Dr Joachim Klein has worked for the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) since 2008 in the divisions "Strategy and Policy Issues of the Life Sciences" and "Health Research". Before, he was in the management team of a biotech company and responsible for business development and scientific coordination. Dr Klein has a doctorate in biology and currently serves as Deputy Head of Division “Global Health and Public Health Research” where he is responsible for several BMBF funding programs. He represents the BMBF in the board of trustees of the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology and the Leibniz Institute on Aging.