intercontinental travellers, 2011-2016.
Clinical Microbiology and Infection 25:739-746. doi: 10.1016/j.cmi.2018.09.023.
Burckhardt F, Hoffmann D, Jahn K, Heuner K, Jacob D, Vogt M, Bent S, Grunow R, Zanger P (2018)
Oropharyngeal Tularemia from Freshly Pressed Grape Must.
N Engl J Med. 379:197-199. doi: 10.1056/NEJMc1800353.
Ehlkes L, George M, Samosny G, Burckhardt F, Vogt M, Bent S, Jahn K, Zanger P (2017) Management of a Lassa fever outbreak, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, 2016.
Eurosurveillance 22:16-00728. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2017.22.39.16-00728.
Kurth F, Develoux M, Mechain M, Malvy D, Clerinx J, Antinori S, Gjørup IE, Gascon J, Mørch K, Nicastri E, Ramharter M, Bartoloni A, Visser L, Rolling T, Zanger P, Calleri G, Salas-Coronas J, Nielsen H, Just-Nübling G, Neumayr A, Hachfeld A, Schmid ML, Antonini P, Lingscheid T, Kern P, Kapaun A, da Cunha JS, Pongratz P, Soriano-Arandes A, Schunk M, Suttorp N, Hatz C, Zoller T (2017)
Severe malaria in Europe: an 8-year multi-centre observational study.
Malaria Journal 31:57. doi: 10.1186/s12936-016-1673-z.
Nurjadi D, Kain M, Marcinek P, Gaile M, Heeg K, Zanger P (2016)
Ratio of T-Helper Type 1 (Th1) to Th17 Cytokines in Whole Blood Is Associated With Human β-Defensin 3 Expression in Skin and Persistent Staphylococcus aureus Nasal Carriage
Journal of Infectious Diseases 214:1744-1751. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiw440.
For a list of all publications, follow this link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/philipp.zanger.2/bibliography/public/
Contact Information
Prof. Dr. med. Philipp Zanger
Im Neuenheimer Feld 324
R. 308, 69120 Heidelberg
Phone: +49 (0) 6221 56-7758
Fax: +49 (0) 6221 56-5039
Email: philipp.zanger(at)uni-heidelberg.de
&
Landesuntersuchungsamt Rheinland-Pfalz
Institut für Hygiene und Infektionsschutz
Bodelschwinghstraße 19
76829 Landau
Phone: +49 (0) 6341 43310-0
Fax: +49 (0) 6341 85399
E-Mail: philipp.zanger(at)lua.rlp.de