Federal Government appoints Professor Eva Winkler to the German Ethics Council
The German Ethics Council is an expert body that advises parliament and government on social and, above all, medical and bioethical issues. Eva Winkler, Heisenberg Professor for Translational Medical Ethics at the Heidelberg Faculty of Medicine of Heidelberg University, has now been appointed to the Council. As Managing Director at the National Centre for Tumour Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg, she heads the Section for Translational Medical Ethics at the NCT Heidelberg and Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD). This covers the entire range of ethical issues relating to the translation of research findings into healthcare. Professor Winkler holds a doctorate in medical ethics and is a specialist in haematology/oncology. She works as a senior physician in the Department of Medical Oncology at the UKHD.
The Federal Government officially appointed new members of the German Ethics Council on 14 October 2024. The law stipulates that the committee must have 26 members. Among them is the medical ethicist and oncologist Prof. Dr. med. Eva Winkler from the Heidelberg Medical Faculty at Heidelberg University, Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD) and the National Centre for Tumour Diseases (NCT) in Heidelberg.
The German Ethics Council deals with controversial issues that are relevant to our society, particularly in the life sciences and with regard to healthcare. With its opinions and recommendations, it provides guidance for society and politics. The members are appointed by the President of the German Bundestag.
The German Ethics Council was constituted on 11 April 2008 on the basis of the Ethics Council Act and succeeded the National Ethics Council established by the Federal Government in 2001. To date, the German Ethics Council has drawn up 24 comprehensive opinions, including on the topics of anonymous child abortion, pre-implantation diagnostics, genetic diagnostics, patient welfare, big data and artificial intelligence. It has thus established itself as a source of inspiration for advising politicians as well as the general public.
“A great honour! I am looking forward to this exciting task and to being able to contribute my expertise from a very practical ethics perspective to research and patient care. The ethically well-supported transfer of knowledge and new treatment approaches from research to healthcare is particularly important to me,” says Prof Dr. Dr. Eva Winkler.
“We warmly congratulate Professor Eva Winkler on this socially and politically important appointment,” says Professor Dr. Dr. Jürgen Debus, Chief Medical Director of the UKHD. “Modern medicine constantly raises ethical questions that need to be scrutinised and discussed from many angles. Professor Winkler, for example, is scientifically investigating the ethical dimension of artificial intelligence and data in the life sciences and medicine. On the one hand, these offer enormous development opportunities for research and clinics and therefore opportunities for patients. On the other hand, developments here are so rapid that they must also be constantly scrutinised from an ethical perspective. We wish Professor Winkler every success in her work on the German Ethics Council.”
About the person
Prof. Dr med. Dr phil. Eva Winkler received her doctorate in the field of cancer research at the University of Heidelberg and in medical and health ethics at the University of Basel (Switzerland). She also received her training in medical ethics through two fellowships in the Department of Medical Ethics at Harvard Medical School and as a faculty fellow at the Center for Ethics and the Professions at Harvard University/Kennedy School of Government. Her research interests include: Research ethics, clinical ethics and ethical issues in health policy. Eva Winkler is also the scientific director and spokesperson of EURAT (interdisciplinary platform for ethical and legal aspects of translational medicine). She is also Chair of the Central Commission for the Safeguarding of Ethical Principles in Medicine and its Frontier Areas (Central Ethics Commission, ZEKO) at the German Medical Association (BÄK) and Deputy Chair of the medical ethics organisation “Academy for Ethics in Medicine” (AEM).
