ARCN Researcher Silke Meiners Is Vice President of the ERS

Prof. Silke Meiners has been elected Vice President by the members of the European Respiratory Society (ERS). With her election, she assumes a key leadership role in one of the world’s most important professional societies for respiratory and lung diseases.

The election results were announced at this year’s ERS Congress in Barcelona. Over the next four years, Meiners will serve the ERS as Vice President, President-Elect, President, and Past President.

An active member of the ERS for 16 years

In her new role, Silke Meiners will play an active part in shaping the future development and strategic direction of the ERS. “As the first basic scientist to hold this office, I would like to strengthen translational lung research in particular and play a key role in advancing the transfer of findings from respiratory research into clinical practice and patient care,” says Meiners. She is also particularly committed to equal opportunities, diversity, and the advancement of early-career researchers.

Being a member of the ERS since 2010, Silke Meiners has been actively involved in the professional society in various roles for many years. Among other roles, she served as Secretary and Group Chair in ERS Assembly 3, “Basic and Translational Sciences.” From 2022 to 2025, she was Conference and Seminars Director and thus a member of the ERS Science Council. One of her responsibilities in this role was organizing the annual Lung Science Meeting. Silke Meiners is also an associate editor for the European Respiratory Journal and the European Respiratory Review.

Part of the DZL since its foundation

As a scientist, Silke Meiners combines basic and translational research with clinical application. Her research focuses on the role of the proteasome and the immunoproteasome in lung diseases. Her research encompasses various respiratory diseases, including COPD, pulmonary fibrosis, and lung cancer.

Silke Meiners has also been actively involved within the DZL for many years – first at the CPC-M site in Munich and now here with us at ARCN in the North. She has been a Principal Investigator of the DZL since 2011 and Co-Chair of the DZL Academy since 2017. Today, she heads the Immunology and Cell Biology research group at the Research Center Borstel and holds a Leibniz Professorship in Immunoproteasome Research at Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel.

We warmly congratulate Silke Meiners on her election and wish her every success in her new role at the ERS!

 

Sources: ERS, FZB, DZL

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