SwissAnaesthesia

Anthony (Tony) Absalom studied medicine at the University of Cape Town and underwent specialist training in anaesthesia and intensive care in England and Scotland. 

He has been Professor of Anesthesiology at the UMCG, Netherlands since 2009. His clinical interests are neuroanaesthesia and intravenous anaesthesia techniques. His research interests are pharmacology and neuroscience. He is financial director of the BJA Company; and will be financial director of ESAIC starting 2026. He has been President of the Society for Intravenous Anaesthesia, vice-president of the World SIVA, Chairman of the Neuroanaesthesia Section of the Dutch Association of Anaesthetists and Chair of the General Anaesthesia Scientific Sub-committee of ESAIC.

Beatrice Beck Schimmer has served as Vice President Medicine at the University of Zur-ich since August 2018. She is one of the seven members of the Executive Board of the University of Zurich. In her role, she also jointly leads the Faculty of Medicine alongside the Dean and Deputy Dean.
She studied medicine at the University of Bern and obtained her habilitation at the University of Zurich in 2003. From 2005 to 2018, she worked as a senior anesthesiologist (Leitende Ärztin) at the University Hospital Zurich and, from 2009, additionally as a full professor of anesthesiology, where she was active in basic and clinical research. From 2012 to 2018, she was a member of the National Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation, since October 2025 a member of the Editorial Board of Anesthesiology. Through-out her career, she has been actively committed to supporting young scientists, with a particular focus on career development for women.

Dr Karin Becke-Jakob is Chair of the Department of Anaesthesiology at University  Children`s Hospital Basel (UKBB), Switzerland. She received her medical degree from the Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen, Germany, where she completed her training in anaesthesia, intensive care and emergency medicine. She has completed a Fellowship in Paediatric Anaesthesia. From 2007 – 2025 she was Head of Department at Cnopf Children´s Hospital Nürnberg, Germany.

Her professional interests are evidence based best clinical care in paediatric perioperative medicine including anaesthesia, emergency medicine, intensive care and perioperative pain therapy. She is active member of several international anaesthesia and paediatric anaesthesia societies and initiatives (ESAIC, ESPA, Safetots). She is involved in the development of guidelines to improve paediatric patient safety and outcome and has authored numerous books, book chapters, reviews, editorials and original research in addition to multiple guidelines in paediatric anaesthesia. She serves as associate editor and reviewer for several anaesthesia journals. 

Consultant Anaesthesiologist, Head of Obstetric Anaesthesia, Cantonal Hospital Winterthur

Dr. Brandenberg completed her medical degree in 1996 and became a specialist in anaesthesiology in 2003. Since 2010, she has served as a senior consultant and head of obstetric anaesthesia at the Cantonal Hospital Winterthur, overseeing anaesthetic care for over 2,000 births annually. In 2023, she was appointed lead consultant with a special focus on obstetric anaesthesia, resuscitation, and simulation.

She holds additional certifications as an emergency physician, simulation instructor, and ACLS instructor. She also completed a Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Mediation at the University of Fribourg. Dr. Brandenberg has been an active board member of the Swiss Association of Obstetric Anaesthesia (SAOA) for several years.

Professional Experience

Since October 2022 Senior Consultant (Oberarzt), Department of Anaesthesia University Children’s Hospital Zurich, Switzerland

October 2019 – September 2022 Consultant Anaesthesist, Department of Anaesthesia, University Heart Center Freiburg – Bad Krozingen, Germany

August 2010 – September 2019 Specialist in cardiac-, and pediatric-cardiac-anaesthesiology, University Medical Center Freiburg, Germany

October 2002 – September 2019 Resident and Consultant in Anaesthesiology, Department of Anaesthesiology and Operative Intensive Care Medicine, University Medical Center Freiburg, Germany

January 2001 – September 2002 Resident in Anaesthesiology, Department of Anaesthesiology and Operative Intensive Care Medicine, Klinikum Aschaffenburg-Alzenau

December 1999 – December 2000 Resident in Anaesthesiology, Department of Anaesthesiology and Operative Intensive Care Medicine, Klinikum Heidenheim

Education & Academic Qualifications

October 2000 Doctor of Medicine (Dr. med.), Dissertation: Expression of CD44 in Ovarian Tumors

October 1992 – October 1999 Medical Degree studies, University of Ulm, Germany

Kurz-Curriculum

3. März 1959 - geboren in Schwarzenbach am Wald/Bayern

1979–1985 - Medizinstudium in Würzburg und Wien

1985–1996 - Wissenschaftliche Tätigkeiten in Tübingen, Heidelberg, Brisbane (Australien), Yale Medical School (New Haven, USA) und UCSD (San Diego, USA)

1993 - Habilitation über „Genetische Programme der Schmerzverarbeitung im Nervensystem“ am II. Institut für Physiologie (Prof. M.- Zimmermann) der Universität Heidelberg
 
1994–1997 - Stipendiat des Heisenberg-Programms

1996 - Berufung zum C3-Professor für Pharmakologie ans Universitätsklinikum Kiel

2002 - Facharzt für Pharmakologie und Toxikologie

2004 - Koordinator des von der EU im 6. FP geförderten STREP „STRESSPROTECT“

bis 2012 - zahlreiche Teilprojekte in nationalen u. internationalen Forscherverbünden wie SFB, SBB, Forschergruppen sowie europäischen STREP u. COST-Aktionen. Gesamteinwerbung von wissenschaftlichen Drittmitteln: 3 Mio. Euro

bis 2012 - Gutachter für nationale (DFG, MPG) internationale Projekte (EU incl. Marie-Curie-Programm)

2008-2024 - Standard-Lehrbuch Pharmakologie (800 S., Thieme-Verlag) 5. Aufl. 2024 
 
ab 2008 - intensiver Einsatz für Medizinalcannabis als Teil der Schulmedizin

ab 2021 - Leiter u. Mitorganisator des Medizinal Cannabis Kongresses MCC, Berlin

2024 - Dt. Schmerzpreis der Dt. Gesellschaft für Schmerzmedizin

2024 - Verleihung der Salus-Medaille der Apothekerkammer Schleswig-Holstein für die Verdienste um die Fortbildung der Apothekerschaft  

bis heute - 200 Pubmed gelistete Publikationen,  Hirsch-Index (H-Index) 85

ab 2023 - Gastprofessur an der Paracelsus-Medizinischen Universität Salzburg

FRCA MBChB BSc(Hons) EDRA
Consultant Anaesthesiologist
Rotunda and Mater Misericordiae Hospitals, Dublin
Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences
Irish Society of Regional Anaesthesia (ISRA) Honorary Secretary

I have been a consultant anaesthetist at the Ulster Hospital in Belfast since 2001, where until recently I was the lead for obstetric anaesthesia. It is a busy obstetric unit with about 4000 deliveries per year, and we are perhaps the “spiritual home” of remifentanil PCA which we have offered routinely since 2004. It will come as no shock then that I’ll be speaking about remifentanil labour analgesia, and showcasing the brand new, “hot off the press” OAA guidance on this. I am a member of the OAA executive committee and also a member of our local obstetric anaesthesia group, NIOAN, proof that I truly still enjoy obstetric anaesthesia, despite doing the long Friday shift on labour ward for over two decades! When I’m avoiding work (which I do a lot!) I love running, reading and travelling, so I am delighted to have my first visit to Lausanne.

Dipl. Experte Anästhesiepflege NDS HF
BScN BFH
MScN i.A., Universität Basel
Kantonsspital Baden

George Kohlrieser is Distinguished Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior. He is an organizational and clinical psychologist, hostage negotiator, award-winning author, consultant, conference speaker, and media commentator. His research, teaching, and consulting activities focus on high-performance leadership, high-performance teamwork, conflict management, change management, dialogue and negotiation, coaching, stress management, work-life balance, and personal and professional development.

Anaesthetist and head of pain therapy at the Balgrist Orthopaedic University Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland. Organiser, course leader, speaker and tutor at various national and international courses in ultrasound-controlled pain therapy interventions and regional anaesthesia. Special interest and expertise in diagnostic nerve ultrasound for neuropathic pain and traumatic nerve damage.

PD Dr. Julien Maillard is an attending physician in the Department of Anaesthesiology at Geneva University Hospitals (HUG). His clinical practice focuses primarily on major abdominal and urologic surgeries, as well as non-operating room anaesthesia (NORA). His research explores decision-making processes in old and frail patients undergoing major surgery, with the aim of better understanding postoperative outcomes from the patient’s perspective, including quality of life, functional independence, and decisional regret.

Andrea Anna Melber obtained her medical degree at the University of Wuerzburg in Germany in 1992. She completed her residency in Anaesthesiology at the University Hospital Charité Berlin, the Medway Hospital in United Kingdom and the University Hospital Inselspital Berne, Switzerland. 1999, she became member of staff at the University Hospital Inselspital in Berne with special interest in Obstetric Anaesthesia and was appointed head of the division of Anaesthesiology for Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 2006. She is now Senior Consultant at the Spital Riggisberg, Insel Gruppe AG, Switzerland. 2009, Andrea Anna Melber introduced Remifentanil-PCA for labour analgesia in Switzerland and founded the RemiPCA SAFE Network, a quality management platform which is under the patronage of the Swiss Association of Obstetric Anaesthesia. She gives invited lectures on national and international level and published on Labour Analgesia and Remifentanil-PCA for Labour, besides being lecturer for anaesthesiology and midwifery. Her special interest is Obstetric Anaesthesia, Simulation training and Patients Safety. She is Vice-President of the Swiss Association of Obstetric Anaesthesia (SAOA).

Prof. Dr. Anika Müller is Deputy Head of the Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte. She has been instrumental in developing interdisciplinary clinical programs, including perioperative ECMO care and specialized paediatric anaesthesia pathways. As Lead for Academic Qualification at Charité, she supports early-career clinician scientists through mentoring and academic development. Her research focuses on perioperative neuroprotection and the prevention of postoperative delirium, with emphasis on the cholinergic system and tryptophan metabolism. In 2025, she was awarded the Franz Köhler Inflammation Award by the DGAI.

https://cplonski-psychologe.de/

Co-founder of afflux (https://afflux.ch/ ) and EPFL engineer specializing in AI-driven process optimization.

LinkedIn profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/roxanne-tison-ai-afflux-lausanne/