Prof. Viktoria Weber elected for key role at EIT Health Austria

The Core and Associate Partners of EIT Health Austria have elected the new Chair of its Strategic Orientation Committee (SOC). Prof. Viktoria Weber, full professor for Medical Biochemistry, Head of the Department for Biomedical Research, and Vice Rector for Research and Sustainable Development at the University for Continuing Education Krems, will step into this position and also join Chad Floe and Lucas Scherdel in the Local Supervisory Board of EIT Health Austria.

Copyright: Walter Skokanitsch

The Strategic Orientation Committee is a key element of each EIT Health location (“Co-Location Centre”) and meets to discuss current trends in health innovation to accompany the decision-making of the Local Supervisory Board. “I’m delighted about the election of Prof. Viktoria Weber as Chair of our Strategic Orientation Committee”, says Dr. Astrid Kaltenböck, Managing Director of EIT Health Austria. “Her exceptional commitment to research and innovation will further strengthen our growing network of health innovators in Austria.”

Prof. Viktoria Weber graduated in Biotechnology from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, where she also earned her PhD and obtained her habilitation (venia docendi).

Her research group focuses on the blood-biomaterial interface, the activation of blood cells during blood-material contact, as well as extracellular vesicles and their roles in immunothrombosis, particularly in the setting of sepsis and severe COVID-19. She was Principal Investigator of the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Innovative Therapy Approaches in Sepsis (2013-2019) co-funded by Fresenius Medical Care as well as partner in several European projects (FP6, FP7, Horizon 2020, and Horizon Europe) in the field of apheresis, extracorporeal therapies, inflammation, as well as medical diagnostics.

Prof. Viktoria Weber is Co-founder of the Austrian Society for Extracellular Vesicles (www.asev.at), current President of the Austrian Association of Molecular Life Sciences and Biotechnology (www.oegmbt.at), and Past President of the European Society for Artificial Organs (www.esao.org).

As Vice Rector for Research, she was responsible for implementing the first PhD programs at the University for Continuing Education Krems (“Regenerative Medicine”; “Migration Studies”; “Technology, Innovation, and Cohesive Societies”; “Evidence Synthesis for Health Research”) and represents the University in the Council for Doctoral Education of the European University Association (EUA-CDE). Her department is also responsible for the MBA Program Biotech, Pharma and MedTech Management.

Prof. Viktoria Weber is Board Member of the Complexity Science Hub Vienna and of the Vienna Biocenter Core Facilities, Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Austrian Research Association (ÖFG), and elected Member of the Leibniz-Sozietät der Wissenschaften zu Berlin.

Her engagement as Chair of the EIT Health Austria Strategic Orientation Committee starts immediatey and her role as a Member of the EIT Health Austria Local Supervisory Board will start on the 20th of June, 2024.