Patrick Aebischer

Patrick Aebischer

Born	1954-11-22 Fribourg (Switzerland)
Nationality	Swiss
Alma mater	University of Geneva Brown University Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
Known for	President of the EPFL

Patrick Aebischer (born 1954 in Fribourg, Switzerland) is the president of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne since March 17th, 2000^[1]. He is also a professor in neurosciences and head of the Neurodegenerative Disease Laboratory of the EPFL.

1 Biography
2 Sources and references
- 2.1 External links
- 2.2 References

Biography

Education

Patrick Aebischer was trained as an MD (1980) and a neuroscientist (Dr. Med., 1983) at the University of Geneva and University of Fribourg in Switzerland.

Academic career

From 1984 to 1992, he worked at Brown University in Providence (Rhode Island, United States), as Research Scientist, Assistant and then Associate Professor of Medical Sciences. In 1991, he became the chairman of the Section of Artificial Organs, Biomaterials and Cellular Technology of the Division of Biology and Medicine of Brown University. In the fall of 1992, he returned to Switzerland as a Professor and Director of the Surgical Research Division and Gene Therapy Center at the Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois (CHUV) in Lausanne.

In 1999, Patrick Aebischer was nominated President of the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), one of the two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology, by the Swiss Federal Council. He took office as President on March 2000 and was reelected to this position in 2004 and 2008.

His current research focuses on the development of cell and gene transfer approaches for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

Activities at the EPFL

Since his arrival as president of the EPFL, Patrick Aebischer has made the following changes to EPFL:

Integration of the "hard science" sections (mathematics, physics, chemistry) from the neighbouring Université de Lausanne;
Restructuring of the university into five Schools, each managing its own budget;
Creation of the School of Life Sciences, focusing mainly on biomedical engineering;
Creation of a Doctoral School
Creation of a College for Management of Technology and Finance
Development of an "Innovation Square" on the campus to favour industry partnerships^[2];
Development of the campus by initiating the construction of the Rolex Learning Center (2010)^[3], lodging for students (2010 and 2013), a hotel for academic hosts (2010) and a Conference center^[4] (2013).

In companies

Patrick Aebischer is a founder of three start-ups: CytoTherapeutics Inc. (1989), Modex Therapeutics Inc. (1996) and Amazentis SA (2007). He sits at the boards of Nestle Health Science (since 2011) and Lonza Group (since 2008).

Personal

The parents of Patrick Aebischer are artists Emile Aebischer, known as Yoki, and Joan, born O'Boyle. He is married and the father of two children.

Honors

Fellowship of the Swiss National Science Foundation (1984-86)
Kolff award (Young investigator award of the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs), New York, 1987.
Robert Bing award of the Swiss academy of Medicine (1994).
Pfizer Foundation award for clinical neurosciences (1997).
Fellow of the Swiss Academy for the Medical Sciences (since 1998).
Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering Sciences (since 2000).
Fellow of the Swiss Engineering Academy (SATW) (since 2009).

Sources and references

External links

References

^ «Patrick Aebischer for president!» L’Hebdo, 16 mars 2000 http://www.hebdo.ch/epfl_patrick_aebischer_for_president_8976_.html
^ http://www.business-leader.ch/actualites/84-formation/3987-linnovation-prend-ses-quartiers-a-lepfl.html
^ Architectural record: SANAA Designs Artificial Landscape, retrieved 11 March 2010
^ http://chantiers.epfl.ch/page-20470-en.html

Persondata
Name	Aebischer, Patrick
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1954
Place of birth	Fribourg (Switzerland)
Date of death
Place of death