Prof. Dr. med. Natalija Novak, MD
Department of Dermatology and Allergy
University of Bonn
Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25
53105 Bonn, Germany
Tel. +49-228-287-15370
Fax. +49-228-287-14333
Natalija.Novak@ukb.uni-bonn.de

Joining the Academy

How long have you been an EAACI member?
I am EAACI member since 2003, starting as Junior Member and continuing now as regular member. My first experience as EAACI junior was one of the wonderful winter school meetings in Davos, where I met a lot of young scientists but also very well-established and known senior scientists in person. This was very impressive and motivating and an excellent opportunity to make science -  and to make friends.

What was your motive for joining the Academy in the first place?
My motive to join the Academy was to get the opportunity to expand and exchange clinical and scientific knowledge on an international level, comparing proceedings in the European allergy and immunology field with the progress in the whole world including the US. I considered it as very helpful, that one of the most important commitments of the EAACI is to involve young clinicians and researches at a very early stage and to enable them to present their work and expand their network.

Field of practice / specialty

What were the reasons behind your decision to follow your specialty?
As a medical doctor, it is really helpful to understand immunologic mechanisms leading to the manifestation and impairment of diseases or improvement by therapeutic approaches. Once you have entered the field of basic immunology, you are fascinated by its complexity and the plethora of sophisticated networks regulating immune responses, in particular in allergic diseases.

Are there any major achievements in your field recently?
Basic research on atopic dermatitis and allergic diseases is very active and knowledge is rapidly increasing, always answering some of the questions but at the same time raising new questions, which need to be addressed quickly.
To understand both sides of the coin, i.e. how allergic diseases develop on one hand and in which way the immunologic homeostasis can by maintained on the other hand is the most fascinating achievement in this field.

Do you spend more time in the Clinic or more time in the Lab?
There is a very nice balance between my time in the clinic and my time in the lab,
so I always enjoy in a very passionate way both parts of my profession. This is the best prerequisite, to do clinical research, very much based on the daily needs for diagnostic tools or new therapeutic measures.

Tell us some problems that you face as a physician in your daily job
As a physician you face very often the problem of budgets, which very strictly limit the diagnostic and therapeutic steps applicable in the patients. Furthermore, most of the therapeutic approaches are rather symptomatic but not rational-based, which limits the level of success of such therapies.

Science and personal life

Personal vs. Professional time: can they be successfully combined?
Personal and professional time can be successfully combined. One of the most important prerequisites for that is to keep always your sense of humor – in particular about yourself and to be well-organized in both parts.
Do you think that the EAACI may serve as a source of making new friends apart from research collaborations?
The EAACI definitely serves as a source of making new friends apart from research collaborations, which is an important basis to work hand-in-hand together and for fruitful interaction on a give-and-take basis.

Allergies and Environment

How can we take measures in order to reduce the effects of seasonal allergies?
Due to rapidly growing knowledge about the development of allergen-specific tolerance, combined with new technologies and improvement of allergen extracts and adjuvants, allergen specific immunotherapy is one of the most promising approaches to control the effects of seasonal allergies. The challenge would be to develop early markers to identify patients at risk and to establish treatment schedules, which would be capable to avoid or limit the development of sensitizations at the earliest stage possible.

What will be the future of allergy as a disease, as a discipline?
Allergy as a disease will always be a considerable and essential part of different medical fields.
Therefore the future of allergy as a discipline should optimally be represented by well-organized platforms of clinicians and researchers from different fields working together to synergize their knowledge and emphasize speed and quality of research as well as clinical applications. This would allow rapid transfer of knowledge to the clinical practice and support the development of helpful general  and standardized guidelines.