Prof. Dr. Dr. med. Sabine Gabrysch

Head of Research Department
Gabrysch

Sabine Gabrysch is Head of Research Department 2 on Climate Resilience of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) as well as Professor for Climate Change and Health at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin.

Sabine studied medicine in Tübingen and Providence/Rhode Island (USA) and worked clinically in Sweden before completing an MSc and PhD in epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). After acting as head of the Unit of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Heidelberg Institute of Global Health (HIGH) and deputy head of the Institute, she joined PIK and Charité in June 2019. She holds an Honorary Professorship at LSHTM and continues her affiliation with HIGH

Her research focus is maternal and child health in low-income settings, in particular early life malnutrition. Guided by the transdisciplinary concept of Planetary Health, she aims to assess health and nutrition impacts of global environmental change and evaluate win-win solutions for the transition towards climate-resilient, sustainable and healthy food systems. In 2018, she received the "Preis für mutige Wissenschaft" (Award for bold research) of the State of Baden-Württemberg for her research project FAARM (Food and Agricultural Approaches to Reducing Malnutrition) in Bangladesh.

Sabine served on the Boards of the Heidelberg Centre for the Environment (2014-2019), the German Society for Epidemiology (2017-2020), the German Alliance for Global Health Research (in 2020) and the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU, 2020-2022). She is a member of the Advisory Council “One Health” of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (since 2020).

Contact

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
T +49 (0)331 288 20841
sabine.gabrysch[at]pik-potsdam.de
P.O. Box 60 12 03
14412 Potsdam

ORCID

Education
2014 Habilitation in Epidemiology, Heidelberg University
2006–2009  PhD in Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
2005–2006   MSc Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
1998–2000 Medical doctoral thesis (Dr. med.), Institute of Physiology, Tübingen University
1995–2002 Medical studies, Tübingen University, with stays in the U.S. and Argentina

Positions

Since 2019

Professor for Climate Change and Health, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Head, Research Department 2, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
2014–2019  Head, Unit of Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Deputy Head, Institute of Global Health, Heidelberg University
Since 2011 Honorary Professor, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
2009–2014 Researcher / Group leader, Institute of Global Health, Heidelberg University
2006–2009 Graduate Teaching Assistant, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
2005 Senior house officer in infectious diseases, Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden
2003–2004 Pre-registration house officer at Höglandet’s Hospital, Eksjö, Sweden    

• Community-based participatory interventions to improve human health and stabilize the natural systems on which we depend
• Impact evaluation and process evaluation of complex interventions, including cluster-randomized controlled trials and natural experiments
• Leveraging agriculture to improve nutrition and health while contributing to climate resilience, e.g. homestead gardening, biochar-based fertilizer
• Influence of climate change and agricultural change on diets and health
• Long-term consequences of nutritional and other impacts during pregnancy on health and development of the offspring (fetal programming)
• Links between malnutrition, gut infections, inflammation and microbiome
• Maternal and perinatal mortality, including quality of obstetric and newborn care in low-income settings

Waid JL, Wendt AS, Sinharoy S,  Kader A, Gabrysch S. (2022): Impact of a homestead food production program on women's empowerment: Pro-WEAI results from the FAARM trial in Bangladesh. World Development, Volume 158, 106001. doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2022.106001.

Gepp S, Waid JL, Brombierstäudl D, Kader A, Müller-Hauser AA, Wendt AS, Dame J, Gabrysch S. (2022). Impact of unseasonable flooding on women's food security and mental health in rural Sylhet, Bangladesh: a longitudinal observational study. The Lancet Planetary Health. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00276-5

Meltzer L, Dame J,  Gabrysch S. (2021). Flood affectedness and household adaptation measures in rural Northern Chile: A cross-sectional study in the Upper Huasco Valley. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 64(102499). doi: 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102499

Sutradhar I, Jackson-deGraffenried M, Akter S, McMahon SA, Waid JL, Schmidt HP, Wendt AS, Gabrysch S. (2021): Introducing urine-enriched biochar-based fertilizer for vegetable production: Acceptability and results from rural Bangladesh. Environment, Development and Sustainability. doi: 10.1007/s10668-020-01194-y

Wabnitz K-J, Gabrysch S, Guinto R, Haines A, Hermann M, Howard C, Potter T, Prescott SL, Redvers N (2020): A pledge for planetary health to unite health professionals in the Anthropocene, The LancetSep 30; doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32039-0.

Vinke K, Gabrysch S, Paoletti E, Rockström J, Schellnhuber HJ (2020): Corona and the climate: a comparison of two emergencies. Global Sustainability, 3, e25, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2020.20.

Wendt AS, Sparling TM, Waid JL, Mueller AA, Gabrysch S. (2019): Food and Agricultural Approaches to Reducing Malnutrition (FAARM): protocol for a cluster-randomised controlled trial to evaluate the impact of a Homestead Food Production programme on undernutrition in rural Bangladesh. BMJ Open, 9(7):e031037. 

Gabrysch S, Nesbitt RC, Schoeps A, Hurt L, Soremekun S, Edmond K, Manu A, Lohela TJ, Danso S, Tomlin K, Kirkwood B, Campbell OMR. (2019): Does facility birth reduce maternal and perinatal mortality? A secondary analysis of two RCTs including 119,244 pregnancies in Brong Ahafo, Ghana. The Lancet Global Health, 7(8): e1074–87.

Schoeps A, van Ewijk R, Kynast-Wolf G, Nebié E, Zabré P, Sié A, Gabrysch S. (2018): Ramadan exposure in utero and child mortality in Burkina Faso: Analysis of a population-based cohort including 41,025 children. American Journal of Epidemiology; 187(10):2085-2092.

Gabrysch S. (2018): Imagination challenges in planetary health: re-conceptualising the human-environment relationship. The Lancet Planetary Health, Sep;2(9):e372-e373. (deutsche Übersetzung)

Waid JL, Sinharoy SS, Ali M, Stormer AE, Thilsted SH, Gabrysch S. (2018): Dietary Patterns and Determinants of Changing Diets in Bangladesh from 1985 to 2010. Current Developments in Nutrition, Nov 21;3(4):nzy091.  

Gabrysch S, Waid, JL, Wendt AS, Müller AA, Kader A, Gosh U. (2018): Nutritional effects of flooding due to unseasonably early monsoon rainfall in Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study in an ongoing cluster-randomised trial. The Lancet Planetary Health, Vol. 2 Suppl. 1, p. S3.

Lorenz, E, Gabrysch, S. (2017): Covariate-constrained randomization routine for achieving baseline balance in cluster-randomized trials. The Stata Journal, 17(2):503-510.

All publications

Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin:

  • Module "Planetary Health – Health of people and the planet in the anthropocene"
  • Module "Planetary Health Case Studies – Solutions for healthy people on a healthy planet"

Heidelberg Institute of Global Health:

  • MSc International Health: "Nutrition and health in a globalized world – Food for thought"
  • Medical elective track Global Health: "Maternal mortality – a problem that could be solved"

  • 2019 Recruiting Grant, funded by Stiftung Charité
  • 2018 Award for Bold Research (Preis für mutige Wissenschaft), Land Baden-Württemberg
  • 2017 Suffrage Science Award, awarded biannually at the Royal Society in London to women scientists "for their scientific achievements and their ability to inspire others"
  • 2014 Early Career Scientist Award, CGIAR Independent Science and Partnership Council
  • 2012 Oral Presentation Award, 102nd Annual Meeting of the German Society for Tropical Medicine and International Health (DTG), Heidelberg
  • 2012 Margarete von Wrangell fellowship, Ministry of Science, Research and Art of Baden-Württemberg and the European Social Fund
  • 2012 Daimler and Benz Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship
  • 2011 Young Investigator Award for best oral presentation in the theme "Global Problems", 19th IAE World Congress of Epidemiology, Edinburgh
  • 2011 Baden-Württemberg Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship
  • 2010 Rahel Goitein-Straus Fellowship, Medical Faculty Heidelberg
  • 2009 Maria Luisa Ricciardi Award 1st Prize for Best Oral Communication, 6th European Congress on Tropical Medicine & International Health, Verona

Selected interviews

Opinion articles / commentaries

Selected talks