Willeit Group

The research of Peter Willeit and his group is focused around population-based studies, clinical trials, and public health interventions. First, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Peter Willeit was responsible for the analysis of the Austrian SARS-CoV-2 School Study conducted in 250 school nationwide (“Gurgelstudie”), howing a close link of SARS-CoV-2 infections in schools to the general community and to social deprivation. Second, in 2021, we evaluated the real-world effectiveness of ultra-rapid rollout vaccination delivered to inhabitants of the Schwaz district in Tyrol and assessed the suitability of binding and neutralizing antibodies as correlates of protection in an open-label phase-4 trial. Third, the research group collaborates closely with the blood donation services to quantify  the seroprevalence for SARS-CoV-2, hepatitis B and other pathogens at the population level. As part of a wider PhD-program focused on antifungal resistance, his group aims to determine azole burden among blood donors with respect to environmental and dietary exposures and thereby provide insights into the consequence of the dual use of this class of antifungals in human medicine and agriculture, following a One Health approach. Fourth, we perform research in the Bruneck Study, which is a prospective cohort study involving 2000 inhabitants of the municipality of Bruneck, South-Tyrol. Since 1990, the study population has been re-examined up to seven times and clinical outcomes have been recorded over up to 33 years of follow-up, with potential scope of research into inflammatory parameters, chronic infections, microbiota, and occurrence of specific infectious diseases. More broadly, in the context of the Semmelweis, we aim to build up precisely characterized patient cohorts and contribute expertise in study design and medical statistics.