Prof Marcel Tanner is President of the Swiss Academy of Arts and Sciences and a board member of Fondation Botnar. He is Director Emeritus of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) and also a Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology and Medical Parasitology at the University of Basel. His research interests include the fields of global health, epidemiology, health systems, infectious diseases and public health. Over the course of his research career, he has lived and worked extensively in Africa and Asia. He headed the Tropical Institute in Ifakara, Tanzania, which eventually grew into the Ifakara Health Institute. Among his notable work, Prof Tanner was instrumental in the development of malaria vaccines. He also implemented large programmes in the field of health planning and the training of health workers on behalf of the Swiss and Tanzanian governments. He is the author of over 700 publications, 51 book chapters and numerous reports for governments and international organizations. He obtained his PhD in medical biology from the University of Basel and a master’s in public health from the University of London, UK.