Jungfraujoch and beyond: high altitude physiology and medicine

The association «smarter medicine – Choosing Wisely Switzerland», of which the SAMS is a member, is committed to providing optimal healthcare in Switzerland. It encourages professional societies to draw up Top 5 lists defining interventions that should be avoided altogether or only used under specific conditions. In February 2026, the Swiss Headache Society (SHS) published such a list.

Six new healthcare institutions have been onboarded to the Swiss Personalized Health Network (SPHN). These include five cantonal hospitals and the Swiss Cancer Institute, which are now ready to contribute clinical data to multi-site research projects in personalized medicine. This is a key achievement in the ongoing effort to extend and standardize health data exchange across Swiss healthcare institutions.

After eight years of coordinated effort, the Swiss Personalized Health Network (SPHN) released the metadata of a uniquely rich national clinical dataset, spanning more than 800’000 patients and billions of semantically harmonized data points across diagnoses, procedures, labs, medications, vital signs, and more. Researchers can now easily discover what data exists in Switzerland and how to access it.