Prof Jürg Hammer is board certified in paediatrics, critical care medicine and pulmonology by the Swiss Medical Association (FMH). He received his medical degree from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Basel and is also certified by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) of the USA. He trained at the Institute of Medical Genetics at the University of Zürich and University Children’s Hospital Basel (UKBB) and spent four years as a clinical fellow at the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Besides clinical work, he initiated and participated in multiple studies on the respiratory physiology of critically ill children. In 1998, he received first prize in the Annual Award for Paediatric Respiratory Research in Europe awarded by the European Respiratory Society. Soon after his return to UKBB, Prof Hammer became Head of the Intensive Care Unit, and he was made Head of the combined Division of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine at the end of 1999. His research interest in respiratory physiology has continued in Basel, where he also served for many years as a consultant for Novartis (formerly Sandoz) in their primate lung function laboratory. He became Titular Professor of Pulmonology and Intensive Care in 2004. In 2007, he was awarded the prestigious Fanconi award by the Swiss Society of Paediatrics. His main research interest is directed towards improving the health of critically ill children and children with acute and chronic respiratory diseases. This involves research in respiratory physiology, lung function testing, airway endoscopy and assisted ventilation.