Introduction
CHAMPION represents a TUM research center and hub staffed with various chairs, professorships, centers, and institutions of the Technical University of Munich, particularly within the TUM School of Medicine and Health, the Department for Health and Sport Sciences, and the Munich School of Politics and Public Policy. CHAMPION warmly welcomes all professors, chairs, centers, and other entities engaged in research on child and adolescent health, with an emphasis on health promotion and prevention. The initiative aims to establish an interdisciplinary platform that facilitates exchange and collaboration across disciplines to develop innovative strategies for promoting and sustaining the health of children and adolescents. By integrating diverse expertise, CHAMPION generates synergies that enable holistic approaches to complex challenges in health promotion and the development of practical solutions. In this way, CHAMPION positions itself as a catalyst for pioneering research and societal benefit in support of a healthy young generation.
Renate Oberhoffer-Fritz
Chair of Preventive Pediatrics
Prof. Oberhoffer-Fritz has held the Chair of Preventive Pediatrics at the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences at TUM. She is a specialist in cardiovascular diseases from fetus to young adult in the context of early prevention. Her particular expertise is in fetal cardiology and non-invasive phenotyping of early atherosclerosis and its risk factors in children and adolescents. Based on these findings, she and her research group develop and evaluate intervention programs for chronically ill children, especially those with congenital heart defects and after oncological disease.
Orkan Okan
Professorship for Health Literacy
Prof. Orkan Okan head the Professorship of Health Literacy at the Department for Health and Sport Sciences at the School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich. He is also the Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Literacy, which has been part of the department since 2023. His main areas of focus are the interdisciplinary study of health literacy in childhood and adolescence, particularly in schools and other educational contexts. Additionally, Professor Okan links health literacy research with current societal issues and challenges, especially those arising from demographics, digitalization, and the media.
Filip Mess
Professorship of Didactics in Sport and Health
Prof. Filip Mess conducts research in the field of intervention and implementation research in the areas of health and education. On the one hand, the aim is to enable people, especially children and young people, to lead active, healthy and sustainable lifestyles in their living environments using competence-oriented approaches. The core expertise lies in the development and implementation of didactic concepts that strengthen movement and health skills and promote educational processes. Movement, sport and nature serve as important stimuli. On the other hand, the research also aims to shape the living (environment) worlds - the focus is on the living worlds of schools, workplaces, communities and health care facilities - together with the corresponding target groups.
Matthias Richter
Chair of Social Determinants of Health
Prof. Matthias Richter academic focus is the interface between society and health. His research interests include the social, political and economic determinants of health and health care across the life course as well as young people's health and health behaviour. The combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods and the interdisciplinary dialog between social science and clinical research is an inherent part of his work.
Janina Steinert
Professorship for Global Health
Prof. Janina Steinert‘s research focus lies primarily in the fields of global health and development economics. Research topics include the examination of inter-dependencies between poverty and disease, the prevention of domestic violence and HIV/AIDS, and the identification of ethical challenges in development research. In prior projects, she has implemented randomised controlled trials as well as behavioural games in countries of the Global South and has conducted several systematic reviews and meta-analyses.