You're at a house party, someone hands you a shot – but it's all happening in your VR headset. Host Rasmus Cloes spoke with Robert Hrynyschyn from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin about a research project on VR in alcohol prevention. The core question is: Can a digital simulation really change how young people make decisions in real life?

A new, comprehensive handbook shows how digital technologies influence our health—and what new questions this raises. Edited by Prof. Dr. Hajo Zeeb and colleagues from Bremen, the work “Digital Public Health—Interdisciplinary Perspectives” brings together perspectives from health, information, and social sciences. It has now been published by Springer in the “Series on Epidemiology and Public Health.”

“I am very happy that this book is now available. It brings together the diverse insights and discussions that we have developed together at the Leibniz ScienceCampus Digital Public Health over the past few years,” says Prof. Dr. Hajo Zeeb, spokesperson for the Leibniz ScienceCampus Digital Public Health Bremen and head of department at the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS.

Whether apps, smartwatches, or social media – digital technologies have become an integral part of everyday life. They are also having an impact in the field of public health: with their help, information can be disseminated in a more targeted manner, gaps in care can be closed, and the early detection of diseases can be supported. At the same time, they challenge existing concepts: How do we protect personal data? Which groups are reached—and which are left out? And what ethical, legal, or social consequences does digitization entail?

The handbook contains over 30 contributions from experts in medicine, epidemiology, psychology, philosophy, law, computer science, and other disciplines. The articles highlight both the potential and the risks of digital applications – from questions of digital health literacy and the ethical dilemmas of new technologies to concrete implementation in healthcare practice. One thing is clear: digitization is not an end in itself. It must be geared toward the actual needs of the population. This requires interdisciplinary cooperation, well-thought-out technological development, and consistent scientific monitoring.

“The special value of this book lies in its combination of theory, practice, and technology. It shows how important it is that digitization does not happen over people's heads, but on the basis of evidence, participation, and reflection,” says Zeeb.

The book is intended not only as a reference work for researchers, but also as a practical guide for professionals in administration, politics, and healthcare. It offers insights into current developments – such as the regulation of digital health applications, the handling of health data, and the design of digital prevention strategies. The central finding: only when different disciplines work together can digitization contribute to strengthening the health of the population in the long term. In order to make these findings accessible to a broad public, the book is being published as an open-access publication and is available online free of charge here. In order to reach an international audience, the book was written in English.

Funding information
The work was carried out as part of the Leibniz ScienceCampus Digital Public Health Bremen (www.digital-public-health.de). The campus is jointly funded by the Leibniz Association, the state of Bremen, and the Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS. The publication was also partially supported by the Leibniz Association's publication fund.

Original publication
Zeeb H, Maaß L, Schultz T, Haug U, Pigeot I, Schüz B (Eds.). Digital Public Health – Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Cham: Springer; 2025. (Springer Series on Epidemiology and Public Health). doi:10.1007/978-3-031-90154-6

How can children and young people learn to evaluate health information on the internet correctly? And what responsibility do systems such as YouTube or TikTok have? Host Rasmus Cloes discusses this with Kevin Dadaczynski, Professor of Health Education at the University of Potsdam.

Digitalization is changing how we talk about, learn about, and act on health. But in a world full of information, how can we keep track of everything and make the right decisions?

Kevin Dadaczynski has been researching how health literacy develops in digital environments for many years. In conversation with Rasmus, they discuss the opportunities and risks that children and young people in particular experience in this context.

Whether social media, generative AI, or gaming: new technologies create opportunities, but they also harbour dangers. How can we prevent false information from dominating – and instead promote safe digital spaces?

Special attention is paid to the role of schools, teachers, and parents: they can all help young people learn to deal with health information in a reflective manner.

Finally, the discussion turns to new creative approaches – from gamification to social listening – that show how public health research is taking on new forms in the digital age.

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Between the microscope and machine learning, a technology is emerging that is changing everyday life in laboratories—and raising questions about responsibility, regulation, and the future of the profession. In the latest episode of the Digital Public Health Podcast, host Rasmus Cloes talks to Max Schmidt, co-founder of aisencia.

Max switched from industrial mathematics to skin diagnostics and explains why pathologists often work as they did 100 years ago and how aisencia aims to make a difference with AI. It's a clash of two worlds: decades of medical expertise and data-driven technology.

Max describes the entire process to Rasmus and how optical scanners enable the transition to digital analysis.

Using the example of white skin cancer, it becomes clear how an analog workflow is transformed into a digitally supported process in which AI marks changes in tissue and provides a preliminary diagnosis.

A startup emerges from a doctoral thesis: Max reports on how aisencia is supported by the EXIST program, why business expertise is crucial in the team, and how the leap from university project to market is being achieved. The question of how to get technological innovations approved in a strictly regulated environment arises early on. aisencia makes the strategic decision to first develop a laboratory information system before bringing more complex AI products to market. This approach simplifies regulatory processes and opens the way to international markets – Australia is a particular focus, not least because of its high skin cancer rate and innovation-friendly approval practices.

Collaboration with pathologists is at the heart of product development. A shortage of skilled workers and rising case numbers are making the use of AI increasingly important, but the final diagnosis remains with humans. aisencia sees AI as a tool that speeds up routine tasks and improves quality without taking responsibility out of the hands of experts.

Watch/listen now and gain exciting insights: YouTube, Spotify, Apple, Dezer

More information: Website, Instagram