Dr. med. Gratiana Steinkamp is a self-employed medical writer and free scientist with a focus on lung diseases. She has been working with cystic fibrosis (CF) patients since 1983. In 1986 she started a position at Hannover Medical School as the first full-time CF physician in Germany. During the following years, the Hannover CF-Centre became one of the three largest specialised institutions in Germany.

Important clinical projects were (1) a shared care programme with other paediatric departments in Lower Saxony (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Mukoviszidose Niedersachsen) in 1990, (2) the transition of adult patients from paediatric to adult care in the Department of Pulmonology at Hannover Medical School in 1991, (3) a multi centre project to establish a database for comprehensive documentation of important clinical data of CF patients (Multizentrisches Mukoviszidose Vorhaben) in 1987 which became one of the precursors of the current German CF registry.

Dr. Steinkamp’s research activities were predominantly in two areas: (1) measurement of nutritional status and improvement of nutrition, and (2) the clinical course of P. aeruginosa infection, its treatment with inhaled antibiotics, and early anti-pseudomonal therapy after initial diagnosis of colonisation. She has published more than 100 scientific articles and book chapters.

As a medical writer, Dr. Steinkamp aims to disseminate and communicate current research findings to health care providers and recipients. She has invented different series of literature reviews on cystic fibrosis for physicians, physiotherapists, or patients. She authored information leaflets on CF specific bacteria or on complications of the disease.

She is currently coordinating projects on patient experience and satisfaction by generating disease specific questionnaires for parents of children with chronic diseases, e.g. cystic fibrosis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and diabetes.