Isabelle Bekeredjian-Ding

Director of the Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hospital Hygiene at the University Hospital in Marburg (UKGM)

Professor Isabelle Bekeredjian-Ding is Full Professor and Chair of Medical Microbiology at the Philipps-University Marburg since 2024. Here, she continues her research on host-pathogen interaction and vaccination concepts against antibiotic-resistant pathogens. She is also continuing her engagement in pandemic preparedness. 

She has a clinical specialization in Medical Microbiology, Virology and Epidemiology of Infection, and a research track record in immunology of infection. Prof. Bekeredjian-Ding received Medical School training at the Universities of Heidelberg, Padova (Italy) and Mt. Sinai, New York. She holds an EMBA degree from the ESSEC and Mannheim Business Schools.

From 2012-2014 she was deputy director of the Institute of Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology at the University Hospital in Bonn. Afterwards, from 2015-2023, she was head of the Division of Microbiology at the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, the German regulatory agency for biomedicines. Here, she focused on the approval of clinical trials and marketing authorizations for vaccines and the microbiological safety aspects of biomedicines. She served in many offices including the EMA CHMP Vaccines Working Party and pandemic Task Force and Chair of the subgroup on infectious pathogens of the German Blood working group. In light of the pandemic, she became founding director of the Center for Pandemic Vaccines and Therapeutics (ZEPAI), a unit responsible for procurement, demand forecast, storage and distribution of COVID19 vaccines and pandemic preparedness contracts with vaccine manufacturers (2021-2023)