New Vice-Rector for Research Elected

The Cantonal Government has elected a new Vice-Rector to the Executive Board of the University. As of 1st January 2022, Prof. Dr. Hugues Abriel will take over the Vice-Rectorate Research.

The Cantonal Government has elected a replacement for the Vice-Rector for Research and appointed Prof. Dr. Hugues Abriel as a new member of the University Executive Board. The election was conducted at the request of the Education and Culture Directorate and the Senate of the University of Bern.

As of January 2022, Prof. Dr. Hugues Abriel will take over the Vice-Rectorate Research. He succeeds Prof. Dr. Daniel Candinas, who steps down at the end of 2021. As former Director of the Department for BioMedical Research and the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Hugues Abriel has longstanding knowledge of the university and extensive leadership experience. 

From 1st January 2022, the Executive Board of the University will consist of the following members: Christian Leumann (Rector), Silvia Schroer (Vice-Rector for Quality), Fritz Sager (Vice-Rector for Teaching), Hugues Abriel (Vice-Rector for Research), Virginia Richter (Vice-Rector for Development) and Administrative Director Markus Brönnimann. The Executive Board is supported by Secretary General Christoph Pappa and by Christian Degen, Head of Communication & Marketing, as observer.

Christian Leumann, Rector of the University of Bern, says: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank Daniel Candinas for his tremendous commitment. Furthermore, I am confident that we will have the pleasure to welcome an outstanding new member to the Executive Board of the University, Hugues Abriel.”

A brief biography of Prof. Dr. Hugues Abriel

Hugues Abriel is a biologist (ETH Zurich, 1989) and physician (University of Lausanne, 1994). He completed his PhD in medicine and life sciences (specializing in medical physiology) at the University of Lausanne in 1995. After two years of clinical training at the CHUV in Lausanne, he became involved in biomedical research, specializing in the role ion channels play in human diseases.

Since 2009, Hugues Abriel has been Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Bern. He headed the Department for BioMedical Research between 2009 and 2016, until he was appointed managing Director of the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine (2016-2017). Since 2015, he has also been the Director of the NCCR TransCure, based at the University of Bern. From 2012 to 2020, he was a member of the Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation, and from 2018 to 2020, he chaired its Biology and Medicine division.

Hugues Abriel is particularly interested in the molecular and genetic aspects of medicine. For several years he has been in close contact with young doctors and researchers from French-speaking regions of Africa and has just finished an academic sabbatical spent at the Universities of Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Fez (Morocco).

2021/12/17