Österreichische Agentur für Gesundheit und Ernährungssicherheit - EPIET/EUPHEM

EPIET site: Institute for Surveillance and Infectious Disease Epidemiology, AGES

Contact: Dr Ziad El-Khatib (Training site since 2006)

EUPHEM site: Institute for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, AGES  

Contact: Dr Adriana Cabal Rosel, MSc (Training site since 2017)

Supervisors

EPIET:

Main supervisor: Dr Ziad El-Khatib, MSc, EMBA (ziad [dot] el-khatibages [dot] at (ziad[dot]el-khatib[at]ages[dot]at))

Co-supervisor: Ms Sabine Maritschnik, MPH, RD (sabine [dot] maritschnikages [dot] at (sabine[dot]maritschnik[at]ages[dot]at))

Institute for Surveillance and Infectious Disease Epidemiology

EUPHEM:

EUPHEM Main supervisor and EUPHEM Training Site Representative: Dr Adriana Cabal Rosel, MSc

Institute for Surveillance and Infectious Disease Epidemiology, AGES (adriana [dot] cabal-roselages [dot] at (adriana[dot]cabal-rosel[at]ages[dot]at))

Tel.: +43 (0) 5 0555 37250

EUPHEM co-supervisor: Dr Florian Heger, MSc (florian [dot] hegerages [dot] at (florian[dot]heger[at]ages[dot]at))

Institute for Hygiene and Medical Microbiology, AGES

Epidemiology supervisor: Dr Andreas Reich (andreas [dot] reichages [dot] at (andreas[dot]reich[at]ages[dot]at))

Institute for Surveillance and Infectious Disease Epidemiology, AGES

Description of the agency

AGES is Austria’s national One Health agency, working across human, animal, plant, and environmental health. Within AGES, the Public Health Division hosts the Institute for Surveillance and Infectious Disease Epidemiology, which is responsible for the epidemiology functions, including assessment, surveillance, outbreak investigation, and coordination systems for communicable disease control. 

The Public Health Division also includes the Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hygiene in both Vienna and Graz, which provide diagnostics, monitoring, and research on infectious diseases. 

The Public Health Division also operates 24 national reference centres and laboratories, covering major human pathogens, such as Campylobacter, Escherichia coli (including VTEC), Staphylococcus aureus, Norovirus, Listeria monocytogenes, and antibiotic‑resistant bacteria, as well as reference centres dedicated to specific infectious diseases, including meningococcal disease, pneumococcal disease, Haemophilus influenzae infections, shigellosis, botulism, yersiniosis, and food‑borne zoonoses such as salmonellosis.

The veterinary and animal health units, central to the One Health approach, are primarily located in Mödling, near Vienna, and several national reference laboratories for animal and feed safety. 

EUPHEM training site

The Institute for Surveillance and Infectious Disease Epidemiology is since 2026 the main training location for both EPIET and EUPHEM training and together with the Institute for Hygiene and Medical Microbiology forms the primary training hub within the Division of Public Health at AGES. 

WGS is used for strain identification and pathogen typing in integrated genomic surveillance and outbreak investigation settings, but also in the context of clinical diagnosis and research projects.  Sequence data analysis with diverse bioinformatics software tools is performed. 

Training opportunities

Training opportunities and project work for EUPHEM fellows will be adapted to individual learning needs, taking into account the EUPHEM core competency requirements, previous experience, and specific areas of interest. Access to BSL‑3 facilities will also be provided. Fellows will receive extensive training in molecular epidemiology. 

Additional training locations

In addition, the range of available projects, particularly those focusing on virology, nosocomial infections, AMR and teaching, is further strengthened through established collaborations with the Medical University of Vienna, the National Reference Laboratory for AMR in Linz, and other academic institutions. For example:

• Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, at AGES in Graz, Styria (Head: PD Dr Stefan Schild), within the Division of Public Health 
• Institute for Veterinary Disease Control in the Division of Animal Health, at AGES in Mödling, Lower Austria (Head: Univ.-Prof Dr Friedrich Schmoll)
• Institute for Hygiene and Medical Microbiology, at the Medical University of Innsbruck, Tyrol (Head: Univ Prof Dr Cornelia Lass-Flörl)
• National Reference Center for Surveillance of Nosocomial Infections (NRZ), Institute for Hygiene, Microbiology and Tropical Medicine, Ordensklinikum Linz Elisabethinen, Upper Austria (Head: Univ Prof Dr Petra Apfalter)
• MEDILAB, Teaching Laboratory, of the Paracelsus Medical Private University, Salzburg, (PD Dr. Markus Hell)
• Center for Pathophysiology, Infectiology and Immunology, of the Medical University of Vienna, Vienna (Director: Univ Prof Dr Ursula Wiedermann-Schmidt).

Language requirements

Although English is widely spoken, a basic level of German and a willingness to learn it are desirable.

Training history

Number of EUPHEM alumni working at the institute: 1

Number of EUPHEM fellows trained at institute: 4