SSPH+ ScienceFlashTalk Winner

Serra Lem Asangbeh, PhD student at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM), won the 2019 SSPH+ ScienceFlashTalk Award at the Swiss Public Health Conference in Winterthur on 28 August 2019.

SNSF Ambizione Grant on upper airways disease in Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia

Myrofora Goutaki has been awarded a Swiss National Science Foundation Ambizione grant to characterise and provide first evidence for the management of upper airways disease in patients with primary ciliary dyskinesia in a large multi-national project.

Georgia Salanti was elected president of the Society for Research Synthesis Methodology

The Society for Research Synthesis Methodology is a cross disciplinary society that supports and promotes the development and use of innovative and robust methods of research synthesis and publishes the journal Research Synthesis Methods.

Read this before it’s out of date: Zika Open Access Project in @NatureIndex

Living systematic reviews can keep up to date with research on Zika virus, a fast-moving field. Journalist Jon Brock features the PhD project of ISPM PhD student Michel Counotte «Zika virus: causality, open science and risks of emerging infectious diseases»

Two new PhD students in Sexual and Reproductive Health

Diana Buitrago won a Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship and a SSPH+ GlobalP3HS Fellowship to study «The science of prevalence». Ranjana Gigi won a Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences MD-PhD award to study «Genital tract infections, the vaginal microbiome and preterm birth in South Africa».

National Strategy against Cancer – «every number is being used»

The Swiss Childhood Cancer Registry (SCCR) – a success story since its foundation in 1976. A challenge with the cancer registration law coming into force in 2020.

Open spaces available in course «Prognostic Research: Concepts and Models»

Course date: 21–23 August 2019 - Prognostic research is fundamental to clinical decision making, healthcare policy, and discovering new approaches to patient management. In this course we describe the basic concepts used to develop, validate, and implement a prognostic model in clinical practice and discuss how a web-based calculator might be constructed to give a useful decision-making tool.

Professor Oscar H Franco appointed as Adjunct Professor at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Professor Oscar H Franco, Director of the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM) in Bern, has been appointed as Adjunct Professor at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Workshop «Infectious Disease Surveillance»

This workshop will take place November 25th, 2019 and provide an overview of the current state in the field of infectious disease surveillance, from the perspective of both data collection and data analysis.

Suicide ideation continues to be high in Swiss young adults

Suicide ideation is a well-known risk factor contributing to early mortality in young adults. The long-term project, «Young Adult Survey Switzerland» (YASS) 2014/15 has shown that the proportion of Swiss young men with suicidal thoughts has since 2010/11 remained fairly stable, and high, at about 12%.

Agreement on joint academic and scientific activities focused on cardiovascular disease prevention

The Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM) and the University of Bern signed an agreement with the Federal State Budgetary Organization National Cardiology Research Center of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. The objective of this agreement is to develop joint academic and scientific activities mainly focused on cardiovascular disease prevention.

Global disparities in cervical cancer rates among women with HIV

A study by an international group of researchers led by a team at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, found that the incidence rates of cervical cancer are particularly high among women living with HIV in South Africa or Latin America.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Zeltner joins ISPM as Honorary Professor

Prof. Dr. Thomas Zeltner has an outstanding career in public health. Since 1992 he has been Professor of Public Health at the University of Bern and is a Visiting Scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health (Boston). He serves as Deputy Chair of the University Council of the Medical University of Vienna (Austria).

Primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases for Albanian-speaking migrants living in Switzerland

In the framework of a new pilot project between the Research Group on Migration and Health and Diaspora TV Switzerland, we produced a video on the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases for Albanian-speaking migrants living in Switzerland, with the collaboration of Dr. Taulant Muka, Leader of the Research Group on Cardiometabolic Health.

ISPM PhD student Carmen de Jong wins prize for best oral presentation

Carmen de Jong won the prize for best oral presentation of the SwissPedNet Translational & Clinical Research session with her talk «Diagnosing asthma accurately in school-aged children suspected to have asthma» at the Swiss Conference for Pediatrics (SGP).

Two members of the ISPM staff nominated Fellows of SSPH+

Two members of the ISPM staff have been nominated Fellows of SSPH+: Taulant Muka, Leader of the Research Group on Cardiometabolic Health, and Luciano Ruggia, Leader of the Research Group on Migration and Health.

Inauguration of the Bern Center for Precision Medicine (BCPM)

Precision medicine “tailored” to individual patients is regarded as the medicine of the future. The new Bern Center for Precision Medicine will exploit synergies and strengthen the medicinal location in Bern. The Bern Center for Precision Medicine is an initiative founded by the Canton, the University, and the University Hospital of Bern.

For a stronger new Swiss Law on tobacco products

ISPM joins forces with other public health actors to advocate for a stronger Swiss Law on tobacco products. The new law should better protect the youth from tobacco consumption, should forbid advertisement for tobacco products and should aim at a decrease of tobacco consumption in the Swiss population.

Teacher of the year 2018 in Master of Public Health

Julia Bohlius has been awarded as «Teacher of the year 2018» in the three University MPH program for her course «Einführung in systematische Reviews und Meta-Analysen».

SNSF Grant on quality of care in eosinophilic esophagitis

Ekaterina Safroneeva has been awarded a Swiss National Science Foundation grant to develop process-of-care measures and identify long-term treatment targets for adults with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). Increasingly recognized though not commonly seen, EoE is a chronic, immune-mediated disease in which untreated inflammation leads to esophageal remodeling with stricture formation and food bolus impactions.

Teacher of the year 2018

Thomas Abel has been selected as «Teacher of 2018» in the three University MPH program for his course «Grundlagen der Gesundheitswissenschaft und Sozialepidemiologie».

Report about Medicus Mundi Switzerland (MMS) in Television

MMSs new manifesto «Health for all in one generation» as well as the work of the network MMS attracted the attention of Ticino television and was presented in a multi-minute report by the broadcaster Il Quotidiano. ISPM is one of the 50 organizations members of the MMS network.

ISPM2030 – Vision, Aim, Mission online

The 2018 report «ISPM2030 – Vision, Aim, Mission» is now available online

Portrait article about Matthias Egger in journal «The Lancet. Infectious diseases.»

A portrait article about Matthias Egger was published in the March issue of the journal «The Lancet. Infectious diseases.». In the same issue, the publication «Drug susceptibility testing and mortality in patients treated for tuberculosis in high-burden countries: a multicentre cohort study» was also published.

Video podcast

Faster and trustworthy guidelines for shared decision making: Experience from the BMJ Rapid Recommendations - Seminar by Dr. Thomas Agoritsas, 21.02.2019

CAS in Clinical Research in Health Care Organisations – application deadline

One month left to sign up for the next course of advanced studies in clinical research – application deadline March 15, 2019.

Drug-resistant tuberculosis: high mortality rate due to inaccurate tests

Inaccurate tests carried out on tuberculosis patients in developing countries often fail to reliablydetect resistance to drugs, leading to incorrect treatment and a higher mortality rate. These are the results of study by an international group of researchers led by a team at the University of Bern published today.

Trends in influenza vaccination uptake in Switzerland: Swiss Health Survey 2007 and 2012

It’s influenza (flu) season again in Switzerland, and this week the virus reached the epidemic threshold. Flu takes more lives than any other infectious disease in Europe, but a simple and effective yearly vaccine can reduce the chance you will catch it.

10th Swiss Epidemiology Winter School started

The 10th Swiss Epidemiology Winter School takes place during this week in Wengen from January 21st to 26th 2019.

Symposium Research Group «Climate Change and Health»

The new Research Group «Climate Change and Health» at OCCR and ISPM
Invitation to the OCCR and ISPM Symposium

5 day course «Applied Logistic Regression» with Prof. Stanley Lemeshow and Dr. Ben Spycher

We are pleased to announce the 5day-course Applied Logistic Regression by Stanley Lemeshow and Ben Spycher taking place March 11-15, 2019 here in Bern.

Open Day Uni Mittelstrasse

Impressions of the Open Day at the Uni Mittelstrasse

Preventing preterm birth and neonatal infections in Papua New Guinea

ISPM Professor Nicola Low has been visiting the WANTAIM project in Papua New Guinea. «Wantaim» means «once» or «together» in Tok Pisin creole. It is a perfect fit for the research project, «Women and Newborns Trial of Antenatal Intervention and Management».

Chlamydia screening trial prompts rethink about control strategy

Opportunistic testing for the sexually transmitted infection, chlamydia, amongst young adults attending general practices, did not reduce prevalence after three years.

New seminar podcast: Dementia - the burden on societies, challenges for research

New ISPM presentation video

The new ISPM presentation video is online.

Open Day Uni Mittelstrasse

The Uni Mittelstrasse will open its doors on Saturday, 27 October 2018, 10-18 pm.

Interview on digital transformation in the healthcare sector in Primary Care and Hospital

The digital transformation is fundamentally changing the professional world of health workers. Prof. David Schwappach explains the risks and opportunities of technological trends in the healthcare sector and explains the advantages and disadvantages of electronic patient records.

Thomas C Chalmers award for ISPM’s Adriani Nikolakopoulou

Adriani Nikolakopoulou of ISPM’s Evidence Synthesis Methods research group won the Thomas C Chalmers award for the best oral presentation at the Cochrane Colloquium in 16-18 September 2018 in Edinburgh.

Better understanding, research and treatment of childhood cancer

The Swiss Childhood Cancer Registry (SCCR) at the University of Bern has been collecting data on children and adolescents suffering from cancer in Switzerland for over 40 years. Now, on behalf of the Confederation, the registry will be converted into a Federal Childhood Cancer Registry, which will further improve the documentation, diagnosis and treatment of cancer in children and adolescents.

SRF Tagesgespräch: Matthias Egger and Michael Hagner on Open Access

Open Access aims to make scientific research freely accessible to all and thus to counteract the major publishers and their business model. In the SRF «Tagesgespräch», Matthias Egger of the Swiss National Science Foundation and the science historian Michael Hagner discuss Open Access.

Workshop on Open Science and Biomedical Research

The Biomedical section of Bern university library, on behalf of the Swiss biomedical libraries commission, would like to invite you to a workshop on Open Science and biomedical research on Friday, Sep 28th, 2018.

New Ambizione grant to be funded by the SNF

Orestis Efthimiou has been awarded an Ambizione grant to develop methods for personalizing treatment choices.

The Federal Council submitted a draft legislation article for cannabis pilot trials for consultation

The Federal Council submitted a draft legislation article for cannabis pilot trials for consultation.

Epidemiology Winter School 2019 in Wengen - registration now open!

The next Winter School will take place from January 21st to 26th 2019, during the week following the International Lauberhorn ski race, when Wengen is calm, with few people on the slopes. Continue reading

Federal Council appoints Martina Hirayama as new SERI State Secretary

The Federal Council has appointed Martina Hirayama as the new State Secretary for Education, Research and Innovation, effective 1 January 2019, to replace retiring Mauro Dell’Ambrogio.

SSPH+ Global PhD Program in Public Health Sciences (GlobalP3HS)

Doctoral fellowships in public health sciences available for talented students from all over the world: first call will be launched on July 2, 2018.

Doug Altman of Oxford University has died

Doug Altman, founder of the Centre for Statistics in Medicine at Oxford University, the EQUATOR Network and driving force behind CONSORT, sadly passed away on Sunday 3 June 2018.

Julia Bohlius Teacher of the Year for the fourth year in a row

For the fourth year in a row Julia Bohlius has been selected as «Teacher of the Year» in the three University MPH program.

Ebola vaccine in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Matthias Egger in the Sonntagszeitung

Ebola vaccination was begun last month as part of the swift international response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

ISPM PhD student Eva Pedersen wins prize for best oral presentation

Eva Pedersen won the prize for best oral presentation in the Swiss PedNet Sessions for Clinical Research in Paediatrics with her talk “The 10-item PARC tool to predict childhood asthma—an external validation.”

Interview with Myrofora Goutaki and Rahel Kasteler for the Lung League Bern

Myrofora Goutaki and Rahel Kasteler were interviewed by the Lung League Bern for their annual report.

ISPM assessment tool ready to be used in China

An assessment tool to measure health literacy in youth populations that was developed by Thomas Abel and his ISPM colleagues (HLAT-8) has been translated into Chinese (c-HLAT-8).

The ISPM is moving

After elaborate preparations the ISPM is finally moving to the newly renovated University building located at Mittelstrasse 43.

Workshop: Natural background radiation and cancer risks in children

This scientific workshop will bring together researchers in the field and interested parties from around the world to discuss how epidemiological studies of exposure to background radiation and risk of childhood cancer can improve our understanding of the effects of low-dose ionising radiation.

News from the teaching office

Thomas Abel has been selected as «Teacher of 2017» in the three University MPH program and an ISPM digital learning project has been selected for development.

New ΙSPM research project funded by SNF

What works best? SNF funds the Research Synthesis Methods Group to develop advanced methods for ranking medical treatments (RaT)