Growing up in Bern, Switzerland, I graduated from the University of Bern and received my Neurology training at the Inselspital, University Hospital Bern. In my MD and PhD projects, I focused on assessing vigilance and fitness to drive in sleepy individuals and developing tools to improve the differentiation between central disorders of hypersomnolence. I developed a growing interest in the temporal and spatial changes of the electroencephalogram (EEG) in the wake-sleep transition zone.
I joined the Laboratory for NeuroImaging of Coma and Consciousness (NICC) in January 2023, in collaboration with the Department of Anesthesia at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Neuroscience Statistics Research Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Professors Emery N. Brown and Ken Solt). Defining consciousness, a theoretical multidimensional construct, is difficult, and the treatment of disorders of consciousness remains challenging. By connecting knowledge from the fields of anesthesiology, sleep medicine and neurocritical care and using cutting-edge technology, we aim to advance the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of altered states of consciousness and thus treatment.