Leadership & Excellence
Advisory Board
Our Advisory Board provides the strategic guidance and rigorous governance necessary to navigate the complex landscape of international healthcare. By blending clinical expertise with business acumen, they ensure that Swiss Middle Eastern Alliance GmbH remains at the forefront of healthcare strategy and clinical excellence.
Advisory Board
Prof. Dr. fernando salvetti
AI Advisor
Founder and Managing Partner of Logosnet, a pioneer in immersive simulation, augmented and virtual reality, knowledge dissemination, communication of science and technology, international and cross-cultural communication, and soft skills development.
Prof. dr. martin SCHILLING
MEDICAL ADVISOR
General Surgeon with a clinical focus on oncological surgery. More than 20 years of extensive experience in initiating and building advanced surgical programs in multiple countries across both public and private healthcare sectors. A pioneer in evidence-based clinical process management across various clinical information systems, as well as in innovative study design.
Dr. eduard tschan
FINANCIAL ADVISOR
Former EU representative of International Medical Corps, Country Director of International Medical Corps Lebanon, with extensive operational leadership in humanitarian crises and global health initiatives within the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the United Nations, and the World Bank. Spearheaded the Global Measles and Rubella Initiative.
Prof.Dr.bernhard guentert
HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT ADVISOR
Professor of Health Economics and Healthcare Management at leading schools of public health in Germany and Austria, and lecturer at several universities in Switzerland. Brings extensive international experience in strategy development for healthcare services and healthcare financing as a consultant to the WHO and the European Council . Recognized expert in measuring healthcare quality and Head of the Healthcare System Department at the Private University of Liechtenstein.
DR. alois schranz
MEDICAL ADVISOR / AIR RESCUE
Medical specialist in trauma surgery and sports traumatology, founder and Medical Director of the Medalp Clinic Group. In addition to his clinical work, he is an innovator and entrepreneur in multiple health projects and serves as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Medalp Holding AG.
dr. dieter michel
HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT ADVISOR
Rehabilitation specialist and former Medical Director of the Rehabilitation Hospital at the Swiss Paraplegic Center in Nottwil. Holds a Master of Business Administration and is former President of the Executive MBA Alumni of the University of St. Gallen Business School, Switzerland.. Currently CEO of a healthcare center in Küssnacht, Switzerland, and a specialist in insurance medicine, serving as a consultant to several insurance companies in Switzerland.
prof. DR. albert urwyler
MEDICAL ADVISOR
Former Dean of the Medical Faculty at the University of Basel, Switzerland. Professor emeritus and Co‑Chairman of the Department of Anaesthesia at the University Hospital Basel. Member of the Board of Directors at University Hospital Basel and Hôpital du Jura, Switzerland. Specialist FMH in Anesthesia, Intensive Care, and Interventional Pain Treatment, Swiss Board‑certified.
dr. stefan hunziker
MEDICAL informatics ADVISOR
MD specialized in general surgery, holding a Bachelor’s degree in computer science and an Executive Master of Business Administration from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Chief Information Officer of Lucerne Hospital, where he has led the implementation of a comprehensive digitalization strategy. Serves as Board Member of the Swiss Society of Medical Informatics, Board Member of the Swiss eHealth Summit (HIMSS and Swiss Society of Medical Informatics), and Member of the Board of Directors of Hosp‑IT AG.
prof. dr. andreas widmer
HOSPITAL HYGIENE ADVISOR
Former Head of Hospital Epidemiology and Deputy Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases, University Hospital Basel, Switzerland. Founder and President of Swissnoso (www.swissnoso.ch), the national center for infection prevention. Core Member, Patient Safety, World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva. Former advisory board member of the epidemiology committee of the National Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany (Robert Koch Institute, RKI).
prof. marcel tanner
EPIDEMIOLOGY / PUBLIC HEALTH / TROPICAL MEDICINE ADVISOR
Former Director of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) from 1997-2015. Professor and chair of Epidemiology / Public Health and Medical Parasitology at the Faculties of Science and Medicine of the University of Basel until his retirement in 2017. Prof. Tanner chaired the R. Geigy Foundation, the endowment of Swiss TPH, for 25 years until 2022. He played a key role in the development of epidemiology and public health at the Swiss and global level; particularly also novel approaches for R&D of new drugs and vaccines for the elimination of malaria, other poverty-related and neglected tropical diseases. President of the Swiss Academies of Sciences and President of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences until 2023. He built and headed the Expert Public Health group of the Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force until January 2021 and acted as President of the Federal Commission for issues relating to Sexually Transmitted Infections. He still serves as High Level Representative of the European Developing Country Clinical Trial Partnership (EDCTP).Prof. Tanner developed the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI) in Tanzania, the Centre Suisse de Recherche Scientifiques (CSRS) in Côte d’Ivoire as well as his role in the development of public-private, not-for-profit partnerships like MMV, DNDi and FIND.Prof. Tanner has been and still an advisor on communicable diseases research and control, and health systems strengthening in various national and international agencies/foundations and in boards / committees, such as e.g. University Hospital Basel, WHO/SAG, Wellcome Trust, DNDi, FIND, INCLEN-Trust, Gebert-Rüf Foundation, Fondation Botnar and EDCTP.
Dr. thomas nyirenda
ADVISOR - AFRICA
Dr Thomas Nyirenda MD MPH, is Strategic Partnerships & Capacity Development Manager and Head of Africa Office of the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnerships (EDCTP2). He first trained in Medicine at University of St Andrews (Scotland), St Mary’s Hospital (London) and Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (Malawi), which was followed by training in Public Health at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (London). Has 30+ years’ experience of working in Clinical Medicine Practice, Public Health, Clinical Research and Health Services Management in sub-Saharan Africa. He has worked for Ministry of Health of Malawi followed by Medical Officer position at the World Health Organisation before joining the EU-AU Clinical Research Programme for development of medicines, vaccines and diagnostics against infectious diseases of global concern called EDCTP in 2004. At EDCTP he has co-managed teams which have managed over 400 clinical trial projects in 20 year some of which have led to new treatments of HIV in children and adults, malaria in children and pregnant women, worms infections, bilharzia in children and sleeping sickness. He has had teaching appointments at University of Witwatersrand (South Africa), and Stellenbosch University (South Africa). He is one of the founders of a Non-governmental Organisation called Clinical Research Education and Management Services (CREAMS) in Malawi.
dr. mohammed alkhaldi
HEALTHCARE POLICY ADVISOR
A global health policy and systems expert, scholar, and educator with over 15 years of international experience across academia, multilateral organizations, and cross-sector partnerships. He holds a Doctorate in Public Health from the Swiss TPH, specializing in health systems and policy research. He has led multinational health system analyses across the MENA region and developed a distinguished portfolio in global health governance, HPSR, digital health innovation, HTA, and evidence-informed policymaking, including in fragile and humanitarian settings. Dr. Alkhaldi has served in leadership, advisory, and consultancy roles with the Swiss TPH, McGill University, WHO, UNICEF, RKI, LMH, DAC, among others. He has authored over 60 scholarly and policy publications, lectures internationally, and serves on editorial boards of leading journals. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Canadian University Dubai, a Visiting Fellow at McGill University, and Scientific Lead and Regional Coordinator of TGHN MENA, affiliated with the University of Oxford. In 2024 and 2026, he secured major competitive grants totaling USD million, including funding from the Dubai Future Foundation to advance a digitized, AI-enabled HTA system for Dubai, and from the CIHR to conduct a global study on orphans and children lacking parental care.
prof. dr. sleiman ghorayeb
MEDICAL & RESEARCH ADVISOR
Professor of Radiology & Molecular Medicine at the Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine, Professor-in-Charge of the Maternal and Fetal Medicine Fellowship Program at Northwell Health, Professor of Biomedical and Electrical Engineering, and Investigator in the Center for Immunology and Inflammation and at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research at Northwell Health. His research focuses primarily on theoretical and experimental studies in Diagnostic and Therapeutic Ultrasound in Orthopaedics, Dentistry, Ophthalmology, Urology, Maternal and Fetal Medicine and ObGyn. He is the recipient of the 2019 Research Mentor of the Year Award, IEEE’s Athanasios Papoulis Award, IEEE’s Eta Kappa Nu Honor Society, Presidential Research Award; and is a Fellow of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, Fellow of the British Royal Society of Medicine, Senior Member of the IEEE, and a member of the honorary scientific research society Sigma Xi.
dr. hrayr k.shahinian
MEDICAL ADVISOR
Dr. Hrayr K. Shahinian is an M.D., board certified surgeon, whose post graduate hybrid training consisted of two residencies and two fellowships including a skull base fellowship with Prof. Ugo Fisch at the University of Zurich. He started his academic career as an assistant professor of surgery and neurosurgery at SUNY Stony Brook and NYU. Over the subsequent 25 years, Dr. Shahinian introduced several novel techniques for the endoscopic removal of pituitary and brain tumors, published 100 peer reviewed articles and a textbook entitled “Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery”. Over the past 8 years, his research with NASA resulted in 16 US and International patents and earned the Federal Laboratory consortium award for outstanding technology development.
prof. dr hayder al saadi
MEDICAL ADVISOR
Consultant Orthopedic and Trauma Surgeon. Chairman of Orthopedics Emirati Board Scientific Committee-NIHS, Director of Orthopedic Residency Program-SSMC, Chairman of Examination Committee Orthopedics Emirati Board-NIHS, Member of Emirati Board Scientific Committee-NIHS, AOTRAUMA International Faculty, Adjunctive Clinical Associate Professor, Gulf Medical University, Adjunctive Clinical Associate Professor, Khalifa University. AOSPINE Fellowship-Denver-Colorado-USA (2024), AO Research Institute Fellowship – Davos, Switzerland (2011-2012), OTC Fellowship – Costa de Sul Hospital, Marbella, Spain (2011), AO Fellowship – Leeds General Infirmary, UK (2008), Clinical Fellowship – Doncaster Royal Infirmary, UK (2003).
dr. richard schwen
REGULATORY ADVISOR
Extensive research and senior management experience in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and public health industries. Holds a PhD in pharmacology and is board certified in both toxicology and regulatory affairs. Dr. Schwen also served as Chairman of the Cincinnati Board of Health, and currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Pharmacy.
dr. wafa j. nasser
MEDICAL ADVISOR
Pediatrician for the past 36 years. In 1998, Dr. Nasser established her own private practice, The Whole Child Pediatrics, P.S.C. Having been born in Btekhnay, Lebanon, she was privileged to have emigrated to the United States of America in 1960, where she grew up in West Virginia and received her medical degree at West Virginia University and her pediatric residency at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Dr. Nasser teaches Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Pediatric Residents throughout the year.
dr. barbara claudi
INSURANCE ADVISOR
An independent consultant with more than 30 years experience in insurance medicine in the areas of: - primary and re-insurance; - product development with focus on invalidity, basic capabilities, critical illness, nursing; - development of global medical manuals for insurance tariffing; - medical risk assessment for different classes of insurance; - medical activities and consulting in accident rehabilitation management. Dr. Claudi was the Medical Director Swiss Re Life & Health (Germany/North Eastern Europe).
dr. mohamed darwish
MEDICAL ADVISOR
An orthopaedic surgeon with more than 40 years of experience in orthopaedic surgery and consultancy. He is also the head of the Spinal Department at Khaula Hospital, Sultanate of Oman.Dr. Mohamed Darwish is the current President of Pan Arab Orthopaedic Association, President of GCC Orthopaedic Association, and Former President of Oman Orthopaedic Association.
dr. antoinette ruegg
BUSINESS ADVISOR
Former President of Business and Professional Women International (BPW), Former President BPW Switzerland. Holder of a Biology Degree, second studies in Applied Psychology, and specialized in Career Development, Leadership and Emotional Intelligence.
dr. nicole el marj
ADVISOR
A clinical psychologist with a range of multicultural experience who has worked in various research and clinical settings. Those include: inpatient, partial hospitalization, and outpatient, in private and public sectors. She has previously worked in the National Health Service (UK) and the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC). Areas of expertise: trauma as well as mood and anxiety disorders. She is currently based in Lebanon and transitioning to Canada.
Strategic Impact
Strengthening healthcare governance, policy, and digital transformation to improve system performance and patient outcomes.
Driving excellence in healthcare management, operations, and AI-enabled clinical practice across diverse settings.
Advancing research, innovation, and evidence-informed decision-making in medical care and health systems through data, digitalization, and AI.