Board of Directors

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.

As former head physician and full professor of neonatology, Hans Ulrich Bucher has taken over the presidency from Urs Lauper. He coordinates the various activities in Switzerland and Laos, maintains contact with supporters and donors and contributes his expertise as a paediatrician and organiser.

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.

Pierre Villars is a specialist in gynaecology and obstetrics with a focus on operative gynaecology and senology. He works in his own practice in Zurich. As a member of the board of Gynécologie Suisse and past president of the Zurich Gynaecology Association, he ensures the important contact with gynaecologists in private practice. With assignments in Laos, new instruments for minimally invasive surgery were introduced and instructed, thus increasing the surgical safety for patients.

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.

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.