Dear members, friends and supporters of the SHCS,
I would like to inform you about some changes that have occurred recently in the SHCS.
Leadership data center
As many of you probably already know, Franziska Schoeni-Affolter took a new job at the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), starting May 2016. For this reason, the data center needed a new leader. Very luckily we found a highly qualified person for this very important job: Alexandra Scherrer, PhD. She officially started on May 1st. For this reason, please direct all data-queries etc. directly to her: alexandra.scherrer@usz.ch. We wish Alexandra a very good start!
In the name of the SHCS, I would like to thank Franziska Schoeni-Affolter for all the work she did for the SHCS since she joined the data center in 2008. I would also like to thank her for the work she did as the leader of the data center after Martin Rickenbach’s retirement. She was instrumental for planning and implementing the WebMED for the SHCS. We wish her a very good start at the FOPH!
Transition data center from Lausanne to Zurich
For various reasons, we decided to move the data center now from Lausanne to Zurich. The reason is not that the data center was not working well but rather that after Martin and now Franziska left, it is harder to coordinate administrative issues etc. at the CHUV from the outside. In addition, we also need to make technical changes regarding the database and this is easier in an administration we are directly part of. For those who don’t know: the opposite (from Zurich to Lausanne) happened in 1995. Thus, the SHCS remains a flexible undertaking.
We are very close to get office space from the University of Zurich. We also do have informatics support from the UZH and should be able to keep our costs at reasonable levels. We are trying to make the transition process as smooth as possible but, of course, it is a major undertaking. Thus, if problems arise we hope that you will understand.
Financial situation
The financial situation has not improved yet in the SHCS. Together with the FOPH we worked very hard to join forces and we hope to be able to start cooperation with the FOPH mid of 2016. We really hope that this cooperation will start soon. Combining data from the FOPH and the SHCS in an anonymized way will considerably improve the data quality in Switzerland regarding HIV and other STIs and will form a very good base for future combined prevention efforts. Such a cooperation would also improve the financial situation of the SHCS.
After having started to distribute the new SHCS brochure, some donations from patients came in. This shows us that patients appreciate the work we do. Please keep informing interested people about the SHCS. Donations from all sides are always welcome!
Changes on the webpage
- Soon we will start a window for ‘SHCS participants and community’. The idea is to explain interesting research from the SHCS also to non-professionals.
- We have added links of relevant websites for patient management (drug-drug interactions, resistance, prediction scores of vascular risks etc.) on our website. This might make it easier for new residents etc. to find the relevant links. This will regularly be updated. You find the link under: http://www.shcs.ch/190-clinicians-and-study-nurses.
- Link to the SHCS research foundation (http://shcsfoundation.ch/): as many of you know, the SHCS research foundation is instrumental for the SHCS. It helps us to cover in part the substantial deficit of the SHCS and renders three major long-term projects of the SHCS possible:
the genetic-core, the resistance-core and the metabolic and aging core projects.
We also want to thank the pharmaceutical companies, who support the SHCS by unrestricted research grants. Many of them already for many years. On the SHCS research foundation website, those donations are transparently listed.
Thanks again for your continuing interest and support for the SHCS.
Best wishes,
Huldrych Günthard
President of the SHCS