Education
Training in virtual reality ultrasound simulation
Besides the promotion of junior researchers, we have a strong commitment to medical education and training. WHole BOody Ultrasound (WHOBUS) in critically ill patients is a major research and clinical focus of the gebhardlab. To acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to become a WHOBUS expert, Caroline has undergone extensive ultrasound training throughout her career, including a one-year Fellowship in cardiac anesthesiology and echocardiography at the Montreal Heart Institute in Canada. She obtained board certification in advanced adult perioperative transesophageal echocardiography (National Board of Echocardiography, USA), transthoracic echocardiography (European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging, EACVI) and is a certified course leader in point-of care ultrasound (POCUS) of the Swiss Society of Ultrasound in Medicine with a particular focus on transthoracic/transesophageal echocardiography, basic emergency ultrasound, as well as thoracic and lung ultrasound. She is involved in many national and international ultrasound education programs and events. Check our News section for course announcements and training opportunities.
CAS Sex- and Gender-Specific Medicine
Both biology (sex) and sociocultural variables (gender) have a fundamental impact on health behaviour, as well as the epidemiology, manifestation, and pathophysiology of diseases. Although sex and gender are essential to effective health care, differences between women and men are often neglected in medical research and clinical practice. The CAS study programme in Sex- and Gender-specific Medicine was initiated in 2018 by a joint effort of the Universities of Bern and Zurich. Catherine Gebhard was the founding program director of the CAS study programme from 2018 to 2022. The CAS is a part-time course for postgraduates with a degree in a biomedical field and starts yearly in March.
Gender Education in Medicine for Switzerland: GEMS Platform and Swiss Society for Gender Health
The Gender Education in Medicine for Switzerland (GEMS, Link) platform was developed within the framework of the Swiss Gender Health Network and project “Sex and Gender integration in the Swiss Medical Curriculum” funded by a Swissuniversities P7 grant and launched in November 2022. The platform contains a wealth of information on the integration of sex and gender issues in medical education. It aims to serve professionals with a teaching load at Swiss universities who can share and download teaching resources via the platform's secure pages. To date, the SGHN includes more than 180 members interested in sex and gender issues, coming from all parts of Switzerland. In 2024, after 4 years of informal activity, the Swiss Gender Health Network became an official Association, the Swiss Society for Gender Health (SSGH, Link and new website). It's aim is to promote the integration of sex and gender in health, paying particular attention to health education, research, healthcare practice, and policy.
Commission for Sex and Gender in Medicine (SGiM) and Chair for Gender Medicine at at the University of Zurich
Catherine Gebhard served as the founding president of the Commission on Sex and Gender in Medicine (SGiM) at the University of Zurich from 2017 to 2022. The initiative began in 2015 as a working group established by Prof. Beatrice Beck Schimmer, Vice President Medicine at the University of Zurich, and was formalized as a commission in 2017. The SGiM Commission’s mission is to advance the integration of gender-specific medicine into medical education, research, and clinical practice at the University of Zurich and across Switzerland.
In November 2019, the commission hosted the Kick-off Symposium “Chances and Perspectives of Gender Medicine” in the Aula of the University of Zurich. In the years that followed, University Medicine Zurich successfully raised the funds to establish the first Chair in Gender Medicine in Switzerland. Following a selection process, Caroline Lerchenmüller, a cardiologist from Heidelberg, was appointed in May 2024 as the inaugural Chair.
Information on the current research, clinical, and teaching activities of the Chair in Gender Medicine can be found here.
Mantelstudium Sex and Gender in Medicine at the University of Zurich
The Mantelstudium in Sex and Gender in Medicine at the University of Zurich was developed by members of the SGiM commission under the lead of Prof. Tanja Krones in 2020 and successfully started in 2021. The hands-on training course aims to introduce the basic principles of gender-specific medicine by using case studies and an interactive format. Students obtain 4 ECTS for successful completion of the course including a case presentation.
Vera Regitz Zagrosek
In 2019, Vera Regitz-Zagrosek, a pioneer in gender medicine and founder of the Gender Institute at Charité in Berlin, joined the University of Zurich as the Anna Fischer-Dückelmann Visiting Professor. Since then, she has continued as a visiting professor and advisor to the Vice President Medicine, supporting the integration of gender medicine into the medical curriculum at the University of Zurich and across Switzerland. Vera is also actively involved in research projects within our group. In 2022, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Zurich in recognition of her pioneering work and outstanding contributions to the field of gender medicine.
Master students and doctoral students
We believe in translational research as the interface between pre-clinical and clinical science, and put a strong focus on state-of-the-art imaging technologies and molecular biology. Over the past years, we have seen growing interest from bachelor, master, and doctoral students. Joining the Gebhard Lab means a chance to complete research projects and theses in an interdisciplinary and collaborative environment. We welcome enquires from prospective students.
Our research is conducted at the Department of Cardiology at Inselspital Bern (clinical research), the Intensive Care Unit, Department Acute Medicine, University Hospital Basel (clinical research), the Department of Nuclear Medicine, USZ (translational research), the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, ETHZ (pre-clinical imaging), and the Center for Molecular Cardiology, UZH (molecular biology). Multicenter studies are currently conducted at all of the above institution as well as at Cantonal Hospital Baden.
If you are interested in joining our research team as a bachelor, master, and doctoral student, please contact us by using the below contact form.