Focus on the big picture of care

He is fascinated by looking at the big picture - always thinking outside the box, if possible. Instead of focussing on individual medical cases, he devotes himself to entire population groups. His spectrum ranges from prematurely born children to early breast cancer detection for women aged between 50 and 75 to medical care for those in need of care.

"I have always been more interested in the health-oriented approach than the disease-oriented approach. How do we prevent people from becoming ill?" says Professor Jonas Czwikla. That's why, after graduating from a vocational secondary school for health in Koblenz, the Wiesbaden native decided against studying medicine and opted for the Public Health and Health Sciences degree programme at the University of Bremen.

Since 1 January 2026, Jonas Czwikla has held the Professorship of Health Services Research at the Institute of Clinical Epidemiology and Biometry at the University of Würzburg.

Preventing diseases and providing the best possible care

During his studies, Czwikla was particularly interested in epidemiology and healthcare research. Today, the 36-year-old sees himself as an epidemiologically orientated healthcare researcher. In classical epidemiology, he deals with the following questions, among others: How is the burden of disease distributed in the population? What diseases are there, how often do they occur and in whom? And how can we prevent them?

At the same time, he uses epidemiological methods to analyse how people with these diseases are treated by which doctors and with which services: What new care concepts are there? And how can we overcome the shortage of specialists? According to Czwikla, it is particularly exciting to expand the classic perspective of epidemiology to include care-related issues. Together with a large number of partners from research, politics and practice, this contributes to improving the health of the population.

"Target trial emulation" in the analysis of routine data

An important component of its work is the analysis of routine data. "For the most part, routine data from statutory health insurance has only been digitally available and usable for research since 2004," explains Czwikla. In his doctoral thesis, he focussed on the possibilities and limitations of evaluating cancer screening examinations using routine data from statutory health insurance in Germany.

In Bremen, he used such data to evaluate breast cancer mortality in the German mammography screening programme using target trial emulation. This is an innovative concept with which observational studies can be designed that, despite their limitations, come close to the quality of randomised controlled trials.

Evaluation of mammography screening in Germany

As part of a study coordinated by the Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz (BfS) and conducted under the direction of the University of Münster together with the Landeskrebsregister Nordrhein-Westfalen (LKR NRW), the Leibniz-Institut für Präventionsforschung und Epidemiologie - BIPS and the University of Bremen, Czwikla investigated the question: Do women who take part in mammography screening have a lower risk of dying from breast cancer?

The evaluation also included data from the Bayerischen Krebsregister. "Based on the analysed data, which covered a period of over ten years, we were able to show that the probability of dying from breast cancer was 20 to 30 percent lower in women who took part in mammography screening than in women who did not take advantage of this early detection measure." The results were presented last year at an event with Federal Environment Minister Carsten Schneider and Federal Health Minister Nina Warken in Berlin. They will be incorporated into the further development of the decision aid for mammography screening by the Gemeinsamen Bundesausschuss (G-BA).

The G-BA determines which medical services are paid for by the statutory health insurance funds and under what conditions. Finally, in cooperation with the Institut für Qualität und Wirtschaftlichkeit im Gesundheitswesen (IQWiG), decision aids are created to help insured persons weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of early detection examinations.

Enabling an informed decision

"I'm always particularly pleased when our results are put into practice," says Czwikla. However, he emphasises: "We don't want to persuade women to undergo mammography screening, but rather inform them transparently about the expected benefits and possible undesirable effects. On this basis, women should make an informed decision." He would also like to apply the concept of target trial emulation to other topics and disease areas in Würzburg.

Focus on medical care for people in need of care

Another focus of Jonas Czwikla's research is the medical care of vulnerable population groups. In his habilitation, he focussed on the medical care of people in need of long-term care. "We now have around six million people in need of care, and the trend is rising sharply. Every year, almost half a million are added to this number. At the same time, it is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit nursing staff. This will clearly push the care system to its limits in the future. We want to develop solutions for the best possible medical care together with practitioners," explains Czwikla.

As an example, he cites permanent bladder catheters in care homes, which are not easy to change, especially for men. Although such a change would be possible in the home, in many places those affected are sent to hospital, which is a great burden for everyone involved.

Czwikla explains: "Together with the facilities, we want to identify examples of best practice and establish standards that enable comprehensive care in care homes and guarantee quality and safety. In other words, we support the entire process from the idea to implementation in standard care." However, the Professor not only wants to improve medical care in care homes, but also care at home. After all, more than 80 per cent of people in need of care are looked after at home.

Coordination of the BARMER care report

He already worked on the annual BARMER Care Report in Bremen and will coordinate its publication from Würzburg in future. Together with his team, he systematically analyses data, trends and care problems in the care sector, highlights developments, problems and possible areas of action and thus contributes to discussions on care strategies and the need for reform. He is significantly supported in this by Dr. Alexander Fassmer, with whom Czwikla worked together at the University of Oldenburg in the Department of Care Research and who has come to Würzburg with him.

Würzburg University Hospital offers great potential for cooperation

Czwikla sees great potential for cooperation on the campus of Würzburg University Hospital, especially with the Institute of Nursing Science headed by Professor Melanie Messer. He has already applied for a new research project with her. He has also already established contacts with paediatrics.

On the one hand, he wants to realise an approved project on anticoagulation in children in Würzburg in cooperation with the BIPS, which is funded by the Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte (BfArM). On the other hand, together with Professor Juliane Spiegler, Medical Director of the Social Paediatric Centre at the University Hospital of Würzburg, he is planning to expand healthcare research in the field of children and premature babies.

"Würzburg is known far beyond the state's borders for its excellent research, including in the fields of epidemiology and healthcare. I am therefore delighted to have been appointed to Würzburg and to be able to contribute to the further expansion of healthcare research," says Jonas Czwikla. The move from northern Germany to Lower Franconia was easy for him. "I grew up near the Lahn, Moselle and Rhine, so I feel right at home in the Würzburg wine region," says the new professor.

About the Health Services Researcher

Jonas Czwikla was born in Wiesbaden in 1989. He grew up in the Taunus and Rhineland regions and attended a vocational grammar school for health in Koblenz after secondary school, where he completed his A-levels. He then studied public health in Bremen. He completed his Bachelor's degree in 2012 and his Master's degree in 2014, specialising in health services research and the healthcare system.

In 2020, he obtained his doctorate in public health with the distinction "summa cum laude". In 2025, he habilitated in epidemiology and public health at the University of Bremen. Czwikla worked for over ten years as a research assistant at the SOCIUM Research Centre on Inequality and Social Policy and at the same time worked for many years at the Department of Health Services Research at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg.

Since 1 January 2026, he has been a university professor for health services research at the Institute of Clinical Epidemiology and Biometry at Julius-Maximilians-Universität. His research focuses on the areas of health services research, epidemiology and public health, with a particular focus on analysing primary data and routine data from statutory health insurance and evaluating public health interventions.