Patrick Aebischer

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Patrick Aebischer, March 2009

Patrick Aebischer (born November 22, 1954 in Freiburg im Üechtland ) is a Swiss neuroscientist . He was President of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) from March 2000 to the end of 2016 . During these years he was able to fundamentally realign the status of the university.

Patrick Aebischer is the son of the Freiburg artist Yoki , whose real name is Émile Aebischer (1922–2012). He studied medicine at the Universities of Geneva and Friborg in Üechtland and graduated in 1980; In 1983 he received his doctorate in Geneva .

From 1984 to 1992 he went to the United States , where he initially worked as a research assistant in the field of medical science at Brown University . In 1991 he became chairman of the working group “Artificial Organs, Biomaterials and Cellular Technology” in the department of biology and medicine. In autumn 1992 he went back to Switzerland and accepted a professorship and management of the Gene Therapy Center at the University Hospital in Lausanne .

In 1999, Aebischer was appointed President of the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne by the Swiss Federal Council . His start to work there was extremely turbulent: his ideas of redesigning the house based on American and competitive criteria met with blatant rejection from the professors, the students and the cooperating companies. They demanded Aebischer's resignation even before he really started. Only after two weeks could he assert himself; After sixteen years of work, he also convinced his former critics: During this time, the number of students has increased from 4,500 to over 10,000, that of doctoral students from 700 to almost 2,100 and that of postdocs from 100 to 825. At the same time, the Shanghai ranking improved from 104 (2004) to 70 (2015). Aebischer sees the American university model as a meritocratic system that promotes innovation. In 2017 he was replaced by Martin Vetterli (* 1957). During his tenure as president, he worked one morning a week as a professor at the EPFL's Brain Mind Institute.

Aebischer's numerous interests gave rise to criticism. Aebischer has been a member of the Board of Directors of Nestlé Health Science SA since it was founded (2011), which endowed two chairs at EPFL and set up its headquarters on the EPFL campus. In 2015, Aebischer had to resign from this board of directors after the supervisory body of EPFL, the ETH Board , no longer approved this commitment at its meeting on January 18.

In August 2018 he was appointed to the supervisory board of Jacobs University Bremen .

After his engagement in Lausanne, Aebischer wants to take part in a south polar expedition from Cape Town , which is being organized by the Swiss Polar Institute , an EPFL project.

Patrick Aebischer is married and has two children.

Web links

Commons : Patrick Aebischer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Daniel Saraga: «One should never make promises without thinking ». In: horizonte , No. 109, June 2016, pp. 29–31
  2. ↑ Freiburg artist Yoki died at the age of 91. In: Freiburger Nachrichten , November 14, 2012
  3. ↑ Federal Council elects Martin Vetterli as President of EPFL , February 24, 2016
  4. ^ "Odysseus vom Geneva" , WOZ Die weekly newspaper of April 26, 2012
  5. ^ New supervisory board at Jacobs University Bremen . In: Jacobs University - Inspiration is a Place . August 21, 2018 ( jacobs-university.de [accessed October 1, 2018]).
personal data
SURNAME Aebischer, Patrick
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss neuroscientist and university president
DATE OF BIRTH November 22, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Freiburg in Üechtland