Georg Rauter appointed Associate Professor for Surgical Robotics
The University Council has appointed Professor Georg Rauter as Associate Professor for Surgical Robotics in the Faculty of Medicine. Professor Stefan Willitsch has also been promoted to full professor and Professor Pablo Sinues to associate professor. Dr Annette Luther becomes the new vice president of the University Council.
15 February 2022
Georg Rauter has been Assistant Professor for Medical Robotics and Mechatronics in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Basel since 2016. This assistant professorship has been financed by the Werner Siemens Foundation for five years as part of the MIRACLE project (Minimally Invasive Robot-Assisted Computer-Guided LaserosteotomE); now it has been made permanent. Rauter will take up his new position in the Department of Biomedical Engineering on 1 March 2022.
Rauter studied mechatronics in mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Graz (Austria) and mathematical and mechanical modeling at the MATMECA school of engineering in Bordeaux (France). He pursued his doctoral studies at ETH Zurich, obtaining his doctorate in 2013. He undertook postdoc research at the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems at ETH Zurich, the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of South California (US) and at the Spinal Cord Injury Center at Balgrist University Hospital.
Professor Rauter’s research focuses on opening up new possibilities for medical personnel through robotic technology. Specifically, he is concerned primarily with the development of complete robotic and mechatronic systems that enable precise, personalized and minimally invasive surgical interventions and which have effective applications in rehabilitation and nursing care.
Two promotions
Professor Stefan Willitsch is promoted to full professor in the Faculty of Science with retroactive effect from 1 February 2022. He has worked in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Basel since 2008, first as a Swiss National Science Foundation professor and since 2014 as an associate professor.
The spring semester of 2022 also sees the promotion of Professor Pablo Sinues to associate professor in the Faculty of Medicine. He has held a tenure track assistant professorship since 2017 in pediatric environmental medicine in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, endowed by Fondation Botnar.
Two adjunct professors
The University Council has approved the decision made previously by the Senate to appoint two adjunct professors in the Faculty of Medicine: Professor Oleg Heizmann becomes adjunct professor of surgery and Professor Andreas H. Krieg adjunct professor of orthopedics.
Two approvals
The University Council has furthermore approved the announcement of two professorships in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, in the areas of digital humanities and Latin studies.
Election of the vice president
At its first meeting of the 2022-2025 performance period, the newly composed University Council finally elected Dr Annette Luther as its vice president. Luther studied pharmacy in Fribourg and Basel and earned a doctorate at the University of Basel in 2000. She has been secretary to the board of directors of F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG since 2020. As a delegate of the Canton of Basel-Stadt, she is a new member of the University Council.
