About swissethics
The Swiss Ethics Committees on research involving humans have formed an association (swissethics). The members of the association are the recognised cantonal ethics committees of Switzerland.
The goal of the association is to coordinate the work of the cantonal Ethics Committees in order to assure the consistent application of the federal regulations regarding research involving humans, and to maintain the exchange of information.
swissethics is mandated by the Coordination office for research involving humans (kofam) and the Conference of cantonal ministers of public health (GDK) for:
the coordination and standardisation of working processes
education and training of the members of the ethics committees
Organisation
General assembly
Executive board
Dr. Susanne Driessen of EKOS (president)
Prof. Dr. Pierre-Yves Martin of the EC Geneva
Prof. Dr. iur. Dominique Sprumont of the EC Vaud
Prof. Dr. David Nadal of the EC Zürich
Prof. Dr. Christoph Beglinger of EKNZ
Prof. Dr. Martin Fey of the EC Bern
Dr. Giovan Maria Zanini of the EC Ticino
Committee
Dipl.Biol. Thomas Schulz of EKOS
MLaw Regula Steiner of the EC Bern
MSc. Nienke Jones of EKNZ
Prof. Dr. Caroline Samer of the EC Geneva
MA Soc. Arthur Zinn-Poget of the EC Vaud
Pharm. Annette Magnin of the EC Zürich
Dr. Michaela Gutacker of the EC Ticino
Dr. Mario Amacker of the EC Bern
Dr. Pietro Gervasoni, swissethics
Chair
Susanne Driessen is President of the Ethics Committee EKOS since 2014 and President of swissethics since 2015. She has been active in the field of research ethics in Switzerland since 2010 and passed her specialist examination in pharmaceutical medicine in 2013. Previously, she worked as a physician in internal medicine (haematology/oncology in Freiburg i. Br., Germany) and in leukaemia research (Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA) and transplantation immunology (Lübeck, Germany). Susanne Driessen earned her doctorate summa cum laude, she was a scholarship holder of the German National Academic Foundation and received in 1995 the prize of the German Society for Nephrology for her PhD. She is married and has four children.
Vice President
Beatrice Giberti Gai is Vice President of swissethics and a member of the Ethics Committee Ticino since March 2025. Previously, she headed the scientific secretariat of the Ethics Committee Ticino for 19 years. Her professional career took her to the pharmaceutical company IBSA SA, where she worked from 1990 to 2005, first as Medical Manager in the Marketing Department and later as Head of the Pharmacovigilance Department. From 1987 to 1989, she worked in clinical and scientific roles at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan. She studied medicine at the University of Innsbruck.
Regula Steiner is Vice President of swissethics since March 2025. She has been a member of the Cantonal Ethics Commission of the Canton of Bern since 2014 (Vice President since 2024).
She studied law at the Universities of Bern and Lund (Sweden) and was admitted to the bar in 2013. She began her professional career at the Oberland Regional Court and then spent six years as Head public procedural law at the Construction and Transport Directorate of the Canton of Bern. She has been working as an independent lawyer since 2021. Today, she is a partner at the law firm Monbijourecht.
General Secretariat
Pietro Gervasoni is Managing Director of swissethics since November 2015. Prior to that, he was General Manager and Director Clinical Operations at Quintiles (now IQVIA) for 8 years and held various roles and responsibilities in medical affairs and clinical research in the pharmaceutical industry, including Sanofi and Bristol Myers Squibb. Mr. Gervasoni has also worked for the ICRC as a delegate and head office in the Middle East (Iraq, Kashmir) and Africa (Rwanda, Ivory Coast). He studied at the ETH Zurich and received his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Zurich with the 'outstanding dissertation award'.