Past President, Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+); President emeritus Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences ; Professor em. of Epidemiology and Medical Parasitology, University of Basel; Director emeritus Swiss Tropical & Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH)
Marcel Tanner was Director of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) from 1997-2015. He acted as Professor and chair of Epidemiology/Public Health and Medical Parasitology at the Faculties of Science and Medicine of the University of Basel and played a key role in the development of epidemiology and public health at the Swiss and global level. He was President of the Swiss Academies of Sciences and later overall President of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences until 2023. Besides research, the capacity strengthening and North-South partnerships were main interests, as reflected in the development of the Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania, the Centre Suisse de Recherche Scientifiques in Côte d’Ivoire as well as his role in the development of public-private, not-for-profit R&D partnerships like MMV, DNDi and FIND. He has been and still is advisor on communicable diseases research and control, and health systems strengthening in many national and international agencies/foundations. He obtained his PhD in medical biology from the University of Basel and a master’s in public health from the University of London, UK.
