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26 May 2025
Zurich, Switzerland
LIFE SCIENCE ZURICH IMPACT CONFERENCE
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Open until 9 May 2025

Keynote Speakers

 

Dr. Christian Rommel

Global Head of Research & Development, Bayer Pharmaceuticals

Christian Rommel became EVP, Global Head of Research & Development and a member of the executive committee of Bayer Pharmaceuticals in February 2021.

He joined Bayer from Roche, where he was most recently Senior VP, Global Head of Oncology, Pharma Research and Early Development (pRED). Rommel also served at Amgen as Vice President of External Research and Development. Before that role, he was Amgen’s Vice President, Research Oncology.

Previously, Christian Rommel served as Chief Scientific Officer of Intellikine, a private biotech company based in San Diego, from its inception to acquisition by Takeda. Earlier in his career, Rommel was Head of Target Research at Merck-Serono in Geneva, Switzerland. He also worked as a scientist in the team of George Yancopoulos at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, New York.

Christian Rommel received his PhD in molecular oncology from the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, Germany and the Institute of Medical Virology at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. He is also a lecturer of biotechnology at the ETH Zurich, Switzerland. He has authored more than 70 publications, including papers in Science and Nature, and is an inventor or co-inventor of 18 patents.

Outside of work, Christian Rommel very much enjoys spending time with his family, good food paired with a good glass of wine as well as art and skiing.

 

Moritz Hartmann

Head of Roche Information Solutions, Roche

Moritz Hartmann is Head of Roche Information Solution (RIS), which focuses on delivering data-driven solutions that empower healthcare professionals and patients to make insights-based decisions. Connecting the lab, care and home settings, these innovative digital solutions help unlock digital ecosystems across the care continuum for financial, operational, and clinical insights that drive personalized healthcare for patients around the globe.

Moritz started his career in the tourism industry developing online travel booking engines. He joined Roche in 2005 and since, has successfully led large and diverse organisations and teams across different regions and divisions while driving innovative digitisation projects and partnerships. Moritz was appointed Head of the newly created Roche Information Solutions (RIS) in May 2021.

A German native, Moritz holds degrees in Controlling and Finance as well as Marketing and International Management and an MBA from the Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management.

 

Prof. Dr. Carolin Lerchenmüller

Chair for Gender Medicine, University Hospital Zurich

Carolin Lerchenmüller studied medicine at the University of Heidelberg, where she also completed her training as a cardiologist at the university hospital. After a research stay at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, she took over the leadership of the Cardiac Remodeling and Regeneration Laboratory at the University Hospital Heidelberg. In 2021, she founded and has since led the "Gender Medicine Network Heidelberg”.

Prof. Lerchenmüller focuses on the protective effects of exercise on the heart, as well as the role of equity and diversity in medicine and science. She has published research on topics such as the "Gender Publication Gap" and gender-specific differences in the perception of science.

In 2024, Carolin Lerchenmüller accepted a position at the University of Zurich, where she took over the newly established Chair of Gender Medicine and will continue her clinical work in the Cardiology Department of the University Hospital Zurich.

 

Prof. Dr. Fabian Prasser

Head of Medical Informatics, Charité, Berlin Institute of Health

Fabian Prasser is a Full Professor of Medical Informatics at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), where he chairs the BIH Medical Informatics Group. His work focuses on integrating clinical and research data, and advancing secure and ethical data sharing across institutions.

As the Scientific Director of Charité’s Data Integration Center, Prof. Prasser oversees a platform that supports hundreds of users and research projects by providing access to data from various clinical and research systems. The platform leverages technologies like HL7 FHIR, OMOP, and OpenEHR, and facilitates self-service analytics through tools such as i2b2 and ATLAS. It is connected to the national data sharing infrastructure established by the German Network of University Medicine (NUM) and the German Medical Informatics Initiative (MII), as well as international networks, such as EHDEN and OHDSI.

In his role as one of Charité’s Chief Research Information Officers (CRIO), Prof. Prasser directs digital initiatives to strengthen the research infrastructure at BIH and Charité. He serves on the MII National Steering Committee and the NUM Research Infrastructure Steering Group (SG FIS) and is a co-spokesperson of the National Research Infrastructure for Personal Health Data (NFDI4Health) as well as the deputy chair of the BIH and Charité Data Use & Access Committee. Moreover, he is a member of the Charité Ethics Committee, focusing on digital health research.




Moderator 

Dr. Anna Erat MD/PhD
Internal medicine, sports medicine

Parallel to finishing her PhD in epidemiology and health systems management, Anna studied medicine and conducted research at Harvard and University of Zurich medical schools. Following her post-doctoral research at Harvard, she specialized in internal and sports medicine in Switzerland, and worked with athletes ranging from Swiss national team ice hockey players to formula 1 drivers.

Before her role as the first female medical director in the history of Klinik Hirslanden and as head of strategy for preventive medicine in the Hirslanden group, she attended executive courses at Harvard Business School and finished the International Directors Program at INSEAD. Subsequently, she had the opportunity to take up selected roles as an independent board member.

Apart from having been a clinical lecturer for the medical faculty at University of Zurich for many years, and mentoring at the ETH as well as being faculty in the University of St. Gallen Executive School, she publishes regularly in both scientific journals and newspapers. Finally, she frequently gives talks on sustainable health, preventive medicine and longevity for the UN and the World Economic Forum among others.

Location
Technopark, Technoparkstrasse 1, 8005 Zurich
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