Contract extension for security and continuity
Berlin, 16 December 2024
The Supervisory Board of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin has decided to reappoint Carla Eysel as Chief Human Resources and Nursing Officer and Prof Martin E. Kreis as Chief Medical Officer for a further five years ahead of schedule.
Visceral surgeon Prof Kreis has been a member of the Executive Board since the beginning of 2021 and in his position is responsible for patient care, Charité’s largest area. This includes contributing medical expertise to the Executive Board as well as managing the hospital. He is also responsible for the development of patient care and its integration into the overall development of Charité.
Carla Eysel, a lawyer, has been a member of the Executive Board since the end of 2020 and is responsible for HR, including collective bargaining, as well as the powers of the service authority, the highest service authority, the HR department and the HR department. The position was newly created in 2019 in order to represent the employer brand and the recruitment and retention of specialist staff more purposefully. With more than 6,188 employees, nursing is the largest professional group within Berlin University Medicine.
Carla Eysel/Photo: © Charité | Wiebke Peitz
Dr Ina Czyborra, Senator for Science, Health and Care and Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board, commented on the reappointment: ‘I am delighted that the Supervisory Board has reappointed Ms Carla Eysel as Chief Human Resources and Care Officer for a further five years and Prof Martin E. Kreis as Chief Medical Officer. This is not only an expression of appreciation for their work to date, but also signifies important continuity in these positions. Both members of the Executive Board have represented Charité excellently, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic, but also beyond, and have made great progress and improvements in their respective areas of work. I would like to thank them for this. For the next five years, I wish Carla Eysel and Prof Martin E. Kreis every success in their important work for the Charité.’
Prof Heyo K. Kroemer, Chairman of the Executive Board of Charité, added: ‘With the reappointment of Martin Kreis as Chief Medical Officer and Carla Eysel as Chief Human Resources and Nursing Officer, we are creating security and continuity for Charité in challenging times. Their expertise and tireless commitment to providing the best possible care for our patients and to the development of our employees and our corporate culture are invaluable to Charité. With their clear vision and commitment, both members of the Executive Board are making a decisive contribution to continuously improving the quality of care and working conditions despite challenging conditions and further expanding our position as a leading centre for medical excellence and an attractive employer.’
Prof Kreis explains: ‘I would like to thank the Supervisory Board and our CEO Prof Kroemer for the trust they have placed in me to take responsibility for patient care at the Charité in these challenging times. It gives me great pleasure to be significantly involved in the strategic development of patient care and to be able to shape it. In particular, I would also like to thank Charité for the excellent cooperation, which has already brought us closer to our strategic goals. Over the next few years, I will be focusing on implementing the medical strategy, continuously improving the quality of care for our patients and further digitalising the hospital. I look forward to tackling these challenges together with all employees and shaping the future of healthcare at Charité.’
Prof Kreis took over as Chief Medical Officer during the difficult times of the COVID pandemic. Accordingly, the focus was on coping with this and extensive vaccination programmes, for example, helped to avert overload situations as far as possible. New areas were also opened up to further develop patient care. These include the NeuroPalliativeCare ward, the new establishment of the G-BA Centre for Intensive Care Medicine, the outpatient surgery centres and the restructuring of urology. In addition, the digitalisation of patient care was accelerated. For example, the electronic patient file and digital medication software were rolled out and preparations were made for the implementation of the new hospital information system (HIS). Regional and supra-regional clinical cooperation was promoted and expanded. In addition, a structured definition for university medicine was developed with the medical strategy. Prof Kreis added: ‘My goals for my second term of office are, in particular, the implementation of the new HIS and the strengthening of Charité as a university medical centre in the Berlin healthcare region. In implementing the Hospital Care Improvement Act (KHVVG), we want to establish strong regional and supra-regional networks – also in connection with the implementation of the medical strategy.’
Commenting on her reappointment, Carla Eysel emphasises: ‘Charité is characterised by committed employees who are committed to the health of people in Berlin and beyond with knowledge and heart. I am particularly enthusiastic about the great openness, the value-based cooperation and the huge wealth of knowledge at Charité.’
During Carla Eysel’s first term of office, Charité’s Human Resources and Nursing department succeeded in developing and implementing a personnel development concept that is geared towards the needs of employees. The aim is to offer all employees good, interprofessional and patient- or student-centred working conditions. Initial tools for this include a new interprofessional management curriculum and interprofessional management workshops. Carla Eysel adds: ‘In nursing, we have succeeded in establishing the new employer brand, which shows self-confident nursing care in interprofessional teams and is also reflected in good working conditions. New academically orientated role models in patient care should be paired with good, collectively agreed staffing and both further training and professional pride through high-quality work for our patients. Carla Eysel has three main goals for the near future: ‘We want to manage to fully digitalise the HR processes in order to relieve our employees of various administrative tasks and thus give them more time for their actual work. It is also important to me to decisively advance the academisation of nursing staff and, above all, to create clear role models that radiate beyond Charité.’ In addition, personnel measures are to be systematically developed further in order to promote the existing development potential of employees in all professional groups and to counter the shortage of skilled labour through new professional and role models. She is also particularly keen to support young doctors with regard to balancing work and family life.
Carla Eysel in brief
Carla Eysel was born on 24 January 1972 in Reutlingen. After studying law in Regensburg and Tübingen, she completed her legal clerkship in Düsseldorf. She was admitted to the bar in 1999 and holds a Master’s degree in International Management from the University of East London. Carla Eysel joined TÜV Rheinland Holding AG as a specialist in labour law and became head of the Industrial Services HR department in 2001. She is also a member of the management board and representative of the TÜV collective bargaining organisation. In 2007, she moved to ALBA Holding as Head of Business Development and Organisation. After taking on additional responsibilities and managing various major projects, she was appointed Chief Representative of the ALBA Group in 2017 and became CEO of ALBA Europe in 2019. Carla Eysel has been Chief Human Resources Officer since November 2020.
Short CV Prof. Martin E. Circle
Martin E. Kreis was born in Ludwigsburg in 1967. He studied medicine at the University of Tübingen from 1986 to 1993. He qualified as a specialist in surgery in 2001 and habilitated in 2003. From 2004 to 2012, he was senior physician and head of the colorectal surgery department at the surgical clinic of the Großhadern Clinic at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. In 2009, the visceral surgeon took over the management of the intestinal centre there and became senior consultant in 2010. Prof Kreis is an expert in the surgical treatment of gastrointestinal diseases and the treatment of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases and colorectal carcinomas. From 2012 to 2020, he was Director of the Department of General, Visceral and Vascular Surgery at Charité Campus Benjamin Franklin and from 2018 to 2020, he was also Medical Director of the Charité Centre for Surgical Medicine. Prof Kreis has been Chief Medical Officer since January 2021.