Maximilian Görlitz

Hi there! I'm Max.

Currently, I work at the European Commission's Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (DG HERA). My focus is on R&D funding for innovative countermeasures for pandemic preparedness and response, especially diagnostics, PPE, medical devices, and (meta)genomic sequencing.

Previously, I got a master's degree in Genomic Medicine at the University of Oxford and did my thesis on the computational optimisation of probe design for bait capture enrichment sequencing. Before that, I worked as a Research Affiliate at the MIT Media Lab and SecureBio, where we wrote a review paper on the safety of high-dose 200-235 nm far-UVC and its capability for pandemic mitigation. Before that, I was a student in clinical medicine at the Technical University of Munich.

I strongly believe we should be more ambitious about eradicating many infectious diseases.

The great thing about having a personal website is that people can see what I am interested in and curious about. On average, this makes me have more meaningful conversations since I get to talk more about these topics. Check out my Substack as well!

I'm always happy to discuss meditation, biosecurity, pandemic preparedness & response, effective altruism, exercise, favourite books (find me on Goodreads), policymaking, (geo)politics, dancing (mostly west coast swing, also bachata & salsa), how the EU works, genomics, longevity, journaling, economic growth, history, progress, metascience, LDL cholesterol lowering drugs, moral philosophy, poetry (Mary Oliver), high fantasy (Brandon Sanderson) & more!

Also, I would greatly appreciate it if you could give me (anonymous) feedback about anything at all.

Feel free to reach out to me at my email address, and let me know if you'd like to chat: