History of PHSH

In 2018, Kiel University (CAU), the University of Lübeck (UzL) and the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH) co-founded Precision Health in Schleswig-Holstein (PHSH) as part of a joint initiative. One year later, all three contractual partners executed an agreement that adheres with the Schleswig-Holstein Higher Education and University Hospital Act (Hochschulgesetz-HSG). In 2023, the Research Center Borstel joined PHSH.

PHSH is an innovative governance structure at the interface between the UKSH and partner universities and faculties. Through the promotion of renowned research personnel and building of cutting-edge infrastructures, PHSH promotes excellent clinical and translational research in the field of precision medicine. 

PHSH member institutions have been successfully cooperating since 2007 as part of the Excellence Initiative of the German federal and state governments. This cooperation first occurred in the Cluster of Excellence "Inflammation at Interfaces" and, since 2019, in the Cluster of Excellence "Precision Medicine in Chronic Inflammation" (PMI). PHSH was created to strengthen the PMI Cluster of Excellence, supporting the implementation of its clinical research agendas. In the future, PHSH aims to bolster the field of precision medicine beyond inflammation medicine. To make Schleswig-Holstein a place for excellent research, it is crucial to recruit and retain the best scientists. To this end, PHSH developed the Schleswig-Holstein Excellence Chair Program.

PHSH’s mission embraces an innovative requirement that was requested by the German Council of Science and Humanities in 2021 in university medicine. In addition to the traditional triad of research, teaching and patient care, it was recommended to consider research sustainability and innovation as a fourth core activity in university medicine.