--- title: "Endowed professorship in rehabilitation" description: "With CHF 7.75 million from the BRH Foundation, the University of Bern and Insel Gruppe establish an Endowed Professorship for Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation." url: https://unibefoundation.ch/en/news/endowed-professorship-interdisciplinary-rehabilitation updated: 2026-09-16 --- # Endowed professorship in rehabilitation > With CHF 7.75 million from the BRH Foundation, the University of Bern and Insel Gruppe establish an Endowed Professorship for Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation. News 10. April 2024 # New endowed professorship for interdisciplinary rehabilitation *Read the original media release* [*here*](https://mediarelations.unibe.ch/medienmitteilungen/2024/medienmitteilungen_2024/neue_stiftungsprofessur_fuer_interdisziplinaere_rehabilitation/index_ger.html)*.* (in German) Thanks to the support of the BRH Foundation for Medical Aftercare, Rehabilitation and Prevention (Stiftung für medizinische Weiterbehandlung, Rehabilitation und Prävention BRH), the University of Bern, together with the Insel Gruppe, is able to establish an Endowed Professorship for Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation. It is endowed with CHF 7.75 million and, in addition to teaching and research, is intended to foster innovation. The healthcare system is facing demographic change and an increase in the number of people with chronic diseases. In addition to the treatment of illness, the promotion and maintenance of health is therefore becoming more important, and with it rehabilitation. In medicine, rehabilitation refers to restoring the physical and mental abilities of patients with chronic diseases, a trauma or an operation. A secondary goal is reintegration into social and working life. The World Health Organization (WHO) has described rehabilitation as a priority health strategy of the 21st century that should be available to the entire population at all stages of life. A key, cross-disciplinary focus of rehabilitation measures is health-promoting physical activity. This results in strong synergies between rehabilitation and sports and exercise medicine. ## **A platform for innovation** [\#](#a-platform-for-innovation "Direct link to A platform for innovation") “The socially relevant field of rehabilitation is now being anchored in research and teaching at the University of Bern and Inselspital,” says Christian Leumann, Rector of the University of Bern. The endowed professorship has an interdisciplinary and interprofessional focus and is intended to strengthen collaboration between centres and institutes of the University of Bern, the university clinics of Inselspital, the Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine sitem-insel and external partners such as the Bern University of Applied Sciences. In addition, the endowed professorship will give the Insel Gruppe’s Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine division an academic link to the University of Bern. “The professorship promotes the academisation of this medical division at Inselspital and, through cross-disciplinary research and networking, serves as a platform for innovation in Bern as a centre of medicine,” says Leumann. Among other things, the use of digital technologies is to be tested and implemented, for example for telerehabilitation. ## **Expanding rehabilitation services** [\#](#expanding-rehabilitation-services "Direct link to Expanding rehabilitation services") With the support of the BRH Foundation for Medical Aftercare, Rehabilitation and Prevention and the UniBE Foundation, the endowed professorship is being established as an extraordinary professorship. It is set up for 15 years and endowed with CHF 7.75 million. It will be based in the Insel Gruppe’s Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine division. This division is not made up of university clinics, but is a focus area comprising various rehabilitation services from medical specialties such as cardiology, oncology, orthopaedics and pulmonology. The division also includes rehabilitation services of the Berner Reha Zentrum Heiligenschwendi and an interdisciplinary rehabilitation unit that has been located on the Insel Campus since January 2024. “The Insel Gruppe is the largest provider of rehabilitation in the canton of Bern and the Bern-Mittelland region,” says Urs Peter Mosimann, Medical Director of the Insel Gruppe. “With the endowed professorship in the Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine division, we can address a wide range of chronic diseases and a large number of patients.” ## **A highly specialised field** [\#](#a-highly-specialised-field "Direct link to A highly specialised field") The BRH Foundation for Medical Aftercare, Rehabilitation and Prevention supports and promotes measures for the medical aftercare, rehabilitation and prevention of people who are impaired, ill or convalescing. “We would like to develop the existing clinical research and university teaching on interdisciplinary rehabilitation into a highly specialised field,” says Markus Meyer, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the BRH Foundation. “The endowed professorship increases the visibility and attractiveness of interdisciplinary rehabilitation at local, national and international level and provides valuable impetus for clinical services and the quality of care in Bern.” “Research, teaching and continuing education in rehabilitation and sports medicine appeal equally to professionals from medicine, sports science, physiotherapy, psychology and nursing,” says Claudio Bassetti, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Bern. “With the endowed professorship, study results could be put into practice more quickly, and young clinical and academic talent could be promoted,” Bassetti continues. Among other things, this offers an opportunity to increase the proportion of female researchers, who are currently still under-represented. The endowed professorship will be advertised nationally and internationally. The appointment is planned for spring 2025. The newly founded Centre for Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine at Inselspital offers innovative, personalised therapeutic approaches. These will also be a focus of the new endowed professorship. 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