The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, has announced the appointment as of July 2000, of Professor Dr. Werner Burkart from Germany as Deputy Director General, Head of the Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications.

Born in Olten, Switzerland, but now a German national, Professor Burkart studied Biochemistry and Microbiology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich where he obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemistry. In addition he received a M.S. in Environmental Health after studying radiological health and internal dosimetry at the Institute of Environmental Medicine of the New York University Medical Center.

After an assignment at the Swiss National Science Foundation in Berne as Head of the Biology and Medicine Division from 1973 to 1975, Prof. Burkart joined the Swiss Institute for Reactor Research at Würenlingen where he held different assignments in radiation biology, radioecology and radiation protection. After research work in radiolabeling and environmental health at the Biocenter of the Basel University, the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, USA, and the NYU Medical Center, he was from 1982 to 1987 the Assistant Head of the Health Physics Division and Head of the Biology and Environment Group of the Swiss Institute for Reactor Research at Würenlingen. From 1988 to 1990 he became Head of the Radiation Hygiene Division of the Paul Scherrer Institute in Villigen, Switzerland. In 1991 Prof. Burkart joined the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection. From then onwards he held the position of Head of the Department of Radiation Hygiene at its Munich and Freiburg institutes. In addition he is Professor for Radiation Biology at the Faculty of Medicine of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich.