A team player in innovation

It was at that time, says the now 37-year-old, he only really became aware of the importance of medicine and medical technology for people's lives: He decided to specialize in medical physics in his otherwise theory-heavy studies – driven by the desire to be able to help people with his work. Even as a student, his favorite topic of interest was imaging.

He wrote both his diploma and doctoral thesis in the field of computed tomography of the heart. And immediately after completing his dissertation he started working at his employer of choice, Siemens Healthineers, as a concept physicist for radiotherapy in the field of computed tomography: "I just knew that working here ideally matched my abilities and interests."

Today, Christian has a number of different titles and roles at Siemens Healthineers. One of them is "Global CT Technology Manager": "One of my most important tasks in this position is to promote the mindset of innovation in the field of computed tomography." Christian leads the innovation process at CT: Within a defined process, the various teams – grouped into technology clusters – work on new solutions and products. Christian is a sparring partner for his colleagues, for example when moderating regular meetings.

Christian is convinced that innovation is a team sport: "We at Siemens Healthineers can only launch innovative projects if we transparently share our information and knowledge with each another, and communication flows freely. Without my colleagues, I would know far less!"

One of Christian's most innovative "own" projects is the development of Direct i4D. Direct i4D is a combination of algorithmic solutions for improved imaging for radiotherapy planning, primarily for lung and liver cancer patients.
As part of the project, Christian was responsible for brainstorming, pre-development including programming, and the feasibility study for prototyping. The Siemens Healthineers team worked closely with clinical partners from the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE).

High-precision CT scans are needed to plan radiation treatments. The challenge lies in the fact that a patient's breathing can cause so-called motion artifacts in CT scans – more or less "imaging errors".

The central innovation of Direct i4D: The patient's breathing now controls the CT scan: patients no longer have to adapt their breathing to the requirements of the CT scanner . This makes it possible to generate significantly more precise images for patients, even those with irregular breathing movements, which in turn can enable more precise radiation treatment. Although modesty is very important to Christian, he is nevertheless proud of the paradigm shift that could be achieved with Direct i4D: "We're all living longer, which unfortunately also increases our likelihood of developing cancer at some point in our lives. I just hope that our solution can help to improve therapy."

In addition to his job at Siemens Healthineers, Christian will soon begin his habilitation at the Institute of Medical Physics at the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, of course in the field of computed tomography for radiotherapy. Sharing his expertise with students in the context of university teaching is a matter close to his heart. After all, he is a team athlete in terms of knowledge transfer, so that in the future even more people will be inspired to innovative ideas.

And Christian's grandma? Thanks to medicine and medical technology, she survived cancer – and is now in her mid-90s.