Philippe Morel, MD, PhD

Philippe Morel

After a surgical training in Geneva, Switzerland, Prof. Morel started his residency and fellowship at the University Hospital, Geneva in Switzerland. He then, in 1994, spent 12 months at the General Hospital Birmingham (Professor J. Alexander-Williams) in UK, in the field of abdominal surgery and most specifically in the field of inflammatory bowel diseases. He then continued his training in Geneva and became assistant professor prior to continue his training in the US where I worked between 1988 and 1991, initially in Minneapolis (Professor J. Najarian and Professor DER Sutherland) and then in Pittsburgh (Professor T.E. Starzl) in the field of pancreas, kidney, islets and liver transplantation. Prof. Morel later returned to Geneva where he started and led the pancreas and islets transplant program as well as the non heart beating donor program for kidneys, the small bowel transplant program and the living related liver transplant program.

Prof. Morel was then appointed head of visceral and transplantation surgery in 1995, at the University Hospital Geneva – CH and became the chair of the department of surgery in 1996. Simultaneously he became full professor of surgery at the Faculty of Medicine.

Largely involved in solid organ transplantation he started an islet isolation core facility that is yet one of the leading centres worldwide. Prof. Morel successively became medical director and then vice-president of Swisstransplant.

He has been the surgical director of the transplant network of West Switzerland including two university centres, Lausanne and Geneva and currently is the president of three foundations: Fairtransplant, Fondation for New Surgical Technologies and Insuleman.

In 1996 he launched the 1st European Day for Organ Donation and Transplantation and in 2005 the 1st World Day for Organ Donation and Transplantation. Both of those days have then been observed almost yearly since then.

In 2006 Prof. Morel started the visceral robotic (Da Vinci) program at the University Hospital Geneva, where over the years he has performed about 1,500 robotic surgical procedures including bariatric surgery (gastric bypass), gastric, liver, pancreatic, large bowel, small bowel and parietal operations.

He has organized several postgraduates training courses in robotic as well as in LESS surgery and inaugurated a training facility within the University Hospital Geneva.

In October 2018, he moved to private practice within the Swiss Medical Network where he is now active at the Clinic Générale-Beaulieu in Geneva, as well as the Clinic Genolier in Genolier – CH

Prof. Morel is continuing his robotic surgical activity within the Swiss Medical Network which has robotic Da Vinci facilities in Switzerland.

Prof. Morel is the author or co-author of over 450 papers published in peer reviewed publications.

Currently his major interest is the development of new surgical technologies.