Jürg Hammer is Professor of Paediatrics, Intensive Care Medicine and Pulmonology at the Medical Faculty, University of Basel. Since 1999, he is the medical head of the Division of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine at the University Children’s Hospital Basel (UKBB).
He spent four years as a clinical fellow at the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. He initiated and participated in multiple studies on the respiratory physiology of critically ill children. He also served as a consultant for Novartis (formerly Sandoz) in their animal lung function laboratory. In 2007, he was awarded the prestigious Fanconi award by the Swiss Society of Paediatrics. In 1998, he received first prize in the Annual Award for Paediatric Respiratory Research in Europe by the European Respiratory Society (ERS). In 2022 he was selected to become a Fellow of the ERS(FERS). Among other activities, he currently holds the chair of the HERMES Examination Committee in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine of the ERS.
He has organized numerous training courses in paediatric bronchoscopy and is the initiator and organizer of the Hands-on Course on Pediatric Flexible and Rigid Bronchoscopy (www.pediatric-bronchoscopy.com) aimed at doctors involved in the management of difficult airways.
His main research interest is directed towards improving the health of critically ill children and children with acute and chronic respiratory diseases. This involves research in respiratory physiology, lung function testing, airway endoscopy and assisted ventilation. Currently, he is a member of a research consortium funded by the Botnar Research Centre for Child Health (BRCCH) that critically evaluates available low-cost ventilators and innovative pressure sensors to improve outcomes of patients in need of mechanical ventilation, particularly in low-income countries.
If not found in the hospital you may find him paragliding in the sky.
