Playing children in Laos

Board of Directors

Your contacts at the Swiss Laos Hospital Project

Dr. med. Urs Lauper

Dr. med. Urs Lauper

Founder & Honorary President

Urs Lauper is an FMH specialist in gynaecology and obstetrics and served for many years as head physician at the Clinic for Obstetrics at the University Hospital of Zurich. In 1999 he visited Laos for the first time and conducted a two-week workshop for medical professionals. In 2000 he founded the Swiss Laos Hospital Project, of which he was president until 2015. As Honorary President, Urs Lauper continues to work for the project in an operational and advisory capacity and spends several months each year in Laos, where he ensures contacts with hospitals and authorities and supervises the various teams on site.

Prof. emer. Hans Ulrich Bucher

Prof. emer. Hans Ulrich Bucher

Past President

Hans Ulrich Bucher is a former head physician and full professor of neonatology. He was President of the Swiss Laos Hospital Project from 2015 to 2023. As Past President, he maintains contact with patrons and donors and is available for administrative tasks.

Dr. Alphons Schnyder

Dr. Alphons Schnyder

President

Alphons Beat Schnyder has been managing director and owner of «Meta-Cultura», management expertise for the healthcare sector, since 1991. He has acted in an advisory capacity for a large number of hospitals, public authorities and non-profit organizations. He holds mandates as President of the Hospital Board Spitäler Schaffhausen, President of the Board of Directors Klinik Hohenegg and as Board of Directors Spital Thun. Since 2016, he has conducted numerous trainings for hospital executives in Laos in management and leadership and supported the Lao Ministry of Health in strategic issues.

Dr. med. Marion Mönkhoff

Dr. med. Marion Mönkhoff

Vice President

Marion Mönkhoff is a specialist in paediatrics and neonatology and has worked as Chief of Neonatology at Zollikerberg Hospital from 2004 to 2018. Since then, she’s working in pediatrics and at the maternity unit of the Hirslanden Clinic. She has been involved in the Swiss Laos Hospital Project since 2003, where she heads the Neonatology Group. During her numerous assignments in Laos, she visits neonatology clinics throughout the country and supports them through teachings, training programs, in-kind donations, and renovations or expansions of neonatology departments. As Vice-President, she is also committed to raising awareness of the work of the Swiss Laos Hospital Project in Switzerland. She heads the Humanitarian Medicine Working Group of the Swiss Society of Neonatology.

Dr. med. Elisabeth Bandi-Ott

Dr. med. Elisabeth Bandi-Ott

General practitioner

Elisabeth Bandi-Ott is a family doctor and clinical lecturer at the Medical Faculty of the University of Zurich. Since 2015 she has been leading the group of general practitioners within the Swiss Laos Hospital Project, which cooperates with hospitals in the Xieng Khouang province. Elisabeth Bandi-Ott has been travelling to Muang Kham every year since 2009 and to Nong Het since 2014. She is also the initiator of our student exchange project, which allows medical students from Switzerland to work in the Mother and Newborn Hospital in Vientiane as part of their elective year of study since 2016.

Dr. med.Toni Berthel

Dr. med.Toni Berthel

Psychiatry

Toni Berthel was trained as an electrician and, after completing his school-leaving certificate and medical studies, went on to become a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy. He was a senior physician from 1992 to 2019 and most recently medical co-director of Psychiatry Winterthur. From 2012 to 2019, he chaired the Swiss Federal Commissions on Drug Issues EKD / Addiction Issues EKSF. He is co-founder of the Psychiatry Working Group of the SLHP, which was established in 2019.

Cornelia Gawenda

Cornelia Gawenda

Finance

Cornelia Gawenda has an education in business administration and brings with her many years of experience in auditing and controlling. Since 2016 she has been a member of the board of the Swiss Laos Hospital Project and is responsible for the finances of the association. She knows Laos from a visit where she accompanied the neonatology team and supported the contractual and financial implementation of the project in Luang Namtha.

Dr. med. Jacques Gubler

Dr. med. Jacques Gubler

Cantonal Hospital Winterthur KSW

Dr. med. Jacques Gubler is the former head physician of the Medical Polyclinic at the Cantonal Hospital Winterthur KSW. On the board of the Swiss Laos Hospital Project he represents the association Spitalpartnerschaft Phonsavan-Kantonsspital Winterthur.

Dr. med. Stefanie Huggle

Dr. med. Stefanie Huggle

Gynecology & Obstetrics

Stefanie Huggle studied medicine in Heidelberg and the USA, trained as a specialist in gynecology and obstetrics in Konstanz, Frauenfeld, Basel and Wetzikon, and is now chief physician at Linth Hospital, Uznach. She has been a regular volunteer in Laos since 2018, primarily for courses in gynecological ultrasound. She heads the Gynecology and Obstetrics Working Group of the SLHP.

Claudia Reichmuth

Claudia Reichmuth

Nursing

Claudia Reichmuth is a nurse specialising in paediatrics in the neonatology department of the Zollikerberg hospital. She has been a member of the Swiss Laos Hospital Project since 2004, and since 2005 she has been working twice a year in various provincial hospitals in Laos. Her work focuses on the training of Laotian nursing staff, the procurement and introduction of medical equipment and support for the renovation or new construction of neonatology units. Since 2016 she has been representing the nursing staff on the board of our association.

Martin Sauter

Martin Sauter

IT

As a long-standing consultant in a large Swiss digital agency, Martin Sauter is responsible for the website of the Swiss Laos Hospital Project. He is also our contact for all other IT issues – both in Switzerland and in Laos, where hospital IT is also gaining in importance. In addition, he is responsible for communication and marketing. Martin Sauter knows Laos from two assignments which he completed together with a team from the family doctors‘ group in the Xieng Khouang province.