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)

  • Dr. iur. Jürg Müller of EKNZ (vice-president)

  • Prof. Dr. C. Samer of the EC Geneva (vice-president)

  • Prof. Dr. O. Huber 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. Christian Seiler of the EC Bern

  • Dr. Giovan Maria Zanini of the EC Ticino

Committee

  • Dr. Susanne Driessen of EKOS

  • Dr. iur. Jürg Müller of EKNZ

  • MSc. Nienke Jones of EKNZ

  • Prof. Dr. C. Samer of the EC Geneva

  • MA Soc. Arthur Zinn-Poget of the EC Vaud

  • Pharm. Annette Magnin of the EC Zürich

  • Dr. Beatrice Giberti Gai of the EC Ticino

  • Dr. Mario Amacker of the EC Bern

  • Dr. Pietro Gervasoni, swissethics

Chair

Dr. med. Susanne Driessen

Susanne Driessen has been 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.

General Secretariat

Dr. Pietro Gervasoni

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'.

Documents