Charité

The Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Charité – University Medicine Berlin; French: [ʃaʁite] ) is a public medical school and hospital in Berlin, Germany. It is the largest university hospital in Europe. The medical school is affiliated with Humboldt University of Berlin and Free University of Berlin. The Charité traces its origins to 1710. The complex is spread over four campuses and comprises around 3,000 beds, 15,500 staff, 8,000 students, and more than 60 operating theaters, and has a turnover of two billion euros annually. It is one of the ten best hospitals in the world. The modern history of medicine has been significantly influenced by scientists who worked at the Charité. Rudolf Virchow was the founder of cellular pathology, while Robert Koch developed vaccines for anthrax, cholera, and tuberculosis. For his life's work Koch is seen as one of the founders of modern medicine. More than half of all German Nobel Prize winners in Physiology or Medicine, including Emil von Behring, Robert Koch, and Paul Ehrlich, have worked at the Charité. In 2010–2011 the medical schools of Humboldt University and Freie Universität Berlin were united under the roof of the Charité. The admission rate of the reorganized medical school was 3.9% for the 2019–2020 academic year.