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.

Hans Ulrich Bucher ist ehemaliger Chefarzt und Ordinarius für Neonatologie. Er war von 2015 bis 2023 Präsident des Swiss Laos Hospital Project. Als gewesener Präsident unterhält er den Kontakt zu Gönnern und Spendern steht für administrative Aufgaben zur Verfügung.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.