Education and Training Programs

The specific nature of rare diseases poses challenges to all people involved in the management, from clinicians and scientists to policymakers and patients. Moreover, due to the novelty of molecular therapies, there are few experts trained in an interdisciplinary framework that addresses the academic, healthcare, and ELSI impact of rare diseases. With ITINERARE, we have a unique opportunity to connect stakeholders, capitalize on interdisciplinary synergies, and train the next generation of young researchers for a career in academia, industry, or the public sector. The ITINERARE partners from RWF and MeF can build on their long-standing successful collaboration in education, with the PhD-program “Biomedical Ethics and Law”. From this project, we will leverage more than 10 years of experience to offer a comprehensive interdisciplinary educational program that spans preand post-graduate education. All educational programs draw on the novel expertise and insights gained within the context of ITINERARE.

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ITINERARE offers its PhD students the benefit of transdisciplinary synergies by fostering dual supervision by a specialist of the thesis topic and a scientist from another discipline. PhD students working in diverse fields of rare diseases will be able to attend modules and events of other PhD programs.

The Rare Diseases Summer School is an internationally renowned event and is part of the curriculum of the PhD programs. It provides an environment for informal exchange between PhD students and experts in the field of rare disease research.

To secure the long-lasting impact of ITINERARE, we will develop an interdisciplinary that will be unique in Switzerland and should become a cornerstone for the further education for professionals.