Brita Fiess

• Graduate Studies: General and Historical Linguistics, English Philology, and Social Anthropology at the George August University Göttingen, Germany.
• Classical Studies:  Latin and  Greek ("Großes Latinum" and "Graecum").
• Student assistant in the project "Current-Contents North America" of the State and University Library of Lower Saxony at Göttingen which was financed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation).
• Degree: M. A. (Grade: "Excellent").
• Graduate assistant to the Chair of Byzantine and Modern Greek Philology as well as Lecturer of Modern Greek at the Seminar of Classical Philology of the George August University Göttingen, Germany.
• First steps as an in-house translator at the Göttigen Genomics Laboratory of the Institute for Microbiology and Genetics of the George August University Göttingen, Germany.
• Since 2007 full-time freelance translator specialised in medical, dental, pharmaceutical, and biotech translations.
• Since 2013 member of the proz.com Certified PRO Network for the language combination English to German.   
• Since 2018 freelance medical writer.

Stays Abroad:    

• 1994: University of Jyväskylä (Finland): Scholarship granted by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and CIMO (Finland).
• 1998: National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece): Scholarship granted by the  University of Athens.
• 1998: Institute for Balkan Studies (Thessaloniki/Greece): Scholarship granted by the Greek Ministery of Culture. 

 Continuing Professional Development in Translation Studies: 

• "Translation for environmental organizations I+II". Webinar. proz.com.
• "Translating for Food Industry". Webinar. proz.com.
• "Medical Journals: Translating like A Writer, Not A Scientist". Webinar. proz.com.
• "The Patient's Perspective: Best Practices for Translating ICFs and PILs". Webinar. proz.com.
• "How to align your legacy translations in order to obtain a Translation Memory for future use". Webinar. proz.com.
• "The Anatomy of a Clinical Trial Protocol: Important Concepts and Essential Terminology for Accurate Translation". Webinar. proz.com.
• "Die Across Translator Edition v6.3 für Einsteiger“. Webinar. 17 January 2017. Across Systems GmbH.
• "Quality Assurance in TWB Kató with lexiQA". Webinar. 27 February 2018. Translators Without Borders in collaboration with lexiqa.
• "Understanding Cancer for Medical Language Professionals". Webinar. 8 January 2019. eCPD Webinars and Jason Willis-Lee. 
• "Blood Tests Made Easy for Medical Language Professionals". Webinar. 5 February 2019. eCPD Webinars and Jason Willis-Lee. 

Continuing Professional Development in Medical Writing:  

• "Inflammation Basics for Medical Writers." Webinar. 16 July 2020. Diana Ribeiro. European Medical Writers.

Continuing Professional Development in Medicine: 

•  "Exploring Cancer Medicines". MOOC. University of Leeds on FutureLearn.
•  "Vital Signs: Understanding What the Body is Telling Us".MOOC. University of Pennsylvania on Coursera.
• "Introduction to the Biology of Cancer". MOOC. Johns Hopkins University on Coursera. 
• "Understanding Cancer Metastasis". MOOC. Johns Hopkins University on Coursera. 
• "Personalizing the Management of Multiple Sclerosis: Current and Emerging Therapies." Webinar. 14 September 2017. Bruce Cohen, MD, Professor in Neurology, via Med Learning Group. 
• "Understanding Dementia". MOOC. University of Tasmania and Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre.
• "Preventing Dementia". MOOC. University of Tasmania and Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre.
• "Progress in MS Research Live Update 2018". Live-Stream. 28 August 2018. MS Research Australia.
• Attendance of the "3. Lungentagung Worms: Asthma, COPD und häufige Begleiterkrankungen." Worms. 22 September 2018.
• "Good Brain, Bad Brain: Basics". MOOC. University of Birmingham on FutureLearn.
• "Good Brain, Bad Brain: Parkinson's Disease". MOOC. University of Birmingham on FutureLearn.
• "Good Brain, Bad Brain: Drug Origins". MOOC. University of Birmingham on FutureLearn.
• "It Starts with Your Heart: Understanding Heart and Circulatory Diseases". MOOC British Heart Foundation on FutureLearn.
• "The Rise of Coronavirus Diseases." Webinar. 21 May 2020. Dr. Sergey Sulima. European Medical Writers.

Continuing Professional Development in Dentistry: 

• "Introduction to Dental Medicine". MOOC. University of Pennsylvania on Coursera.
• "Implant Dentistry". MOOC. University of Hong Kong on Coursera.
• Visit to the International Dental Show 2017 (IDS 2017).
• "Success and Failure with Dental Implants: Comprehensive Maintenance of Patients with Dental Implants". Webinar. 28 March 2017. Nikos Mattheos, DDS, MASc, PhD, on Curaden Campus.
• "Sofortimplantation und Sofortversorgung". Live Webinar. 27  September 2018. Dr. Joachim Beck-Mußotter on Dental Tribune DT Study Club. 
• "Mundgesundheit und Allgemeinerkrankungen - Welche Zusammenhänge gibt es?". Live Webinar. 28 November 2018. Priv. Doz. Dr. Dirk Ziebolz M.Sc. on Dental Tribune DT Study Club. 

Continuing Professional Development in Medical Technology: 

• "Genomic Medicine: Transforming Patient Care in Diabetes". MOOC. University of Exeter on FutureLearn.
• "Ultrasound Imaging: What Is Inside?" . MOOC. University of Twente on FutureLearn.
• "MedTech: Digital Health and Wearable Technology" . MOOC. University of Leeds on FutureLearn.

Continuing Professional Development in eHealth: 

• "Protecting Health Data in the Modern Age: Getting to Grips with the GDPR." MOOC. University of Groningen via FutureLearn."
• "Managing Your Health Data". MOOC. European Institute of Innovation and Technology via FutureLearn.

Continuing Professional Development in Biotechnology: 

•  "Introduction to Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) Technology". Webinar. 12 January 2017. Dr. Wolfgang Krebs, QIAGEN AG. 
• "Bioprinting: 3D Printing Body Parts". MOOC. University of Wollongong on FutureLearn.

Continuing Professional Development in Biology: 

• "Understanding Plants - Part I: What a Plant Knows". MOOC. Tel Aviv University on Coursera.
• "How does the Body Use DNA as a Blueprint?". MOOC. University of Aberdeen on FutureLearn.

Memberships/Affiliations: 

• Mediterranean Editors and Translators (MET)
• European Medical Writers Association (EMWA)
• Deutsche Gesellschaft für Zahn-, Mund- und Kieferheilkunde (DGZMK)
• European Academy of Neurology (EAN)

Selected Published Translations:  

• "Interventionen für den Ersatz fehlender Zähne: Behandlung von Periimplantitis". Cochrane Plain Language Summary. Original Version: "Interventions for replacing missing teeth. Treatment of peri-implantitis."
• "Cholesterinasehemmer sind für Personen mit Parkinson-Krankheit und Parkinson-Demenz von Nutzen". Cochrane Plain Language Summary. Original Version: "Cholesterinase inhibitors are beneficial for people with Parkinson's disease and dementia".
• "Die Verwendung von Bypasspräparaten zur Prävention von Blutungen bei Personen mit Hämophilie mit inhibitorischen Antikörpern". Cochrane Plain Language Summary. Original Version: "The use of bypassing agents for preventing bleeding in people with hemophilia with inhibitors".
• "Instillationstechniken für topische Medikamente bei Grünem Star". Cochrane Plain Language Summary. Original Version: "Topical medicine instillation techniques for glaucoma".
• "Vergleichende Wirksamkeit und Risiko-Nutzen-Verhältnis von Modulatoren und Suppressiva des Immunsystems bei Personen mit Multipler Sklerose." Cochrane Plain Language Summary. Original Version: "Comparative efficacy and risk-benefit balance of modulator and suppressant drugs of the immune system in people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS)".
• "1.3 Eine Assoziation bedeutet nicht unweigerlich eine Ursache-Wirkungs-Beziehung". Wissen was wirkt. 26 October 2018. Original Version: "Association is not the same as causation".  John Castle. 23 June 2017. Students 4 Best Evidence.
• "1.6 Die Meinung von Experten ist nicht immer richtig". Wissen was wirkt. 17 January 2019. Original Version: "Expert opinion is not always right". Eero Teppo. 7 July 2017. Students 4 Best Evidence.
• "1.8 Mehr ist nicht notwendigerweise besser". Wissen was wirkt. 6 February 2019. Original Version: "More is not necessarily better". Ed Walsh. 14 July 2017. Students 4 Best Evidence.

Published Blogs:

• "Multiple Sklerose: Eine Krankheit, viele Gesichter, wenig gute Informationen".  Wissen was wirkt. 15 November 2017.
• "Verlaufsmodifizierende Therapien bei MS - Recap der Cochrane Evicenz". Wissen was wirkt. 28 November 2017.
• "Viel Angebot, wenig Evidenz: Ernährung und Nahrungsergänzung bei Multipler Sklerose". Wissen was wirkt. 13 December 2017.

 Publications:  

• "Der Genitiv bei Modalverben im Finnischen: Seine Syntax und Semantik in unpersönlichen Nezessivkonstruktionen." Göttinger Linguistische Abhandlungen 1. Göttingen, Peust & Gutschmidt, 2000.
• Co-worker of the revised edition of the Greek/German Euro Dictionary published by the renowned publishing house Langenscheidt: Griechisch: Griechisch-Deutsch/Deutsch-Griechisch. Völlige Neubearbeitung. Berlin: Langenscheidt, 2008.
• Various publications in linguistic and philological journals. 

Volunteering:   

• Translators Without Borders
• Cochrane
• RareConnect