News

Here you will find the latest news on the German Foundation for the Chronically Ill's projects, publications and events.

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Dr Bianca Steiner

Dr Bianca Steiner is a medical informatics specialist and has been Deputy Head of Innovations in Healthcare at FCI since September 2023. She is involved in various projects on (digital) innovations in healthcare and heads a nationwide quality assurance measure to record the reality of telemedical care for patients with cardiac devices. In her projects, she is responsible for the planning, implementation and evaluation of needs and requirements analyses for the introduction of digital solutions in the German healthcare system. She uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods.

She completed her doctorate at the Carl Friedrich Gauß Faculty of the TU Braunschweig in 2021. Her research focuses on the patient-centered development and evaluation of eHealth applications for patients with chronic diseases and the assessment and implementation of measures to increase adherence and motivation in digitally supported care processes.
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Dr Anna Renz

Dr Anna Renz is a health psychologist and has been a research associate in our team since 2019. She is involved in various projects in the field of innovation in healthcare.

During her 14-year stay in London, she completed her degree at and graduated in 2008 with a doctorate in health psychology from Kings College London. She is interested in health services research and the psychological aspects of health promotion.
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Dr Anne Neumann

Dr Anne Neumann has been a research associate at the FCI since January 2021. In her role as project manager, she is significantly involved in various innovative projects in the healthcare sector. With her background as a health scientist and her expertise in quantitative and qualitative social research, she supports operational activities. In her current research, she deals with questions of acceptance and implementation of new innovative care concepts from the perspective of various stakeholders. She analyses existing implementation hurdles and works on solutions to overcome them in the future.

Anne Neumann completed her doctorate at the Europa-Universität Flensburg on the topic of pain competence and depression prevention in rehabilitants with chronic back pain in inpatient behavioral medical orthopedic rehabilitation.
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Beatrice Flemming

Beatrice Flemming has been working as a student assistant at the FCI since September 2022. In addition to her studies in Bachelor Health Information Management at the Hanover University of Applied Sciences and Arts, she actively supports our team in the foundation's ongoing projects.
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Julia Geiselhofer

Julia Geiselhofer has been Head of Finance at FCI since August 2014 and provides support primarily from an accounting perspective. She focuses on the correct documentation of project funds, their distribution and the calculation of projects. She is also the contact person within FCI for non-profit issues and manages the foundation's funds.

After graduating with a degree in economics and accounting, she has been working for DT Deutsche Stiftungstreuhand AG in a variety of areas since 2012. As part of this role, she is responsible for the management of FCI’s accounting department.
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Yannick Maaser (born Pelz)

As a research associate and project manager at FCI, Yannick Maaser plays a key role in the development and implementation of innovative care concepts. With his extensive expertise in innovation and technology management, he actively promotes the link between science and practice. His current focus is on qualitative and quantitative acceptance research as well as identifying and overcoming challenges in the introduction of digitally supported care programs.

Yannick Maaser completed his master's degree in industrial engineering (healthcare technology) at the Technische Universität Berlin, where he already worked at the Chair of Technology and Innovation Management. He deepened his professional focus during his time as a working student at Johanniter GmbH, where he supported innovation management and contributed to the development of new business models.
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Dr Bettina Zippel-Schultz

Dr Bettina Zippel-Schultz is responsible for the scientific and organizational planning as well as the management of FCI projects. Bettina Zippel-Schultz’ principal role is the introduction and acceptance of digital healthcare solutions in the German healthcare system, taking into account the views of patients, relatives, doctors and other healthcare professionals, using empirical social research methods (qualitative and quantitative research methods).

After studying business administration, Bettina Zippel-Schultz completed her doctorate at Technische Universität Berlin about innovation management in German hospitals and has been the Head of Innovation in Healthcare at FCI since September 2011 and Deputy Director since 2022.
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Vianne Schiefel

Vianne Schiefel has been working as a student assistant at the FCI since July 2024. She previously completed an internship at the foundation from March to July 2024. In addition to her studies in Bachelor Health Information Management at the Hanover University of Applied Sciences and Arts, she actively supports our team in the foundation's ongoing projects. Her focus is on data processing and analysis, web-design, as well as empirical social research (i.e. qualitative content analysis and interview transcription).
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Dr Jana Seuthe

Dr Jana Seuthe has been working as a research associate at FCI since June 2025. She works as a project manager and is involved in projects in the field of innovations in healthcare. With her expertise in clinical health research, she contributes significantly to the development and evaluation of new therapy and care approaches. Her current research focuses on the acceptance of digitally supported care programmes, both from a qualitative and quantitative perspective, and the identification and overcoming of implementation hurdles.

Jana Seuthe completed her degree in sports science with a focus on health and therapy and received her doctorate in 2021 at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel on the topic of rehabilitation of gait disorders in Parkinson's disease.
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Vanessa Strnad

Vanessa Strnad has been a research associate and project manager at the FCI since June 2025. She specializes in healthcare research and the development and implementation of innovative healthcare concepts. In terms of participatory and patient-centred research, she is particularly involved in the evaluation of new forms of care and health-promoting products.

Vanessa Strnad completed her Master's degree in Health Services Research and Management at Rosenheim University of Applied Sciences. In her Master's thesis, she evaluated the implementation of a local health promotion programme with a particular focus on local stakeholders. She deepened her professional focus during her work as a student trainee at Georg Thieme Verlag, where she was involved in the development of strategic products for service providers and recipients in the healthcare sector.