Health

Thanks to its collaboration with the Faculty of Biology and Medicine, the CHUV plays a world-class role in the fields of medical care, medical research and education.

In 2020, the Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois (CHUV), one of Switzerland's 5 university hospitals, was ranked among the 15 best hospitals in the world by Newsweek magazine.

Scientists at UNIL carry out fundamental as well as clinical and translational research. The work and advances made in the field of immunology, for example, have made Lausanne a centre of excellence in oncology that is unique in Europe.

Bolstered by their expertise and their participation in cutting-edge research carried out by groups that bring together several institutions, UNIL scientists are regularly awarded prestigious prizes, which pay tribute to the quality and innovative nature of their work.

Health research is not limited to the medical aspect. The implications of the field of health, and therefore the subjects of questioning, are much broader, reflecting the place of this theme in our societies. The mission of the Institut des humanités en médecine, for example, is to develop research and teaching in the various fields of humanities linked to medicine and the life sciences. 2016 also saw the creation of a unique Chair devoted entirely to vulnerable populations, thus including the socio-cultural dimension in health research.

Three health themes are at the heart of the research carried out at UNIL:

• Cancer, with in particular the Lausanne window of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and the UNIL-CHUV Department of Oncology
• Genetics, with its Centre intégratif de génomique (CIG) and its research into the structure and function of the genome

Public health, with its Institute of Humanities in Medicine (IHM) and its Centre for Vulnerable Populations (CPV).
The work carried out at UNIL aims not only to save lives and improve the daily lives of many people, but also to respond to the societal challenges of contemporary medicine and to provide support both for health policy decisions and for the overall quality of care.