The University Executive Board has appointed Stephen Leib as Full Professor of Clinical Microbiology and Director of the Institute for Infectious Diseases (IFIK) as of September 1, 2015. Stephen Leib grew up in New York, Basel and Zuoz, studied human medicine at the University of Basel and received his doctor degree in clinical microbiology in 1988. After completing the 2 year-postgraduate course in experimental medicine and biology at the ETH and University of Zurich, he worked at the University Hospital Basel and received the FMH degree in internal medicine in 1995. This was followed by a 2-year research fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco and thereafter he worked as an Infectious Diseases specialist at the University Hospital Basel and from 1997 as attending physician at the Inselspital Bern. At the same time, he established a research group at IFIK. He received the FMH specialist title in infectiology in 1999 and a professorship from the Swiss National Science Foundation (Förderungsprofessur) in 2002. He habilitated in 2001 at the Medical Faculty of the University of Bern, which appointed him Titular Professor in 2006 and Associate Professor in 2008. From 2012 - 2015, he headed the Biology Department as a member of the Executive Board at Spiez Laboratory. Among other academic and administrative activities, Stephen Leib is a board member of the Swiss Society of Infectious Diseases, founder and board member of the study group for infectious diseases of the brain (ESGIB) of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID), and member of the permanent extra-parliamentary Federal Commission for Protection against nuclear, biological and chemical Risks and Threats (KomABC). His research focuses on the mechanisms of brain damage and regeneration during infections and inflammatory responses.
