I am an Adjunct Professor and Research Group Leader at the Institute of Evolutionary Medicine at the University of Zurich. I have a multidisciplinary background in environmental, economic and social history, as well as in evolutionary medicine, (historical) epidemiology, (historical) anthropometry and (historical) demography. My research focuses on population health over time, particularly the interactions between human health and environmental change in Switzerland and beyond over the past two centuries. The latest trends and monitoring of important health issues are also part of my work. By combining historical and epidemiological approaches, my research group provides critical context to contemporary health and societal challenges.
Research group, projects & news
See my group's separate webpage
Other Affiliations and Memberships
- EU COST Action "The Great Leap. Multidisciplinary approaches to health inequalities, 1800-2022" (Working Group Leader)
- IUSSP Panel "Epidemics & Contagious Diseases: The Legacy of the Past" (Panel Member)
- Crisis Competence Center, UZH (Member)
- Initiative Geisteswissenschaften, UZH (Member)
- Epidemiology & Biostatistics PhD Program UZH (Member)
- Center for Military & Disaster Medicine, Swiss Armed Forces (Member of the Scientific Board)
- Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology (ZIHP) (Member)
- Institute of History, University of Bern (Research Affiliate & Lecturer)
- Digital Society Initiative (DSI), University of Zurich (Member)
- Swiss School of Public Health SSPH+ (Faculty Member)
Publications
See also Google Scholar Profile
ZORA Publication List
Publications
-
2020
-
Journal Article
-
Residential altitude associates with endurance but not muscle power in young Swiss men Frontiers in Physiology, 11, 860. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2020.00860
-
Multiple measures derived from 3D photonic body scans improve predictions of fat and muscle mass in young Swiss men PLoS ONE, 15, e0234552. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234552
-
Children’s dietary assessment and promotion: The Swiss situation International Journal of Public Health, 65, 507–509. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-020-01393-4
-
Hemoglobin concentration of young men at residential altitudes between 200 and 2000m mirrors Switzerland’s topography. Blood, 135, 1066–1069. https://doi.org/10.1182/blood.2019004135
-
The “Pandemic Gap” in Switzerland across the 20th century and the necessity of increased science communication of past pandemic experiences Swiss Medical Weekly, e1. https://smw.ch/op-eds/post/the-pandemic-gap
-
-
Published Research Report
-
Das Gewicht der Schweiz: Eine quantitative Synthesestudie zum Body Mass Index und Bauchumfang sowie den damit verbundenen Kofaktoren bei erwachsenen Männern und Frauen in der Schweiz Bundesamt für Gesundheit BAG. https://www.bag.admin.ch/dam/bag/de/dokumente/npp/forschungsberichte/forschungsberichte-e-und-b/schlussbericht-bmi.pdf.download.pdf/Schlussbericht%20BMI_V7.pdf
-
-
-
2019
-
Journal Article
-
Mindful eating and common diet programs lower body weight similarly: Systematic review and meta‐analysis Obesity Reviews, 20, 1619–1627. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12918
-
Influence of network properties on a migration induced secular height trend by Monte Carlo simulation Anthropologischer Anzeiger, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2019/1032
-
Clustering of sociodemographic and lifestyle factors among adults with excess weight in a multilingual country Nutrition, 62, 177–185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nut.2019.01.001
-
Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults Nature, 569, 260–264. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1171-x
-
Have Swiss adult males and females stopped growing taller? Evidence from the population-based nutrition survey menuCH, 2014/2015 Economics and Human Biology, 33, 201–210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2019.03.009
-
Water, sanitation and mortality in Swiss towns in the context of urban renewal in the late nineteenth century The History of the Family, 24, 249–276. https://doi.org/10.1080/1081602x.2019.1598460
-
Development of physical fitness performance in young Swiss men from 2006 to 2015 Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 29, 586–596. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.13376
-
Spatial Association of Food Sales in Supermarkets with the Mean BMI of Young Men: An Ecological Study Nutrients, 11, 579. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11030579
-
Changes in biological pathways during 6,000 years of civilization in Europe Molecular Biology and Evolution, 36, 127–140. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msy201
-
Wichtigkeit von Bauchumfangmessungen bei der Rekrutierung für die Schweizer Armee aus präventiv-medizinischer Sicht Koordinierter Sanitätsdienst : Informationsschrift über den KSD in der Schweiz, 1, 48–54.
-
Wealthier – older – taller: measuring the standard of living in Switzerland since the 19th century Schweizerische Zeitschrift Für Geschichte, 69, 207–232. http://sgg-ssh.ch/de/szgrshrss-69-2019-no-2
-
Body height and waist circumference of young Swiss men as assessed by 3D laser-based photonic scans and by manual anthropometric measurements PeerJ, 7, e8095. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8095
-
Lebensstil und Status: Wodurch unterschieden sich übergewichtige von nomalgewichtigen Menschen in der Schweiz? Schweizer Ernährungsbulletin, 42–62. https://www.blv.admin.ch/blv/de/home/lebensmittel-und-ernaehrung/ernaehrung/schweizer-ernaehrungsbulletin.html
-
-
Book Section
-
Changes in mortality in Switzerland, 1880–1910 In J. Flores Zendejas, G. Hürlimann, L. Lorenzetti, & H.-U. Schiedt (Eds.), Texte und Zahlen / Des textes et des chiffres (No. 33; Vol. 33, pp. 69–91). Chronos Verlag.
-
-
