I am a Swiss medical doctor working in Sport & Exercise Medicine. Currently, I am sharing my working time between two jobs: a postdoc position at the University of Basel, which involves research and teaching, and a clinical position as a 5thyear resident physician at Altius Swiss Sportmed Center, a sports medicine and sports orthopaedics facility near Basel. Since 2017, I have also served as a board member of Sport & Exercise Medicine Switzerland (SEMS) and President-Founder of Junior Sport & Exercise Medicine Switzerland (JSEMS). Finally, as an ex-competitive swimmer, I am interested in endurance sports and regularly practice them with passion.
What is your main area of research / clinical expertise?
My research interest lies in applying high-throughput metabolomics and lipidomics approaches to Sport & Exercise Medicine research questions. I am mainly interested in the metabolic determinants of healthy and physically active ageing. Finally, I have strong research and clinical interests in overtraining syndrome and related topics (fatigue, functional and non-functional overreaching, RED-S, exercise addiction).
What is your motivation to be a member of the BOSEM team?
I really enjoy exchanging views and sharing experiences with the great and open minds populating the very diverse and international BOSEM team. Also, it is a blessing to work together with Evert Verhagen, whose enthusiasm is contagious!
What is a work-related accomplishment that you’re really proud of?
Together with young and motivated colleagues, we create in 2017 a Junior section within Sport & Exercise Medicine Switzerland to raise SEM’s awareness among medical students and the modern solutions it provides to big public health issues like non-communicable diseases. It has been an amazing journey and a great team’s accomplishment! On a more personal note, I surprised myself as I learnt, during the first lockdown, how to program and run statistics on R! This led to my first paper using a lipidomics approach to unravel age-related differences within the circulating lipidome of healthy humans (https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1989/11/5/287).
Who has influenced you most when it comes to how you approach your work?
Back in medical school, I was lucky enough to meet Dr Boris Gojanovic, a brilliant mind who has done a lot for SEM in Switzerland in the last decades. He has served as my mentor and opened the doors to the Swiss SEM! I cannot be grateful enough for his support.
What’s your favourite way to unwind after a busy day?
To swim, bike or run … before having a tasty meal (perhaps with a glass of wine)!