Program on Friday

Dr Oscar Matzinger

Radiation Oncologist

Prof. Oscar Matzinger received his medical training in Lausanne and then specialized in Radiation Oncology at the CHUV, the Inselspital Bern and at the EORTC (European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer). He created a new department of Radiation Oncology in Vevey, and then took over the management of the medical oncology and radiotherapy departments in Vevey with the management of the project of the new interdisciplinary cancer center of the brand new Riviera-Chablais Hospital (HRC) in Rennaz. Prof Matzinger joined SMN in August 2019 as Medical Director of Radiation Oncology for the group. Projects already completed include the new radiation oncology department at the Clinique Générale Beaulieu in Geneva, as well as partnerships with various industrial players in the sector such as Accuray or Raysearch. Major projects underway include the construction of a new department at the Genolier Clinic, the integration of Accuray and Raysearch European training centers into the Genolier Innovation Hub, the development of new radiotherapy centers in German-speaking Switzerland and the creation of the national multidisciplinary oncology network of SMN. He is also Vice President of the Swiss Society of Radiation Oncology, Vice President of the Ligue Vaudoise contre le cancer and auditor of radiation oncology services for the FOPH.

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Prof Esat Mahmut Özsahin

MD PhD, Médecin chef service de Radio Oncologie, CHUV

Professor Ozsahin is currently working in the Department of Radiation Oncology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV)/University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland. He obtained his medical degree in 1985 from the University of Ege, Izmir, Turkey; and subsequently took up a post as a general practitioner in Yozgat, Turkey. In 1985, he was appointed as assistant physician in the Cerrahpasa Faculty of Medicine at the University of Istanbul, Turkey. Specializing in radiation oncology in 1990, he obtained his PhD in radiation biology from the Swiss Institute of Technology (ETH; Zurich, Switzerland) in 1996. He held various posts in Turkey, France, and Switzerland prior to taking up his current position. His main interests are head and neck cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, hematological malignancies, rare cancers, combined modality treatment, and modern radiotherapy techniques including intensity-modulated radiation therapy, stereotactic RT, helical Tomotherapy, protontherapy, and Flash therapy. His biology research topics include radiation-induced normal tissue damage, and predictive assays in radiotherapy. He is the recipient of many research grants including those from the Swiss Cancer League (1997 and 1999), the EORTC NOCI (Network of Core Institutions; 2009), and the Swiss National Science Foundation (2009). Professor Ozsahin is a member of several scientific societies and groups, including the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO), the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO), the Scientific Association of Swiss Radiation Oncology (SASRO; ex-board member), the Swiss Society of Radiobiology and Medical Physics (SGSMP; ex-board member), the French Society for Radiation Oncology (SFRO), the Turkish Society of Radiation Oncology (TROD), the Turkish Society of Hematology (THD), the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC ROS and Head and Neck Group [steering committee member]), the Association of Radiotherapy and Oncology of the Mediterranean Area (AROME; vice-president), the Turkish Oncology Group (TOG), and the Rare Cancer Network (president). He is the co-editor of the Rare Tumors journal, and editorial board member of Radiation Oncology, International Journal of Hematology and Oncology, Open Nuclear Medicine Journal, and Turkish Journal of Cancer. He is on the review board of several international journals including International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics, Radiotherapy and Oncology, Radiation Oncology, Current Opinions in Oncology and Hematology, Cancer Treatment Reviews, Oral Oncology, European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, BMC Cancer, Melanoma Research, Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, Medical Science Monitor, International Journal of Hematology and Oncology, International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery, and Turkish Journal of Cancer. He authored or co-authored more than 250 peer-reviewed articles, 500 congress presentations, and 20 book chapters. He is the co-editor of the textbook, Management of Rare Adult Tumors.

Prof Thomas Pfammatter

Professor of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology , USZ

Thomas Pfammatter was born in Brig, Switzerland, in 1959.  After completing his medical propaedeutic at the University of Fribourg and graduating from medical school in Bern, he worked first as an assistant physician for pathology in Sion and then as an assistant physician for surgery and internal medicine in Mendrisio in the Italian part of Switzerland. Prof. Pfammatter discovered his passion for radiology in 1989, when he moved to the then "radiodiagnostic central institute" of the University Hospital of Zurich, where he completed his doctorate on MR pelvimetry in 1990. After completing his residency in 1992, Prof. Pfammatter went to Michigan for two years as a clinical fellow to train as an interventional radiologist at the University of Michigan Medical Center. Back at Zurich University Hospital, he habilitated in 2010 and has been head of interventional radiology at Zurich University Hospital since 1997. Prof. Pfammatter is a CIRSE Fellow and a founding member of the Swiss Society of Interventional Radiology (2001), which he led as president from 2006 to 2011. Prof. Pfammatter's scientific work is mainly dedicated to vascular and oncological radiological interventions, topics on which he has authored more than 220 articles and 5 book chapters to date.

Prof Pierre Alain Clavien

PhD, former Director of the Department of Visceral and Transplant surgery at USZ and Professor emeritus at the University of Zurich, Privatklinik Bethanien , Zürich

Pierre-Alain Clavien è uno scienziato  e chirurgo di fama mondiale, attualmente professore e presidente del Dipartimento di Chirurgia a Zurigo, Svizzera. I suoi interessi principali ruotano attorno ai vari aspetti del trapianto e della chirurgia epatica. Dal 1994 gestisce un laboratorio di scienze di base applicate alla medicina le cui aree di ricerca includono la conservazione degli organi, i danni da ischemia e riperfusione epatica, la rigenerazione epatica, la patogenesi del cancro e i relativi esiti. I risultati delle sue ricerche sono stati oggetto di pubblicazione su Science, Nature, PNAS, Annals of Surgery, Gastroenterology, Lancet e NEJM. Il Dr. Clavien ha inoltre elaborato un sistema semplice e ampiamente utilizzato, che porta il suo nome, volto a valutare le complicanze degli interventi chirurgici. Attualmente è nel comitato direttivo o riveste il ruolo di direttore associato di diverse riviste scientifiche internazionali di alto livello, come Journal of Hepatology e Annals of Surgery. Il Dr. Clavien ha ricevuto una borsa di studio onoraria da parte dell’American College of Surgeons (ACS) e dell’American Surgical Association (ASA). È stato anche nominato membro onorario dell’Académie Nationale de Médecine francese ed è entrato a far parte della National Academy of Medicine (USA) nel 2020.

Dr Pascal Frei

Facharzt FMH für Gastroenterologie und Innere Medizin Privatklinik Bethanien, Zürich

PD Dr. Pascal Frei, born in Central Switzerland, has studied medicine in Zurich. After a postgraduate course in experimental medicine and biology, he did both basic basic and clinical research in the field of hepatology and inflammatory bowel disease. He focused on treatment of IBD but treats the full spectrum of gastrointestinal diseases. He works at the Privatklinik Bethanien sincee 2015.

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Prof Gabriel Perlemuter

Académie nationale de médecine , Chef de service Hépato gastroentérologie et nutrition , Hôpital Antoine Béclère Clamart , AP HP, univ. Paris Saclay

Gabriel Perlemuter is professor of hepatology and gastroenterology, nutritionist, and member of the French National Academy of Medicine. He is recognized for his expertise in nutritional liver diseases (alcoholic liver disease and non-alcoholic/metabolic associated fatty liver disease) and in the interactions between the microbiome and the liver. He heads the hepatogastroenterology and nutrition department at Antoine-Béclère university Hospital (Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris-Saclay University, Clamart, France) and an INSERM research team entitled "Microbiome in liver diseases: from susceptibility to treatment". With his team, he has demonstrated the causal role of the intestinal microbiota in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and that the individual susceptibility to develop alcoholic liver disease is dependent on specific intestinal microbiota signatures. He has shown that the control of the intestinal microbiota by fecal manipulation (transplant, probiotics and prebiotics) in alcoholic liver disease can prevent liver injury. Gabriel Perlemuter has received the National Academy of Medicine Award for his fight against alcoholism and the "La Science se Livre" award for the best educational publication "Les bactéries, des amies qui vous veulent du bien" (Solar Ed) which means "With friends like bacteria". Gabriel Perlemuter is the author of numerous other medical, scientific and educational publications dedicated to physicians, scientists and the general public.

Prof Victor Valderrabano

Chairman, SWISS ORTHO CENTER, Schmerzklinik Basel

Prof Victor Valderrabano (MD, PhD) specializes in orthopaedics and traumatology as well as surgery of the foot and ankle, arthrosis and sports-related injuries. A nationally and internationally recognized physician and scientist, he has been with the Schmerzklinik Basel since January 2015. Since 1996, he has been involved in numerous research projects in biomechanics, arthrosis, lesions of the cartilage and ligaments, as well as muscular rehabilitation. Although he has won many awards for his outstanding scientific work, he still takes an active role in the basic and advanced training of young doctors and colleagues. In 2009, he was appointed professor of orthopaedics and traumatology at the University Hospital of Basel. Prof Valderrabano has a particular interest in human biomechanics and sports-related injuries. In 2003, he therefore underwent complementary training in sports medicine and obtained his second doctoral title of PhD in biomechanics at the University of Calgary (Canada). Since 2012, he has been president of the Society for Orthopaedic Traumatologic Sports Medicine, the world's second-largest association of specialists in sports orthopaedics and traumatology. Apart from orthopaedics and traumatology relating to the entire musculoskeletal system, Prof Valderrabano also specializes in arthrosis surgery. Another of Prof Valderrabano's specialities is foot and ankle surgery. Treatments in this area range all the way from ligament reconstruction and stabilization of fractures to the surgical correction of malpositions, including arthrosis surgery on the joints of the foot (osteotomies, prostheses), treatment of malformations of the forefoot (hallux) and diabetic feet.

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Dr Stephan Heinz

Chirurgien orthopédiste, Président de la société Swiss Orthopaedics

Born in Switzerland in 1961, I spent my first 5 years in South India, where my father built up a leprosy hospital. Perhaps this family experience shaped my interests in socio-economic issues in medicine. I completed my studies at the University of Zurich and my dissertation under Prof. Dr. med. B.G. Weber at the University of Bern. I acquired basic knowledge in general surgery and traumatology under Prof. Dr. med. J. Largiadèr at the Frauenfeld Cantonal Hospital. After an intermediate year in anaesthesiology and intensive care medicine I moved to the St. Gallen Cantonal Hospital, where I completed my orthopaedic training under Prof. Dr. med. Magerl, and later consolidated my manual skills at the Cantonal Hospital Frauenfeld under the direction of Dr. med. S. Khuri, before joining Orthopädie am See in 1999, an orthopaedic group practice in Kreuzlingen with resident doctors at the Seeschau Clinic Kreuzlingen, at the same time I got an accreditation as an orthopaedic surgeon at the Lindberg Private Clinic in Winterthur as well. For a while I also worked in a small pensum as a substitute doctor at the SUVA in Winterthur, which broadened my horizons in insurance medicine. As early as 1994 I organised a two-day symposium together with the head physician for urology on the subject of "Effects of the new KVG", with speakers from politics and also from the health insurers (at that time Mr H.-U. Regius from SWICA). For about 10 years, in addition to other commitments, I was President of the Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons in Eastern Switzerland on the one hand, and also responsible for the Tariffs and Fees Commission of swiss orthopaedics on the other. In this function, I led the revision of Tarmed to Tardoc for the musculoskeletal system and developed the first outpatient flat rates. Since June 2022, I have had the honour of presiding over swiss orthopaedics as President, a task that is as interesting as it is demanding. In parallel, I continue to be active in various commissions of the FMCH (e.g. Policy Committee) and the FMH.

Dino Cauzza

CEO Swiss Medical Network​

A graduate in Economics from the University of St. Gallen, Dino Cauzza can look back on many years' experience in the Swiss health sector, notably at the Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale in Bellinzona. Apart from this, he has the managerial skills required to preside over the Executive Management of Swiss Medical Network, to strengthen the Group at both operational and digital level, and to steer it to further growth in spite of the mounting challenges that face it in the care and health sectorsA graduate in Economics from the University of St. Gallen, Dino Cauzza can look back on many years' experience in the Swiss health sector, notably at the Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale in Bellinzona. Apart from this, he has the managerial skills required to preside over the Executive Management of Swiss Medical Network, to strengthen the Group at both operational and digital level, and to steer it to further growth in spite of the mounting challenges that face it in the care and health sectors

Prof Frédéric Ris

Chair of the Membership committee at the ESCP Vice director of the Geneva Cancer Center, HUG

Prof Frédéric Ris comes from Switzerland, he qualified in 1999 from the Geneva University Medical School (Switzerland). He is since January 2012 a staff surgeon, he is responsible for colorectal surgery, in the Visceral Surgery Service at the Geneva University Hospitals. After 2 years of research, he undertook his general surgical training in Switzerland and in St-Luc Hospital in Belgium (2006), to achieve his general surgical specialist exam in 2008 (FMH). He performed a colorectal fellowship at Oxford University Hospitals between 2010 and 2011. He is an European board certified colorectal and proctology surgeon (EBSQ 2011) and achieve his visceral surgical exam in 2013 (FMH). He has been awarded an MD degree for his research into MRI imaging of islet cells and a Privat Docent (PD, senior lecturer) for his research on fluorescence Imaging. He has been appointed Professor of Surgery in November 2018. His research won prizes including the Swiss Surgery Society Award and the Marc-Claude Marti Award. He has published over 255 journal articles and book chapters with a H index of 35. His main projects are on 4 different aspects, a.) colorectal and oncologic surgery, b.) pelvic floor and proctology, c.) new technologies and d.) teaching surgery. He has a special interest in Near Infra Red (NIR) imaging for perfusion and lymphnode mapping and on enhanced recovery management. He is expert in minimally invasive colorectal surgery (IBD and cancer), pelvic floor disorders and oncologic surgery. He is also responsible for the HIPEC program and one of the founders of the swiss peritoneal cancer group. He has been appointed vice-director of the Geneva University Hospitals Cancer Center in November 2022.

Prof Jean Louis Frossard

Médecin-Chef de service de gastroentérologie et d’hépatologie HUG

Professor Jean-Louis Frossard is an ordinary professor of gastroenterology at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva. He has been Head of Gastroenterology at the University Hospital of Geneva since 2012. He obtained his federal diploma in 1990 and his PhD in 1992. After two years of internal medicine in Neuchâtel, he continued his training in internal medicine at the Hôpital Cantonal de Genève. His training in gastroenterology took place between Geneva and Paris (echo-endoscopy). From 1996 to 1998, he trained in experimental pancreatology at Harvard Medical School in Boston. In 1998, he returned to the Gastroenterology Department of the University Hospital of Geneva, where he successively held the positions of Chief of the Scientific Clinic, Associate Physician in 2002, and in 2012, Assistant Physician, in charge of the Pancreas and Echo-Endoscopy Unit.