Marcel Tanner is awarded the 2023 Brandenberger Prize

Bern, 25 November 2023

The Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences are delighted to note that their President, Marcel Tanner, has been awarded the prestigious Brandenberger Prize this year.  The Prize is being awarded in 2023 under the general theme of “Politics and Science: creating added value through focused dialogue”. The Dr. J.E. Brandenberger Foundation acknowledges Marcel Tanner’s achievements in over 40 years of service in the field of public health, which encompassed not only science, research and teaching, but also the implementation of research outcomes for many neglected population groups around the globe. Marcel Tanner has committed - primarily in Africa and Asia - to combating poverty-related and neglected diseases, established networks that link science and politics for the benefit of broad sections of poor population groups, campaigned for easy access to medicines and supported countless local young scientists and scholars. During the Coronavirus pandemic, as an internationally-recognized epidemiologist, he was an exposed mediator between science, politics and society and helped to make the pandemic and the fight against it easier to understand for the general public in Switzerland and by participating in expert groups in Africa.

“I am very grateful and happy about this honour,” commented Marcel Tanner on receiving the Brandenberger Prize. “However, I certainly don’t want to associate this award with myself personally; instead, I regard it as fine recognition of all scientists and scholars working in the network of the Academies and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) and around the world to ensure that scientific insights make their way into politics and society better and more easily. Particularly in times of crisis, it becomes clear whether the dialogue works and where there is room for improvement.”

Marcel Tanner, Professor emeritus of Epidemiology and Medical Parasitology at the University of Basel and Director of Swiss TPH in Basel for many years, has been President of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Science since 2020. The Swiss Academies have a legal mandate to strengthen collaboration in science and to shape the dialogue with politics and society. To this end, they network around 100,000 scientists and scholars, who mostly work on these tasks in the Swiss militia system.

Each year, the Dr. J.E. Brandenberger Foundation awards the Prize, which is endowed with CHF 200,000, to a laureate in recognition of personalities who have worked to promote and preserve humanitarian culture.

For further information, please contact:

Sindy Schmiegel Werner

Head of Communication a+

sindy.schmiegel@akademien-schweiz.ch

+41 31 306 92 39