Student Retreat 2025
PhD Specialization in Cardiovascular Research: Swiss-wide Cardiovascular Student Retreat 2025
The second edition of the Swiss-wide Cardiovascular Student Retreat once again was a successful meeting. It continues to expand to additional Swiss universities and doctoral programs, and our aim remains unchanged: to bring together early career investigators in the field of cardiovascular research to foster exchanges and symbioses.
38 students from 7 Swiss universities gathered on November 14/15, 2025, to take part in the Swiss-wide Cardiovascular Student Retreat in Murten/ Morat, canton of Fribourg. PhD and MD-PhD students presented their research in the form of flash and poster presentations. The meeting was complemented by two keynote lectures given by Prof. Burkhard Ludewig, head of the Medical Research Center at the Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen, and head of the Translational Cardioimmunology Unit at the University Hospital Zurich, and by Prof. Camilla Schinner, Assistant Professor at Hannover Medical School (MHH), Assistant Professor at the University of Bern and at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE).
The best student presentations were chosen by the students (audience prize). Congratulations to the winners: 1st Prize – Marina Vannucci (Department of Physiology, University of Bern), 2nd Prize – Michael Winhelbauer (Department of Health Sciences and Technology D-HEST, University of Zurich). Likewise, the best posters received an audience award. Congratulations to the winners: 1st Prize – Lisa Teoldi (Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Lausanne), 2nd Prize – Adrita Chanda (Department for Biomedical Research, University of Bern).
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all organizing universities / doctoral programs, the University of Bern (PhD Specialization Program in Cardiovascular Research), University of Lausanne (Cardiovascular and Metabolism PhD Program of the Faculty of Biology and Medicine (FBM) and the University Hospital (CHUV)), Università della Svizzera italiana (Cardiovascular / Human Cardiovascular Sciences PhD Program), and University of Zurich (Center for Translational and Experimental Cardiology (CTEC)). Special thanks go to the host of this year’s meeting: the University of Lausanne, for making this successful event a reality.
In addition, we would like to express our gratitude to our sponsors for their generous support: FUJIFILM VisualSonics, Olink, as well as the University of Bern, for their financial support of the PhD Program in Cardiovascular Research in Bern (Förderprogramm “Doktoratsprogramme/Graduate Schools Universität Bern 2021-2026”). Finally – a big thank-you to all participating students who made this retreat an engaging and inspirational event!
