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Prof. Dr. Larissa Fabritz
Professorship for Inherited Cardiac Conditions
What sparked your interest in a career in science resp. your professional field?
As a child, I had the opportunity to play freely and unsupervised in nature. What better lab could one have? My parents were teachers and were very generous with giving me access to books and equipment. I still find all kinds of science interesting with heart rhythm being particularly close to my heart.
Did you always want to become a professor?
I was always curious and liked to challenge an old concept or proof a new hypothesis.
What still excites you as a professor?
New data, challenging a hypothesis, being a step closer to finding a cure, helping a patient, seeing a student or junior colleague grow and succeed, enjoying fruitful international exchange, the list goes on.
What do you like about working as a professor?
Please see my answer to the last question. In general, working as a professor gives intellectual freedom and the possibility to engage with very different people, from students to peers at the University, in the hospital and in local, national and international exchange. Scientists, professors, medics often work without borders.
Is there anything that you do not like much about working as a professor?
Filling in forms. Having to listen to people who try to impress each other rather than solving a problem together.
Were there critical phases in your career and how did you deal with them?
Sure, come by for a cup of tea if you want to discuss one of mine or yours. That is a good way to deal with them. It is good to keep going, but one might need to switch gears or find a way around.
What are the main topics of your research?
Find out how inheritable conditions lead to irregular heart rhythm and protect people from arrhythmias and heart muscle diseases.
In your opinion, does a young researcher/physician need to decide to take the path towards a professorship already at a very early stage in her/his career?
There are many different paths, your path does not have to be straight as long as you stay curious.
How would you rate the work-life and work-familiy balance while being a professor?
The balance might depend more on the specialty than on the academic grade, but engagement is required and one needs to be driven by passion. In cardiology and pediatrics at least, it helps if one does not need a lot of sleep. It helps to work in a trusted team. It helps to work with quality equipment. It helps to streamline administrative tasks. The cleaner is one of your most important team members.
Which supporting structures and supporting activties were helpful for you on your way to professorship? Was there a special person who inspired you?
Flexible structures were most useful at supporting me when I aimed to take steps earlier than usual or did unusual things. Individual professors who were open-minded and inviting made a big difference. Professor Michael Franz in Washington D.C. allowed undergraduate students from Germany to do experiments in his lab; Professor Günter Breithardt supported them to present their own data on meetings in Europe. Travel grants and scholarships from institutions like DAAD, ERASMUS, Studienstiftung, DFG
are helpful. Starter grants are important building blocks to the first own fellowship.
What are your future visions, what do you want to achieve in the future?
With my translational research group at UCCS and international consortia find ways to protect patients with inherited cardiac conditions from developing heart failure and arrhythmias.
Do you have any advice that you would like to give young scientists and students to take away with them?
Perform rigorous blinded experiments and studies with good controls and in sufficient number, look at the raw data and observe with an open mind. Be open to unexpected results. When you have found something, write a grant and write a paper. Be a reliable team member. Collaborate internationally.
MILESTONES
2010
Fachärztin Innere Medizin
2012
Habilitation an der Universität Münster
2011 - 2016
Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor, University of Birmingham
2016 - 2020
Reader/Associate Professor, University of Birmingham
2020 - 2021
Full Professor Chair in Cardiovascular Sciences, Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham
WORK AREA
Prof. Dr. Larissa Fabritz
- Oberärztin