Organization
The Private Foundation of the Geneva University Hospitals (hereafter, “the Foundation”) is a foundation based on private law and regulated by statutes and by articles 80 et seq of the Swiss Civil Code.
The Foundation is a private law entity and as such it falls under the authority of the Geneva ASFIP, the cantonal monitoring agency for foundations and benefits institution
It is made up of 4 groups:
- the Foundation Council
- the Scientific Advisory Committee
- the General Administration
- the Review Board
THE FOUNDATION COUNCIL
The Foundation Council is the highest body of the Foundation. It ensures that the foundation’s objectives are achieved. It has the broadest powers for managing the Foundation’s assets.
The Foundation Council meets four times per year, in March, June, September, and December.
Its mandate includes:
- Enacting the general principles and dictates necessary for the Foundation’s activities
- Setting the rules for how the Foundation is represented
- Making strategic decisions, especially those pertaining to fundraising and communications
- Researching all sources of funding that could support the goals of the Foundation
- Ensuring a balanced distribution between the different goals of the Foundation
- Deciding the allocation of donations and the method and duration of project funding, while adhering to donors’ wishes
- Defining priority themes for calls for proposals, selection procedures, and evaluation criteria
- Appointing members of the Scientific Advisory Committee and the General Administration
- Adopting annual budgets, balance sheets, accounts, and activity reports
Composition du conseil de la fondation
Professor Perrier was the Chief Medical Officer of the Geneva University Hospital between 2015 and 2024. For many years, he directed the General Internal Medicine Division and actively participated in developing and implementing the new curriculum of undergraduate medical studies at the University of Geneva's Faculty of Medicine. He has been a full member of the Foundation since 2015 and became its president in 2025.
Chief executive officer of the Geneva University Hospital (HUG) since September 2024, Robert Mardini is both an ex officio member and vice-president of the foundation. A graduate engineer of the EPFL, he has held numerous positions within the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), rising to Director general, a position he held until March 2024.
Mrs Merkli holds an advanced degree in Healthcare Facilities Management was appointed Director of nursing at the Geneva University Hospital in 2017. She is a full member of the Foundation.
Dean of the University of Geneva's Facutly of Medicine since 2023, Professor Geissbühler is a specialist in internal medicine and medical informatics. He serves as the Director of Research and Education on the Executive Committee of the Geneva University Hospital. He is a full member of the Foundation.
Professor Klara Posfay-Barbe has been the Chief Medical Officer of the Geneva University Hospital since 2025. She directed the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Unit between 2013 and 2022 and the General Pediatrics Department since 2017. Professor Klara Posfay-Barbe continues her work as a pediatrician within the Migrant Health consultation of the General Pediatrics Department. As a full professor of medicine, she teaches general pediatrics and pediatric infectious diseases at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva and at the Geneva University Hospital. She has been a full member of the Foundation since 2025.
MD of the University of Geneva and PhD of the Rockefeller University, Professor Vassalli focused on developmental genetics over the course of his academic career. He held the title of Rector Emeritus of the University of Geneva from 2007 to 2015. He was the president of the Foundation between 2014 and 2024.
An expert attorney in the judicial and legal matters of charitable foundations and associations, Emmanuelle Argand practices at the Kellerhals Carrard law firm in the areas of financial and estate planning as well as trusts and foundations. She has been a member of the Foundation since 2014 and represents civil society in this capacity.
A former Bordier & Cie associate, the economist and banker Pierre Poncet has put his experience to the service of Geneva and worked for the Geneva Chamber of Commerce for many years.
Rector of the University of Geneva from 2019 to 2024, where he obtained his doctorate in political economy, Pr Flückiger has pursued his academic career in the field of economic and social sciences. Elected president of swissuniversities from February 2020 to January 2023, he took up the presidency of the Swiss Academies of Sciences in January 2024.
Full professor of neurogenetics within the Department of genetics and evolution, part of the University of Geneva’s Faculty of science, Pr Rodriguez worked for five years at Rockefeller University in New York after obtaining his doctorate in Geneva. Appointed by the rectorate of the university, he became an ex officio member since June 2024.
GENERAL ADMINISTRATION
Composition du secretariat général
General Secretary
After earning her Doctorate of Science at the University of Lausanne, Stéphane Couty worked for many years as Scientific Associate to the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Geneva. She has to her credit the MIMOSA evaluation system of scientific research, the creation of the HUG-FACMED Center for Clinical Research, and the creation of the UNIGE-HUG Welcome Center. In 2013, she accepted directorship of the Foundation’s General Administration.
Angela Guariniello joined the Foundation in 2020 and is responsible for administrative monitoring of the Foundation.
Sandrine Scuri, an accounts management specialist, has handled accounting at the Foundation since 2016.
Flore Sinturel is a biologist who studied in Paris until her PhD (in biochemistry and molecular biology). She arrived in Geneva in 2013 and undertook two successive post-docs, at the University of Geneva's Faculty of Sciences and then within the Faculty of Medicine. There, she went on to become a senior assistant and scientific collaborator. Flore joined the Foundation in 2023 where she is in charge of all projects relating to research.
Personnal Assistant/Project manager
Elisabeth Cuénod graduated from the University of Geneva in Humanities and from the University of Edinburgh in Social Sciences. She specialised in gender and sexuality studies, and in digital sociology. Elisabeth worked in the healthcare sector in London, UK before joining the Foundation in 2023.
With over ten years of experience in the healthcare sector, first with the Swiss Medical Network group, then as communications advisor for the UNIL CHUV Oncology Department, headquarters of one of the three global branches of Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Diane de Saab joins the Foundation in 2023 as communications officer.
ADVISORY COMMITTEES
Upon nomination by the HUG and in agreement with the Faculty of Medicine, the Foundation Council appoints members to the Scientific Advisory Committee. The presidency of the committee is fully conferred upon the representative of the deanship in charge of research at the Faculty of Medicine.
The Scientific Advisory Committee may be convened by the Foundation Council at any time and provides it with expert advice. The Committee proposes the method and duration of funding for projects, as well as project objectives to be achieved. Its evaluation is based on the procedures and criteria established by the Foundation Council. The Committee may rely on outside experts, whether Swiss or foreign, as needed.
