Meet Annelies Zinkernagel, Professor and Physician
Annelies is both a physician and a scientist working as a professor at the University of Zurich. She wears two hats, one as the Director of the Department of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology at the University Hospital of Zurich, where she attends to patients and oversees the clinicians in her department.
Wearing the other hat, she is Professor and Chair of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, where she runs a research lab and teaches students and medical doctors. Annelies’ research interest is understanding the pathophysiology of infectious diseases, specifically how to improve treatment as well as how to prevent bacterial infections. Using patient samples, she studies how bacteria behave inside patients and how bacteria and host cells (human) interact at a microscopic level.
More about Annelies Zinkernagel
Annelies grew up in Switzerland and was always interested in science. She studied medicine in Switzerland at the Universities of Lausanne and Zurich. After becoming board certified first in internal medicine and then infectious diseases, Annelies went to California, USA, eager to learn more about the interplay between host and pathogens. She worked at the University of California San Diego and the Burnham Institute for Medical Research, where she earned a PhD.
Since returning to Switzerland, Annelies has been working at the University Hospital Zurich researching, attending to patients and teaching at both the University of Zurich and the ETH Zurich. Annelies has received numerous awards and fellowships, is an active member of multiple national and international scientific organizations and is currently the first female president of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.
Annelies is also the mother to two children and, in her free time, she enjoys hiking and skiing.
