BOVET Pascal

BOVET Pascal

Benevolent senior consultant (‘médecin cadre bénévole’)
(Formerly head of NCD section)

Diplômes : University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), MPH, 1992
University of Lausanne, Doctorate of medicine, 1990
University of Lausanne, Diploma of medicine, 1979

Swiss Federation of Public Health, Specialist FMH, 1998 (public health)
Swiss Federation of Physicians, Specialist FMH, 1990 (internal medicine)
Titres académiques : Associate professor, University of Lausanne
Domaine de recherche : Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs): epidemiology, epidemiological transition, prevention, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, tobacco, diet, global health, surveillance, programme evaluation, health policy
Enseignement : Several courses at pre- and post graduate levels (and in other universities)
I am currently a benevolent senior consultant (‘médecin cadre bénévole’) at Unisanté, as I am officially retired since 2019, but I remain active in the areas mentioned below. I was formerly the head of the section of noncommunicable disease (NCDs) at Unisanté, an associate professor at the University of Lausanne, and co-director of the WHO collaborating center on NCDs in populations in transition (NCDs). Earlier, I was resident and senior registrar in the Lausanne University Hospital Centre (CHUV and its former University Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine) and in other hospitals as a FMH specialist in internal medicine and later as a FMH specialist in public health.

For the past 30 years I was involved in epidemiology and prevention of NCDs, with an emphasis on developing countries and health transition. Under an agreement between the University of Lausanne and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Seychelles, I led, as a consultant with the Ministry of Health of Seychelles, several studies including several population-based surveys in adults (1989, 1994, 2004, 2013) and in children (1998-ongoing) and I am the PI in Seychelles of the five-country METS (Measuring the Epidemiological Transition Study), an NIH-sponsored ongoing cohort study led by Loyola University (Chicago) initiated in 2010 (ongoing) to examine the relation between physical activity, obesity, diabetes and recently microbiota/microbiome. I also led, or was also associated with, several epidemiological studies in other countries such as Tanzania (PI of a large hypertension study), Benin, Cameroon, China. My research in NCD epidemiology resulted in >400 papers (>37’000 citations) that contributed to document the epidemiological transition toward chronic diseases in low and middle income countries.

With regards to prevention, I contributed to the development of programs and policy related to NCDs in Seychelles, including national guidelines for hypertension and diabetes, the Seychelles Tobacco Control Act, a tax of sugary drinks, and the National Strategy for NCDs 2016-2025. I serve since several decades as a technical adviser for NCDs to the World Health Organization, including evaluation of national prevention programs in several countries and member of adviser in technical meetings.

I collaborate with several global research projects and consortia around the epidemiology of NCDs, including the Global Burden of Metabolic Risk Factors of Chronic Diseases Collaborating Group (Imperial College, London), the Global Dietary Database Consortium (Tuft University), the Global Health and Population Project on Access to Care for Cardiometabolic Diseases (Harvard), the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) DLW database consortium.

I have co-edited (and led the writing of several chapters), with a colleague from WHO, a book entitled ‘Noncommunicable Diseases: A Compendium’ which includes 59 chapters with 140 co-authors, targeting policy makers, public health specialists and students, published by Routledge in February 2023. http://www.routledge.com/9781032307923.