The most important task in 1997 was the establishment of a Research Laboratory at the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana. An official Agreement between the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the Republic of Ghana was signed in Hamburg on October 28 on the occasion of the visit of the Ghanaian President Fl.Lt. J.J. Rawlings to Germany. The agreement covers the installation and the modus operandi of the "Kumasi Center for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine" (KCCR) at the School of Medical Sciences (SMS) of the University of Kumasi. The Center is a joint venture between the BNI, the SMS and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Ghana. It will serve as a center for basic and applied research on tropical infectious diseases and contribute to development of human and technical resources through scientific collaboration and postgraduate training.

In April 1997 Dr. Christoph Hamelmann was installed in Kumasi as acting director of the Center. First research projects on onchocerciasis, amoebiasis and meningitis were initiated already in 1997. The Dean of the SMS, Prof. Dr. Dr. George W. Brobby, visited the BNI in August 1997. It was the first step towards a close and friendly cooperation between the two institutions. A grant application for construction and equipment of the of the Center was submitted to the Volkswagen Foundation and was positively decided upon in early 1998.

 The provisional research laboratory in Macenta, Guinea, that had successfully been working for two years under the governance of Dr. Thomas Kruppa was closed in June 1997. At that time the field work and laboratory experiments of the ongoing onchocerciasis research projects had been completed. This work will be continued in Ghana.

A new scientific organization of the Institute was approved by the Scientific Advisory Board and the Boards of Directors of the Institute. The Institute now consists of three scientific sections (Parasitology, Medical Microbiology and Tropical Medicine) and the Department of Clinical Medicine including in-patient and out-patient facilities and research laboratories. All scientific units of the Institute were integrated into the sections. A new Department of Molecular Parasitology will be installed in the Parasitology Section after the third C4-Professor has been appointed. The procedure for the appointment of the third professorship of the BNI is under way and will be completed in 1998.

The amoebiasis and onchocerciasis programs were financed by the BMBF until the end of 1997. A prolongation of the funding of these successful projects was not possible due to financial restrictions. However, the members of the projects succeeded in obtaining funds from a number of sources - among them the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the Edna McConnellClark Foundation, the Werner-Otto-Stiftung and the Jung-Stiftung für Wissenschaft und Forschung, Hamburg - thus the work on these projects can be continued without restriction.

Again work of members of the Institute was recognized by awards and fellowships. Dr. Matthias Leippe received the Annual Prize of the German Society for Tropical Medicine and the Young Investigator Award (Förderpreis) of the German Society for Microbiology and Hygiene. In addition, Dr. Leippe was awarded the prestigious Heisenberg-fellowship of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and Dres. Iris Bruchhaus and Eva Liebau received a fellowship for Habilitation. I was honored with the Aronson Prize of the State of Berlin. I have also received an offer to become chairman of the Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene of the University of Cologne. Although this was a very attractive perspective, I have decided to stay at the BNI.

Another large congress was organized by members of the Institute. The European Congress Clinical Aspects and Treatment of AIDS was organized by Prof. Dietrich and his colleagues and attracted more than 3,000 participants to Hamburg.

The Federal Minister of Health, Herr Minister Horst Seehofer, honored the Institute by a visit in September 1997. The Minister was informed about the research achievements and the multiple activities of the Bernhard Nocht Institute on a tour through the Institute.
 
Early in 1998 the Institute lost two personalities who have had a decisive influence on its development.
Professor Hans J. Müller-Eberhard, director of the Institute 1998 to 1995, died on March 3 in Houston, Texas. He has formed the BNI as only few directors did before him. Professor Paul Klein, long-standing chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board in the critical times of reorganization died in Mainz on March 20. The Institute has lost two close friends and patrons.