Congress Ambassadors from Basel

The Basel Convention Bureau launched an ambassador programme in summer 2024.

The ambassador program aims to connect science and industry more closely. The objective is to promote dialogue between the various stakeholder groups, to expand their networks, and to establish Basel as a leading conference city in the long term.

To achieve this goal, we rely on the support of our congress ambassadors to motivate more decision-makers in national and international associations and institutions to hold their industry conferences and meetings in Basel in the future.

Our Congress Ambassadors from Basel

On 21 August 2024, 12 internationally recognized scientists were appointed as official ambassadors of the city during a gala event in the presence of Government Councillor Kaspar Sutter. Since then, they have been actively engaged in reinforcing Basel as a congress destination.

Media release (only in German):

Ambassadors

Professor Andreas Buser MD

Head Physician, Blood Donation Centre beider Basel, University Hospital Basel 

Congress: Annual Conference of the German Society for Transfusion Medicine and Immunohaematology DGTI, 2015 and 29th Regional Congress of the ISBT, 2019
Position: Congress Chair

Professor Mirjam Christ-Crain

Head Physician, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, University Hospital Basel

Congress: European Congress of Endocrinology (ECE) 2027
Position: Congress Chair

Professor Stefan Dirnhofer

Deputy Head Physician, Pathology, University Hospital Basel

Congress: Meeting of the European Association of Haematopathology (EAHP) 2016
Position: Chair of the local organizing committee

Professor Raphael Guzman

Head Physician and Clinic Manager of Pediatric Neurosurgery, University Hospital Basel

Congress: European Congress of Neurosurgery (EANS) 2027
Position: Congress Chair

Professor Christoph Hatz

Former Head of the Tropical and Travel Medicine Centre of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel, Swiss TPH

Congress: European Congress on Tropical Medicine and International Health (ECTMIH) 2015 and 18th Conference of the International Society of Travel Medicine (CISTM18), 2023
Position: Chair of the Scientific Committee ECTMIH 2015 and CISTM18 Organizing Committee Chair

Professor Alexander Navarini

Head Physician, Dermatology, University Hospital Basel

Congress: In candidate for the Spring Symposium of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) 2031
Position: Congress Chair

Professor Ralph Peterli MD

Senior Consultant Visceral Surgery, Department of Clinical Research, University Hospital Basel, Spital Männedorf & ViszeraMed Zürich

Professor Katrin Scheinemann

Director of the Centre for Oncology/Haematology, Eastern Switzerland Children’s Hospital Foundation 

Congress: PanCare annual meeting 2019, HIT network meeting 2019
Position: Congress Chair

Professor Erik Schkommodau

Head of the Institute for Medical Engineering and Medical Informatics, University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW)

Congress: Joint Conference of the Swiss, Austrian and German Societies for Biomedical Engineering
Position: Conference Co-Chair

Professor Katherina Timper MD

Research Group Leader "Obesity Research", Department Biomedicine Basel, University Hospital Basel & University of Basel

Professor Emeritus Martin Wilks

Professor Emeritus for Toxicology, Dept. Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Basel

Congress: Congress of the European Association of Poisons Centres and Clinical Toxicologists 2029 
Position: Member of the organising committee

Prof. Dr. mult. Florian M. Thieringer, MHBA 

Chair & Full Professor | Oral and Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery, University Hospital Basel 

Congress:
 Annual Conference of the Swiss Society for Oral and Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery, 2019 Position: Congress Chair 

Prof. Dr. med. Marios Psychogios 

Head of diagnostic and interventional Neuroradiology, University Hospital Basel  

Prof. Felix Mahfoud, M.A. 

Head Physician and Clinic Director of Cardiology, University Heart Center Basel

Position:
 Councilor und Chaiman Communication Committee, European Society of Cardiology 

Prof. Dr. med. Heide Elke Viehweger 

Deputy Chief Physician Orthopaedics, Clinical Professor Neuroorthopaedics, Head of Neuroorthopaedics and Centre for Clinical Motion Analysis, University Children's Hospital Basel (UKBB), and Scientific Lead CADENCE Core Facility, Departement of Biomedical Engineering, University of Basel

Congress: ESMAC Annual Meeting – European Society for Movement Analysis in Adults and Children, Basel 2025
Position: Local Organizing Committee Chair  

Prof. Dr. Georg Rauter 

Associate Professor of Surgical Robotics, Head of Bio-Inspired RObots for MEDicine Laboratory (BIROMED-Lab), Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Basel

Congress: Swiss Robotics Day, Basel 2024
Position: Co-organizer  

Dr. Yves Auberson 

Novartis Pharma AG, Lyxira Consulting LLC, President-Elect, Swiss Chemical Society (as of 01.01.2027)

Congress: EFMC International Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry 2026 & EFMC International Symposium on Chemical Biology 2025
Position: Symposium Chairman & International Organising Committee  

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