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
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. Appointed by the University of Geneva, he is a full member of the Foundation, and has been its president since 2014.
M. Levrat, an attorney by training, has been the General Director of the Geneva University Hospital since 2013. He is very involved in social and humanitarian aid and has run Geneva’s General Hospice and worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross. He is a full member of the Foundation and has been its vice president since 2014.
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 Perrier has been the Chief Medical Officer of the Geneva University Hospital since 2015. 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.
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.
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 Guarineiello 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 a.i.
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.
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.
