Academy
19.12.2024
Wishes for the New Year... Write to us!
Read more CloseThe gift list is as much a part of the Christmas tradition as the candlelight, the tree, the stockings and the candy canes. Making good resolutions is also closely linked to this time of the year. Inspired by these rituals, we are taking advantage of this last News of 2024 to ask you what you would like to see happen at the SAMS.
We will not be able to implement your suggestions overnight, but with an eye to our 2029–2032 multi-year plan, which we will prepare next year, we are interested in gathering a wide range of views. To find out how to take part and which thank-you gift we'll be offering, please read our Newsletter linked below. We look forward to hearing from you and wish you a peaceful end to the year and a happy 2025.
Further information
Ethics
17.12.2024
Advance care planning for emergencies: aiming for a standardized form
Read more CloseMedical emergencies require immediate action. At the same time, these must take into account the patient's wishes. To ensure this, various forms exist. A working group has analyzed existing documents and defined a first set of principles for a standardized form throughout Switzerland.
Advance care planning (ACP) can also be considered for acute emergencies. In contrast to an advance directive or a treatment plan, the form solely deals with situations that require an immediate decision about the use of medical measures. The SAMS has entrusted Professor Regina Aebi-Müller to clarify the legal significance of «medical orders for life-sustaining treatment». In her expert opinion, she states that the ACP form for emergency situations must be taken into account during treatment.
Legal opinion, French Version (PDF)
Funding
12.12.2024
Young Talents in Clinical Research: 15 grants awarded
Read more CloseWith the Young Talents in Clinical Research program, the Gottfried and Julia Bangerter-Rhyner Foundation and the SAMS encourage young medical doctors to start out in clinical research. At the end of the 2024 call for applications, 15 talented clinicians are supported with a total amount of CHF 959’702.
The YTCR program comprises two instruments: «beginner grants» provide protected time for research, while «project grants» finance a consecutive research project to broaden and consolidate the expertise acquired during the «beginner grant». This year, 14 «beginner grants» and one «project grant» were awarded. The next call for applications will be launched in spring 2025, with a submission deadline on 30 June 2025. For more information about the program and the list of grantees, please visit our website.
Flyer «Young Talents in Clinical Research» (PDF)
Funding
05.12.2024
KZS Fund: 3 Seed Grants for junior researchers in biomedical ethics
Read more CloseThe 2024 call from the Käthe Zingg-Schwichtenberg (KZS) Fund was thematically open and intended for junior researchers in biomedical ethics. 3 Seed Grants with a total amount of CHF 219’658 will allow grantees to explore an innovative research idea, to realize a small, independent pilot project and/or to prepare their own project proposal to be submitted to a larger funding agency.
The objective of the call was to support junior researchers in obtaining independent research experience, facilitating the transition to the next step of their academic career. Before the next call for proposals is launched, the SAMS will conduct a survey among previous recipients of the KZS Fund in order to evaluate the added value of the instrument. Results will be communicated via newsletter and on our website.
Synopsis of grantees (PDF)
Publications
26.11.2024
Not giving up on federalism, but rethinking it
Read more CloseShould health be anchored in the Swiss Constitution? Luca Crivelli, Full Professor of Health Economics and Policy at SUPSI, explores this topic in the lead article of our latest Bulletin. He shows how federalism shapes the current healthcare system and discusses the possibility of redistributing responsibilities between the Confederation and the cantons.
In addition, interviews reveal how Prof. Henri Bounameaux has perceived his time as SAMS President and what hurdles this year's laureate of the Stern-Gattiker Prize has overcome. The expansion of the Swiss Personalised Health Network (SPHN), the President of the Central Ethics Committee’s impressions of the Symposium on medical-ethical guidelines, the presentation of the new Senate’s members and the Seed Grants from the KZS Fund complete Bulletin 4/2024.
SAMS Bulletin 4/2024, French version (PDF)
SPHN
21.11.2024
A new president for the Swiss Personalized Health Network from 2025
Read more CloseProf. Urs Frey, Basel, has chaired the Swiss Personalized Network (SPHN) since 2019. At its meeting in November, the SAMS Senate elected Prof. Matthias Baumgartner, Zurich, as his successor. From 2025, he will accompany SPHN with the Data Coordination Center (DCC) into the maintenance phase.
Matthias Baumgartner is Full Professor of Metabolic Diseases at the University of Zurich, Director of Research and Teaching at the University Children’s Hospital Zurich, and head of the Department of Metabolic Diseases. After Urs Frey, we are delighted to once again have an experienced physician and clinical researcher with a Swiss-wide network at the helm of SPHN. More information on the current and future SPHN President can be found in the newsletter published today.
Further information
Agenda
20.11.2024
CitSciHelvetia'25: Call for participation
Read more CloseCitizen Science Helvetia 2025 (CitSciHelvetia'25), the Swiss conference for citizen and participatory research will take place on June 5 and 6 2025 in Lausanne. The event is initiated by the Science et Cité Foundation and supported by the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences and the University of Lausanne (UNIL). CitSciHelvetia’25 will focus on «Citizen science in action. Collaborations between civil society and academia».
The partnership between civil society and academia has never been more relevant. The challenges facing our contemporary societies are multiple and complex: biodiversity loss, climate disruption, damaged social ties, health challenges, and more. They call for collective responses drawing on the wealth of scientific, professional and experiential knowledge. Contributions in the form of presentations, workshops or posters can be submitted until December 15, 2024. The call for participation including the six thematic areas can be found on the website.
Visit the website
Ethics
19.11.2024
Interview on Advance Care Planning: «What are the most important tools?»
Read more CloseEveryone wants their needs to be respected right up to their final hours. This means thinking about emergencies at an early stage, in other words, advance care planning (ACP). Prof. Miodrag Filipovic is a member of the SAMS board and president of the national working group on ACP. In an interview, he describes the objectives of the group and explains the value of ACP using concrete examples from his daily work as an intensive care physician.
A well-known instrument of ACP is the advance care directive. In an interview with the members' magazine of the association Exit, Miodrag Filipovic says: «Advance care directives provide answers and considerable help when decisions have to be made: Who is the proxy decision-maker? What made life worth living for the person who is now lacking capacity? What therapeutic goals can be derived from this? Which medical measures would be in their interest and which would not?» You can download the interview in German below. More information on advance care planning and the activities of the working group can be found on our website.
Download interview (PDF)