Guitelle Baghdadi has over 15 years experience in public health and development work, particularly in international pharmaceutical policies and practices aimed at increasing access to good quality essential medicines. She has collaborated and provided country support to over 40 Ministries of Health, NGOs and development partners.
Holding a Masters degree and a Doctorate (with high honours) in Pharmacy from the University of Grenoble as well as a Masters in Public Health (with honours) from the Université Libre de Bruxelles she started her carrier in 1991 in Romania working with Pharmaciens Sans Frontières where she trained warehouse personnel on the use of a computer management system aimed at improving access to medicines.
From 1994 to 1996, Guitelle Baghdadi represented the work of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the United Nations. Then she moved to Haiti and in her new capacity provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Health in developing and implementing their national pharmaceutical policy.
In 1997, she transferred to WHO headquarters in the Iraq humanitarian Programme under Resolution 986 (“oil for food”), before joining the Department of Medicines Policy in 1998 where she was the regional focal point for subsequently French-speaking countries in the Africa, South East Asia and later Middle East.
In August 2000, Guitelle Baghdadi became Programme Manager in the Department of Medicines Policy developing and monitoring the implementation of WHO Medicines Strategy, managing the programme work and preparing policy and technical documents.
In November 2004, she initiated and developed a project aimed at promoting good governance and curbing corruption in the public pharmaceutical sector. This project is being developed with a bottom-up approach, involving country officials in the development of an ethical framework for good governance in the pharmaceutical sector.
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Dr Bale is Director-General of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, IFPMA. Previously he was Senior Vice President for International Affairs with the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Prior to that he was International Manager at Hewlett-Packard. He also served 12 years in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative where he served as a senior member of the U.S. negotiating team in Geneva engaged in GATT Multilateral Trade Negotiations and as lead on the improvement of the protection of intellectual property abroad. He was senior U.S. delegate in 1986 to the Punta del Este Ministerial meeting that launched the Uruguay Round of Trade Negotiations under GATT. In 1980 he was on special White House assignment to the Middle East negotiations. In 1986 he received the Distinguished Service Award from the President of the United States Ronald Reagan. In 1996-1997 he taught a post-graduate course on intellectual property and technology strategy at Georgetown University. Dr Bale has a B.A. (Temple University) and Ph.D. (University of Maryland) in Economics and has published on trade policy, intellectual property, investment and pharmaceutical industry issues.

Thierry Carrel was born in Fribourg, Switzerland in 1960. He studied human medicine at the Universities of Fribourg and Berne and graduated in 1984. He received the MD in 1985. Between 1984 and 1989, he trained as a general surgeon in Basel and Berne and obtained the Swiss Medical Board in General Surgery in 1990. Subsequently he underwent training in Cardiovascular Surgery at the University Hospital in Zürich and received the Swiss Board in this speciality in 1994. After post-graduate periods in Hannover, Paris, Helsinki and Baltimore, he returned to Switzerland and was appointed in 1999 as Full Professor at the University of Berne and Chairman of the Clinic for Cardiovascular Surgery at the University Hospital. Between 1999 and 2005, he refused several nominations at Swiss and foreign medical universities. Since July 2006, he is leading ad interim the Clinic for Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Basel with the aim to build up a common academic center for cardiovascular surgery of the Universities of Berne and Basel, starting in October 2007.
Thierry Carrel is author of more than 360 peer-reviewed publications, is member of the Editorial Board of several international journals and member of 25 scientific societies, mainly in the field of Cardiovascular Medicine and Surgery. The clinical and experimental research group of his institution has received several grants from the Swiss National Foundation for Scientific Research and from other sponsors. Since begin of his training 1989, he has performed more than 6000 cardiac operations. Since 2001, he is leading a cooperation project to build up a modern cardiac center for the Ural region in Perm. Together with a team of the University Hospital of Berne, he’s regularly visiting his Russian colleagues and provide them with material and scientific literature. Most recently he received a major financial grant from a private foundation to install a performant intensive care unit at the Perm Cardiac Institute.
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Yves Champey is a physician with over 40 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He started as Medical and Scientific Director. He has worked with Miles, Pfizer and Rhone Poulenc Santé, and was Senior Vice President, International Drug Development, Rhone Poulenc, from 1995 to 1997. Yves is founder of ITEEC and a consultant providing counselling in drug research and development in human pharmaceutical and health biotechnology industries. He is Advisor to the Director General, Evry Genopole: a French national project for the development of biotechnology activities, and CEO of Genopole 1er Jour a private seeding fund built at the Genopole d’Evry. In addition, Yves is a former member of Rhône-Poulenc Pharma R & D Board of Directors; has been General Secretary and later President, French Association of Pharmaceutical Physicians; Founder and President of the Rhône-Poulenc Rorer Foundation; and member, Inter-Ministerial Mission on Public Research and Drug Innovation Research: a mission set up by the French Ministry of Research and the Ministry of Economy and Finance. He is one of the very early proponents of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and has coordinated its creation.
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Carlo Conti, born in Croglio (Ticino), Switzerland, in 1954 is currently Governor of the State Basel-City and Head of the Health Department of Basel-City in Switzerland. He left the University of Basel in 1978 with a degree in law and received his Doctorate in laws in 1985, also from the University of Basel in Switzerland. He started his career as an attorney at law in 1982 and subsequently worked in leading positions for the Legal and Public Affairs Department of F.Hoffmann-La Roche AG in Basel, Switzerland from 1985 until 2000. Between 1983 and 2000, Carlo Conti was a Member of Parliament of the State Basel-City. Since 2000 he has been holding different mandates: he is Member of the Board of Directors of the University of Basel and of the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal Ministers of Public Health, respectively. Furthermore, he is Vice-President of the Institute Council of Swissmedic (Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products) since 2000 and President of the Association SwissDRG since 2004.

Petra Dörr, born in 1966, has been Head of International Affairs (since 2004) and deputy Head of Communications (since 2005) at the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products Swissmedic. She received her approbation as a pharmacist in 1990 and was awarded her PhD at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Heidelberg in 1995. Petra Dörr started her career as Regulatory Affairs Consultant & Manager at Promedipharm GmbH in 1995 and in the same year moved on to Fresenius Medical Care (former Fresenius AG), where she worked as a Regulatory Affairs Manager until 1998. Then she changed to Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Inc (former ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) holding different positions in international regulatory affairs, finally functioning as Vice President for Regulatory Affairs in Europe, Africa and Asia.
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Member of the Swiss Government between 1993-2002 and President of the Swiss Confederation in 1999.
Originally from Endingen (canton of Argovie), Ruth Dreifuss was born on 9 January 1940 in Saint-Gall. Her family lived in Bern between 1942 and 1945, before moving to Geneva where she continued her education. She received a diploma in Business in 1958 and a degree in Economics with special focus on econometrics in 1970.
Ruth Dreifuss has had a varied professional career: she was employed as a hotel secretary in Tessin from 1958-59, was editor of the weekly journal Coopération (published by the Swiss Union of Cooperatives) in Basel from 1961 to 1964, and worked as an assistant at the Geneva University Psychosocial Centre from 1965 to 1968. After obtaining a degree in Economics, she became an assistant at the Geneva University Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences. From 1972 to 1981 she worked for the Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid for the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, and became Secretary of the Swiss Trade Union Federation in 1981. In that capacity, she was responsible for sectors including social insurance, labour law, women’s issues and relations with the International Labour Organization (ILO); she has been a member of various federal commissions.
She became a member of the Swiss Socialist Party in 1964 and was a member of the Bern legislative council from 1989 to 1992.
Ruth Dreifuss was elected Federal Councillor (i.e. Member of the Swiss government) on 10 March 1993 by the Federal Assembly (Parliament), and was re-elected twice. From 1 April 1993 until her resignation on 31 December 2002, she was head of the Federal Department of the Interior, the ministry responsible for public health, social insurance, scientific research, gender equality and culture and environment until 1997. In that capacity she has represented Switzerland at several international conferences.
In 1998, Ruth Dreifuss was the vice president of the Federal Council and in 1999, she became the first woman president of the Swiss Confederation.

Since 2005, Peter Fischer has been CEO of Visana, one of Switzerland’s leading health insurers. After studying jurisprudence and gaining his licentiate in law he became a scientific assistant at the general secretariat of the Swiss Christian Democratic Party (CVP). Thereafter he entered the health insurance field where he held various positions, among them deputy CEO of the Swiss health insurer Helsana from 1997 to 2005. Peter Fischer is an initiator and implementer of innovative ideas on behalf of those insured in the Swiss public health system and he also has a seat on a variety of committees. He has an International Executive MBA.
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Silvio Gabriel is Executive Vice President and General Manager of Malaria Initiatives at Novartis. In this role, Mr Gabriel has direct responsibility for managing the Novartis initiative on malaria. Mr Gabriel’s responsibilities encompass all aspects of the antimalarial drug Coartem, from production and supply to marketing, life cycle management and alliance management with external stakeholders such as WHO and Global Fund to ensure supply of this lifesaving drug to millions of patients. Silvio C. Gabriel assumed his current role in 2005 from his previous position as Head Novartis Pharma Region Europe which included Africa and the Middle East. In that position, which Mr Gabriel assumed in 2000, he supervised the operations of affiliates in 28 countries, with over 10,000 employees. For 2004, his teams in Region Europe achieved sales of USD 6 billion making Novartis No. 4 within the ranking of pharmaceutical companies in Europe. He joined the company in 1983 and started his career with functions in Controlling, Market Research and Strategic Planning at the headquarters in Switzerland and the Pharma Division in Brazil. From 1988 to 1991, he held the position of CEO of the Pharma Division in Portugal. After two years as assistant to the worldwide head of the Pharma Sector, he functioned as CEO of the Pharma Organisation in Germany from 1994 to 2000. During his eleven years as Country CEO, he continually improved market share and profitability of Novartis Pharma in Portugal and Germany, being selected for the Novartis Excellence Award in 1997 and 1999. From 2000 to April 2004, he served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the country organisation in Germany. After completing his studies in economics with honors at the University of Zurich in 1979, he was active in the areas of Finance, Controlling and Strategic Planning at Rieter AG, a textile machinery firm in Switzerland and the US.
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Prof Lukas Handschin is Attorney-at-law with the Zurich and Basel based law firm Schumacher Baur Hürlimann, Member of the Board, Basel Institute on Governance, and Professor for private law at the University of Basel. Prior to holding these positions, he was research associate to Prof Karl Spiro (University of Basel School of Law) and clerked at the district court of Zofingen. His preferred fields of practice and research include Ccmmercial and corporate law, banking law, competition law, reconstruction law, labour law, contract and tort law, real estate law (acquisitions by non-Swiss nationals), arbitration, procurement law, and private construction law. He is also a member of the advisory body of the Swiss Society for Sports Law since 1996.

Luciano Jannelli is Co-Head of Investment Research Julius Baer Private Banking. In this capacity he is responsible for the selection of equity and fixed income instruments, as well third-party mutual investment funds. He previously worked for UBS and held various senior research positions within SBC Wealth Management, which was sold by UBS to the Julius Baer Group in 2005. Dr. Jannelli holds a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University and is a CFA charterholder.

Dr Karim Laouabdia-Sellami is the Director of the Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF) Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines. Dr Laouabdia was born in Annaba, Algeria, in 1950, and is a French citizen. He studied medicine at the University of Lyon (UER Lyon Sud-Ouest), France, where he specialised in anaesthetics. In addition, Dr Laouabdia has a Master’s Degree in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA. After working as an anaesthetist in different hospitals in France in the 1980s, he joined MSF in 1985 to work in Africa as a general practitioner in Sudan and Mali. He also worked as Head of Mission in Uganda, where he set up MSF’s first sleeping sickness clinic in 1986, and in Thailand. Dr Laouabdia returned to France in 1991 and worked at the MSF France Paris headquarters as desk officer, vice-director of the medical department, and finally as General Director of MSF France (1998-2004). He was appointed Director of the Access Campaign in May 2004 and is now based in Geneva, Switzerland.
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Klaus M. Leisinger studied economics and social sciences at the University of Basel, Switzerland, earned his doctorate in Development Sociology, and habilitated in Sociology on “Health Policy for Least Developed Countries”. He continues to pursue his academic and practical field work on wide range of development-related topics, among them foreign aid and international development, good governance, health policy in least developed countries, business ethics and corporate responsibility.
The historic Foundation and its successor, the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development, have been and continue today to be unique in the private sector. Klaus Leisinger has been its Chief Executive Officer and Delegate to the Board of Trustees; since July 2002 he also serves as President of the Board of Trustees of the foundation. The Foundation has consultative status with the Social and Economic Council of the United Nations.
In addition to his position at Novartis, Klaus Leisinger is Professor of Sociology at the University of Basel. His teachings include foreign aid and international development, business ethics and globalization, Corporate Social Responsibility of pharmaceutical corporations, and human rights and business. Klaus Leisinger serves as invited lecturer or guest professor at several Swiss and German universities, as well as at the University of Notre Dame, the MIT Sloan School of Management (Cambridge), and at Harvard University. He is member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. He was awarded a honorary doctorate in Theology by the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) in November 2004.
Klaus Leisinger has held advisory positions in a number of national and international organizations. In September 2005, Kofi Annan appointed Klaus Leisinger Special Advisor of the United Nations Secretary General for the UN Global Compact.
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Nicolaus Lorenz, MD, MSc, has more than 20 years of experience in international health cooperation. He is a graduate of the medical faculty of Basel University and he holds a postgraduate degree of London University in public health. After four years of hospital training in surgery and obstetrics he worked for eight years at various levels of the health care system in Burkina Faso/West Africa. In 1990 he joined the Swiss Tropical Institute, where he contributed to the building up of a project implementation and advisory service. Today, he directs the Swiss Centre for International Health (SCIH) of the Swiss Tropical Institute, which has become over the past ten years a leading non-profit-oriented consulting agency. The client portfolio of the SCIH comprises numerous governmental and non-governmental and international agencies, reaching from the Swiss Government to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and Malaria and the World Health Organization.
Nicolaus Lorenz has been also the President of Medicus Mundi Switzerland – Network Health for all, which brings together almost all swiss organizations which are working in the field of international health. Medicus Mundi Switzerland promotes the sharing of knowledge and know-how among its members and partners.
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Anne Lugon-Moulin has a BA and an MA in Economics and Economic Development. She has worked for the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (seco) on Swiss regulation system before joining the NGO Transparency International to establish the Swiss chapter of Transparency International. She then became employed of the UN World Food Programme in Rwanda for two and a half years. After this field experience, she joined the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) first as an advisor in the Governance Division, with a special focus on anti-corruption, and then as Deputy Head of that Division. She has published some articles on corruption and drafted the new SDC anti-corruption strategy.
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Dr Pascoal Mocumbi is the High Representative of the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) since March 2004. His mandate is to raise the visibility of the EDCTP and gaining political support, particular within Africa, and to contribute to the EDCTP’s fundraising activities. The Partnership aims to contribute towards reducing the burden of the main poverty-related diseases and transferring empowerment to the developing world. Its goal is to accelerate the development of new or improved clinical interventions against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and build leadership in health research in developing countries, so that they will be able to diagnose and respond to their own needs. Dr Mocumbi is also WHO Good Will Ambassador for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health for the African Region. He also has active role in global health initiatives serving on the Coordinating Committee of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, contributes to the establishment of global coordinating mechanisms for the development of a preventive vaccine against HIV. He serves as Commissioner in the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH), and on the boards of the Alliance of Health policy and Systems Research (AHPSR), the International Advisory Board (IAB) of Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP), the International Women Health Coalition (IWHC), and the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) and African Medical Research Foundation (AMREF). In 2005 he was elected to membership of the Institute of Medicine (IOM). Dr Mocumbi was Prime Minister of the Republic of Mozambique from 1994 to 2004. Prior to that, he headed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during eight years and the Ministry of Health for 6 years. He received his medical degree from the University of Lausanne, did his internship in Switzerland, and practiced medicine as obstetrician & gynaecologist in hospitals throughout Mozambique. As Prime Minister he led the establishment of Mozambique the National AIDS Council to coordinate the implementation of the national HIV response. Dr Mocumbi served (1989-1998) in the World Health Organization’s Task Force on Health and Development. Dr. Mocumbi is committed to the importance of public health as an essential arm for sustainable development. Dr Mocumbi has expertise in health systems and women’s health issues. As Mozambique Heath Minister established the MCH nurses career and initiated the training of non-physicians health professionals for delivering lifesaving emergency obstetric care necessary to reduce maternal mortality. As Prime Minister, he contributed to the substantial progress in fighting poverty and improving human development, and to the transformation of a war-torn Mozambique into one of the well-governed and fastest growing economies of Africa.
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Born in Beckenham, England in 1947, Christopher Murray was awarded a Higher National Diploma in Business Studies from Bournemouth College of Technology in 1967. Opting for a career in the Far East, he worked for American Optical Corporation and Dynatech Corporation in Hong Kong and Singapore, before joining Roche in Hong Kong in 1976. Subsequently, he has held a range of management positions in the Pharmaceutical Division of Roche in Hong Kong and Indonesia, the Middle East and in Roche's headquarters in Basel, Switzerland.
Throughout his 30 year career with Roche he has been involved in issues and problems relating to healthcare delivery in developing countries in Asia and Africa. He has been involved in a number of programs to increase the availability of anti-malarials, and treatment for HIV/AIDS.
As the responsible person for the Divisions' activities in Africa he is directly involved in the fight against AIDS. He is the Roche principal to the Accelerating Access Initiative, the collaboration between 5 United Nations organizations and 7 research-based pharmaceutical companies to increase access to anti-retrovirals in countries most affected by HIV/AIDS. He is the Pharma Division delegate to the Roche Corporate Sustainability Committee. He has twice represented the industry as President of the research-based pharmaceutical association - the Hong Kong Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry (1982) and the International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Indonesia (1989).

Fernando Pascual is the HIV/AIDS Focal Pharmacist with Médecins Sans Frontières’ Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines since 2003. Prior to working for the Campaign office, he worked in a malaria project in Burma for MSF, and as the field pharmacist for one of MSF’s largest HIV/AIDS projects, which is in Homa Bay, Kenya. Before joining MSF, he worked in research and development for a pharmaceutical company. Fernando Pascual obtained his Pharmacy Degree from the University of Salamanca and a Biochemistry Degree from the University Computense of Madrid. He also earned a Master’s in Tropical Diseases at the University of Valencia.
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Anne Peters is Professor of Public International Law at the University of Basel, a position she has held since 2001. Prior to taking up this post she was Assistant Professor at the Walther-Schücking-Institute of Public International Law at the Christian Albrechts University Kiel. Originally from Berlin, Anne Peters studied Modern Greek and Spanish as well as law at the universities of Würzburg, Lausanne, and Freiburg in Breisgau. She was awarded the prize from the Scientific Society at Freibrug im Breisgau for her dissertation, and scholarships from the DAAD of the Harvard Law School and the German Research Community for her studies in the USA. Anne Peters has also held teaching and research posts at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg and the Max-Planck-Institute of foreign and international criminal law in Freiburg.

Mark Pieth is Professor of Criminal Law and Criminology at the University of Basel, Switzerland, since 1993. From 1989 to 1993 he was Head of Section on Economic and Organised Crime in the Swiss Federal Office of Justice (Ministry of Justice and Police). Since 1990 Prof. Pieth has been chairing the OECD Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions. He was recently appointed a Member of the Independent Inquiry Committee into the Iraq Oil-for-Food Programme by the UN Secretary General. He has also assumed various presidencies and memberships of national commissions in Switzerland. He has been a consultant to corporations, international organisations and foreign governments on issues related to governance and has participated in the Wolfsberg AML Banking Initiative as a facilitator.

Anton K. Schnyder is Professor of Law at the University of Zurich, where he completed his law studies and doctorate degree. Anton Schnyder was awarded the Professor-Walther-Hug-Prize for his doctoral thesis, after which he pursued his studies on a Fulbright scholarship at the University of California in Berkeley (USA), where he was awarded his LL.M. From 1984 to 1987 he undertook research work at the Max-Planck-Institute for Foreign and Private International Law in Hamburg, Germany. Between 1987 and 1993 he was corporate legal adviser to the general secretariat of the Zurich insurance group, as from January 1, 1992 in the capacity of member of the management. He also acts as President of the Federal Appeal commission supervising private insurance. He was Professor of Private Law at the Faculty of Law at Basel University from 1993-2003.

Konji Sebati, currently Ambassador of South Africa in Bern, Switzerland, was born in Johannesburg, Soweto in 1951. She received the Bachelor of Science (Physiology and Zoology) in 1974 from the University of the North South Africa and the Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBChB) in 1981 from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. She was awarded a Diploma in Child Health (DCH) in 1985 at the College of Medicine of South Africa as well as a Diploma in Health Services Management at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa in 1990.
Konji Sebati started as Medical Officer at Kenyatta Hospital in Nairobi Kenya (1981-1983) and at Bophelong Hospital, Mafikeng, South Africa (Paediatrics, 1983-1987), and was appointed Regional Director for Health at the Primary Healthcare Clinics in the ODI District Pretoria in 1987. From 1990 until 1993 she worked as Hospital Superintendent in the ODI Hospital (Pretoria), followed by a year as Medical Advisor at Roche Pharmaceuticals.
From 1994 until 2005 Konji Sebati worked for Pfizer Inc: first, as Medical Affairs, Corporate Affairs and Employee Resources Director in Africa until 2000; then at the New York Headquarters as Public Affairs Director for Africa & Middle East, India, Pakistan, Israel and Turkey. In 2001 she was appointed Medical Director of International Philanthropy and Corporate Affairs and became Teamleader for Diflucan Partnership. Furthermore, she was responsible for the Pfizer HIV/AIDS donation programme. In 1998 and 1999 Konji Sebati attended courses in General and Financial Management at the Business Schools of Columbia and Witwatersrand University, respectively.
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Sacha P. Sidjanski obtained his Ph.D. in 1997 at the Department of Medical and Molecular Parasitology of New York University Medical School in the group of Profs R.S. Nussenzweig and J. Vanderberg. He had previously been an Assistant in the Swiss Tropical Institute. After a year's post-Doctoral work at New York and the Pasteur Institute in Paris, he joined the World Health Organization at the end of 1999 as a 'scientific officer' where he worked on, among other things, strategies for encouraging communication between research workers. He coordinated the World Health Organization's Collaborating Centres Network and managed the network of experts. In 2005 he worked at the Global Fund against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Since May 2006 he has collaborated with the Esperanza Medicines Foundation, where he is the Head of Funder Relations. In addition, he is working at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), School of Life Sciences as an External Relation Manager.
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Marcel Tanner has been Professor and Chair of Epidemiology and Medical Parasitology at the University of Basel since 1993 and Honorary Professor of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Queensland, Brisbane (Australia) since 1996. He is currently the Director of the Swiss Tropical Institute (STI).
Marcel Tanner received his BSc and MSc CHDC (MPH) in biology, chemistry and medical microbiology/immunology from the University of Basel and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in 1977 and 1987, respectively, and his PhD in medical parasitology on the in vitro cultivation of trypanosomes from the University of Basel in 1980. He was assistant scientist and held a post-doctoral position studying immune mechanisms against the infective stage larvae of filariae at the STI. Fieldwork started in 1979 in Cameroon and Liberia on onchcerciasis and schistosomiasis. From 1981 to 1984, as Head of the Swiss Tropical Institute Field Laboratory in Ifakara (Tanzania), Marcel Tanner carried out epidemiological research projects on malaria and schistosomiasis and community-based studies on the interactions between infection-nutrition-immunity. There, he also implemented a primary health care programme at district level. These programmes entailed further research, service and training components. From 1988-1995, as Head of the Department of Public Health & Epidemiology at STI, research followed in the field of the control of communicable diseases, mainly malaria and schistosomiasis, based on extended fieldwork in Africa and Asia. Marcel Tanner has been responsible for the health planning emphasising urbanisation, health service utilisation and decentralisation in health planning and resources allocation, on urban environment and health in Africa (Tanzania, Chad, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Mauritania) and Asia (China, India). Furthermore he assisted/consulted health development projects at district level in rural and urban areas of Africa (Tanzania, Chad, Cameroon) and Asia (India, Thailand) – mainly on behalf of the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation. He has taught at universities in Europe, USA, Africa, Australia and Asia in the field of epidemiology and public health and advised on international health issues for governments and international organisations (WHO, World Bank).
He was appointed Member of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences in 2003 and Honorary Member of the Swiss Academy of Science in 2005. So far, Marcel Tanner has published over 330 papers in peer-reviewed journals, 19 book chapters, more than 300 short communications and abstracts as well as numerous evaluation reports and studies for governments and international agencies. He is the co-editor of two books on urban health and urbanisation.

Anne Thérèse Witschi has got a sound experience in clinical internal medicine, microbiology and infectious diseases, in infectious disease epidemiology and epidemiological research as well as in laboratory work, research and diagnostics.
As a specialist in Internal Medicine (FMH) and with a Master’s degree in infection control from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in London, she is currently the Head of the public health unit (Kantonsärztin) at the Health Department of Basel-Stadt, Switzerland. There she is responsible for the infection control (outbreak investigation, establishment of contingency plans and guidelines for the prevention of infectious diseases, surveillance) and the maintainance of the best medical practice in the private medical practices of Basel-Stadt. She also monitors the drug substitution programs within Basel and is responsible for the medical management in case of a catastrophy in Basel-Stadt. Her team moreover provides care to the prisoners of Basel.
Anne Thérèse Witschi holds an expert advisory function in several Swiss national committees and supervisory work groups which deal with the preparedness for an influenza pandemic and the (AG Influenza) prevention of HIV/Aids ― including a committee with special focus on the prevention in sexworkers. Since 2003 she is also the Head of the unit on epidemics of the Swiss Economic Department (Leiterin Abteilung “Pandemien/Seuchen” des Bereichs Heilmittel im Bundesamt für wirtschaftliche Landesversorgung des Volkswirtschaftsdepartements) where the definition of measures to be taken in the case of an epidemic are formed and the organisation of the drug distribution in case of an influenza pandemic is coordinated.
Besides team and project management, contract negotiations and media communication Anne Thérèse Witschi gives political advice to the government of Basel-Stadt. In 1991 she started her career as a clinical and research fellow (Assistenzärztin) at the Institute of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Bern, Switzerland doing laboratory research in the field of clinical hepatology. From 1993 until 1995 she was a clinical fellow at the Department of Internal Medicine at the Zieglerspital, Bern, Switzerland. Then she changed as a clinical fellow to the Department of Internal Medicine at the University Hospital of Bern, Switzerland and as a research fellow (Assistenzärztin) to the Institute of Public Health at the University of Bern, Switzerland. From 1997 until 1999 she worked at the Institute of Medical Microbiology, University of Basel, Switzerland where she supervised the laboratory technicians, validated the results of the diagnostic laboratory, gave advice to clinicians and developed a quality management system.
Afterwards she worked for the outpatient clinic for internal medicine at the University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland, and after that she did her Master’s degree at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical medicine in London. Before becoming a senior fellow (Oberärztin) at the Department of Hospital Epidemiology at the University of Basel, Switzerland in 2001 dealing with outbreak investigation, prevention of infectious diseases and being engaged in epidemiological research and teaching she engaged in a two-month mission as a clinical doctor in the Kosovo with Swisscoy. Since October 2003 she is the Head of the public health unit (Kantonsärztin) at the Health Department of Basel-Stadt, Switzerland. Since 1996 there is a monthly collaboration to the Swiss journal Infomed-Screen, edited by info-med, Dr. med. E. Gysling, Wil, Switzerland.