Priority topics

Since 2010, the support provided by the Louis-Jeantet Foundation to the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva is divided into 3 areas:

  1. Translational clinical research
  2. Primary care medicine
  3. International Cooperation and Humanitarian Action

Translational Clinical Research – Louis-Jeantet Scholarships

To promote translational clinical research, three scholarships of CHF 200,000 each are opened every year alternately by the Louis-Jeantet Foundation and the Fondation privée des HUG.

The purpose of these grants is to fund a project involving both a basic research group from the Faculty of medicine (CMU) and a clinical research group from the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG). For more information and on-line submission: HUG-Projets STARTER

The 2019 scholarships will be financed by the Louis-Jeantet Foundation.

2019 Award winners:

  1. David Legouis and Sophie de Seigneux-Matthey : Chronic kidney disease after acute kidney injury : human mechanisms of transition
  2. Camilla Bellone and Marie Schaer: Understanding neural mechanisms of social attention processes in autism spectrum disorders (ASD)

2017 Award winners:

  1. Aurélien Lathuillère and Nicolas Mach : A novel versatile cellular platform dedicated to encapsulated cell therapy and its clinical application in cancer immunotherapy
  2. Yasser Khazaal and Nathalie Ginovart: Neurofeedback for Cannabis Use Disorder: A pilot study on clinical effects and possible relationship with brain dopamine function
  3. Natacha Turck and Patrice Lalive d’Epinay: Study of tear composition in multiple sclerosis patients

2015 Award winners:

  1. Pascal Senn and Karl-Heinz Krause : Molecular targeting of inner ear pathologies
  2. Frédéric Assal and Patrick Vuilleumier: Joint brain imaging and clinical markers of prodromal Alzheimer’s Disease

2013 Award winners:

  1. Laurent Kaiser and Evgeny Zdobnov: High throughput hunting for virus associated with glioblastoma and acute meningoencephalitis
  2. Jean-Paul Vallée and Sophie de Seigneux: MRI evaluation of fibrosis and inflammation in the kidney: validation of new tools in animal models and kidney allograft patients
  3. Barbara Wildhaber, Département de pédiatrie, & Marisa Jaconi, Département de pathologie et immunologie : «Genetically-corrected hepatocytes from human induced pluripotent stem cells to treat inborn metabolic liver diseases».

Primary Care Medicine

The deficit in Switzerland of primary care physicians – general internists and pediatricians – and the economic need to develop this specialization led the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva to modify its teachings and strongly promote these specializations among its students. The Louis-Jeantet subsidies have enabled the Faculty of Medicine and the Primary Care Medical Unit to rapidly develop this new curriculum. The support of the Foundation is ongoing.

International Cooperation and Humanitarian Action

The Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva is actively involved in international and humanitarian projects. The Louis-Jeantet Foundation supports since 2012 two major projects:

  1. Financial assistance for a period of 3 years to the HSeT Foundation, which develops e-learning projects in international and humanitarian fields.
  2. Assistance from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Geneva to the establishment of a comprehensive Faculty of medicine at the University of Mauritius. Initiated in 2011 by greeting the project manager in Geneva, this international cooperation project started in 2013 with the first 25 students entering the programme. 25 additional students entered the programme in 2014 and in 2015.