Patrick Aebischer was trained as an MD (1980) and a Neuroscientist (1983) at the Universities of Geneva and Fribourg in Switzerland. From 1984 to 1992, he worked at Brown University in Providence (Rhode Island, USA) as an Assistant and then Associate Professor of Medical Sciences.

In the fall of 1992, he returned to Switzerland as a Professor and Director of the Surgical Research Division and Gene Therapy Center at CHUV, the Lausanne University Medical School Hospital.

In 1999, the Swiss Federal Council appointed him president of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), an institution that he still leads today.

Patrick Aebischer is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and a member of the Swiss Academy of Medicine and the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences. He is the founder of three biotechnology companies and a member of the board of Lonza and the Nestlé Health Science Company. He also chairs the Novartis Venture Fund.

Patrick Aebischer has lead EPFL’s engagement into MOOCs, especially for developing countries. He is a member of Coursera University advisory board.