On 1 June 2011, SAAN Switzerland successfully celebrated its official launch. In the stunningly beautiful hall of the Saffron Guild, 65 guests from academia, the indutstry and governments celebrated the Swiss-Australian ties in academia and provided for a promising start of SAAN in Switzerland.

The guests were welcomed to the evening by the SAAN General Manager, Christian Schneider and given an overview of SAAN's activities and achievements by the SAAN Executive member Dr Robert Medcalf. Prof Stephan Christen, the SAAN Coordinator in Switzerland then introduced the guests to his vision of SAAN Switzerland. Demonstrating the official Australia's support for SAAN, the Australian Deputy Ambassador to Switzerland (based in Berlin), Damien Miller outlined Australia's strengths in research & education and the important role SAAN plays in the bilateral relationship.

The main speaker of the evening, Prof Marcel Tanner, the Director of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel provided an overview of the Swiss TPH's activities and its strong links with Australia. In the analysis and research of disease systems, the Swiss TPH has links with the Walter and Eliza Hall Instiute of Medical Research (WEHI) in Melbourne, the Nossal Institute, Burnett, the University of Sydney, Curtin University in Perth, the Queensland Institute of Medical Research and the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI). In health systems and social science, the Swiss TPH is closely working with the University of Queensland and Monash. Demonstrating the importance of bilateral research links, the Swiss TPH therefore pursues joint projects, conducts joint training and co-educates students and postdocs with partners in all major regions of Australia.

One of the key research areas include zoonoses, the integration of the study of  human living environment, the food- & agriculture system and the natural ecosystem. Within the framework of the Swiss National Centre for Competence in Research 'North-South' the Swiss TPH and Australian partners work on zoonoses and basic host-pathogen interactions in malaria and neglected tropical diseases (NTD's) in Africa, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

The successful first event of SAAN in Switzerland has been a successful start. SAAN Switzerland aims to capitalise from this first success and host further events later in 2011. Further information will be disseminated through the new SAAN webpage.

Click below for images of the SAAN Switzerland Launch.

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Marcel Tanner's Presentation

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