Helmut Salzer

Research Focus

The aim of our research group is to promote clinically oriented research in infectious diseases with a strong scientific focus on acute and chronic respiratory infections. We see our research group as a link between basic science and clinical research to support translational research, especially within The Semmelweis Institute. Our research activities include local and multinational clinical data collection and -analyses to enable a better understanding of the disease burden- and clinical characteristics of certain infections. There is a strong interest on chronic pulmonary infections such as drug-susceptible- and drug-resistant tuberculosis including post-tuberculosis lung diseases, non-tuberculous mycobacterial infections, endemic mycoses, and chronic pulmonary aspergillosis. We are also interested in studies directly comparing and evaluating the performance of different diagnostic tests in well-defined patient cohorts to improve diagnosis of certain infectious diseases (e.g. fungal infections). Furthermore, we support with our ID-study team large international treatment studies to enable the development of new drugs or to test new therapeutic drug regimes.

Biography
Helmut Salzer

Portrait von Helmut Salzer

Dr. Salzer studied medicine at the Medical University of Graz in Austria, where he also started his professional career in 2008 as a research physician in the clinical infectious diseases research group of
Prof. Krause. During this time, he also completed a Master program in Public Health (MPH) with study periods in Norway, Denmark, and Germany. In 2011, he moved to the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany, where he began his training as a specialist in Internal Medicine. During this time, he was associated with the renowned Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine. From 2015 to 2019, he worked in the research group of Prof. Lange at the Research Center Borstel in Germany, one of the leading research institutes for mycobacterial infections. During this time, he also founded the international research network CPAnet and completed his training as an internist and infectious disease specialist. Since 2019, he works at the Department of Prof. Lamprecht at the Kepler University Hospital in Linz in Austria, where he also completed his training as a specialist in pulmonary medicine. Since September 2023, Prof. Salzer is the head of the division of infectious diseases and tropical medicine at the Kepler University Hospital in Linz. He became Professor for Clinical Infectious Diseases at the Medical Faculty of the Johannes Kepler University and at The Semmelweis Institute in Vienna. In addition to his clinical- and research work, Prof. Salzer is engaged in teaching of medical students and resident doctors.