Robert Steffen

Last updated
Robert Steffen
Alma mater
Awards
  • Honorary Fellow of the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine [1]
Scientific career
Institutions University of Zurich

Robert Steffen is an Emeritus Professor at the Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, University of Zurich, Switzerland [2] and an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Public in Houston. He is an editor of the Journal of Travel Medicine. [3] [4]

Contents

Education

Robert Steffen was born and raised in Zurich. He was a medical student at the local university and towards the end of his medical studies, he was elected as the president of the International Federation of Medical Students Association. [5] [6]

He initially trained to become a flight surgeon at the Swiss Air Force Medical Institute. Subsequently, he obtained a broad education in Internal medicine and epidemiology at academic institutions in Sydney, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Chicago, San Francisco, and London.

Research and career

Steffen's research focused on the epidemiology and prevention of infectious diseases in travelers. Areas of research included malaria, vaccines and travelers’ diarrhea. [7] [8] [9] He conducted a study on the oral antibiotic formulation Rifamycin SV – MMX for treating traveler’s diarrhea and also promoted researches on the interests of older travelers. [10] [11] Lately he focused on a viral infection called Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE). [12] [13] [14]

In the early days of his career, he served as a Chief Border Physician at the Zurich Airport. [15] Steffen served as Chair of the 2018 IHR Emergency Committee and Vice-Chair of the 2014-2016 IHR Emergency Committee for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] During the Gulf War he was the leader of Task Force Scorpio. [23]

Awards and honors

He currently serves as the member of the Swiss Society for Infectious Diseases and an honorary fellow of the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine. [24] [25] Additional award includes the Bronze Medal of the City of Paris and also received the honor of serving as the chairman of the W.H.O. emergency committee. [26] He also has served as the President for International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM). [27]

Publications

References

  1. "Robert Steffen". who.int.
  2. "WHO | Biographies of the members of, and advisers to, the IHR Emergency Committee regarding the Ebola outbreak in West Africa". WHO. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  3. "WHO | Biographies of Members of, and Advisers to the Meeting of the International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency Committee for Ebola Viral Disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 12 April 2019". WHO. Archived from the original on April 17, 2019. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  4. "Editorial_Board". Oxford Academic. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  5. "Past Officials". International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (IFMSA). Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  6. "Honorary Life Members". International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (IFMSA). Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  7. Steffen, Robert; Lobel, Hans O. (1994-02-01). "Epidemiologic basis for the practice of travel medicine". Journal of Wilderness Medicine. 5 (1): 56–66. doi:10.1580/0953-9859-5.1.56. ISSN   0953-9859.
  8. Steffen, Robert (2017-04-01). "Epidemiology of travellers' diarrhea". Journal of Travel Medicine. 24 (suppl_1): S2 –S5. doi: 10.1093/jtm/taw072 . ISSN   1195-1982. PMID   28520996.
  9. Steffen. "Travel health - Travel medicine". www.thejhs.org. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
  10. Steffen, Robert; Jiang, Zhi-Dong; Gracias Garcia, Mónica L.; Araujo, Prithi; Stiess, Michael; Nacak, Tanju; Greinwald, Roland; DuPont, Herbert L. (2018-01-01). "Rifamycin SV-MMX® for treatment of travellers' diarrhea: equally effective as ciprofloxacin and not associated with the acquisition of multi-drug resistant bacteria". Journal of Travel Medicine. 25 (1). doi:10.1093/jtm/tay116. ISSN   1195-1982. PMC   6331114 . PMID   30462260.
  11. Flaherty, Gerard T.; Rossanese, Andrea; Steffen, Robert; Torresi, Joseph (2018-01-01). "A golden age of travel: advancing the interests of older travellers" . Journal of Travel Medicine. 25 (1). doi: 10.1093/jtm/tay088 . ISSN   1195-1982. PMID   30239856.
  12. Steffen, Robert (2019). "Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in children in Europe: Epidemiology, clinical outcome and comparison of vaccination recommendations". Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases. 10 (1): 100–110. doi: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2018.08.003 . ISSN   1877-9603. PMID   30241699.
  13. Steffen, Robert; Bouchama, Abderrezak; Johansson, Anders; Dvorak, Jiri; Isla, Nicolas; Smallwood, Catherine; Memish, Ziad A (2012-02-01). "Non-communicable health risks during mass gatherings". The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 12 (2): 142–149. doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(11)70293-6. ISSN   1473-3099. PMID   22252147.
  14. Steffen, Robert (2016-07-01). "Epidemiology of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in international travellers to Western/Central Europe and conclusions on vaccination recommendations". Journal of Travel Medicine. 23 (4). doi: 10.1093/jtm/taw018 . ISSN   1195-1982. PMID   27087558.
  15. "Im Kampf gegen Sars, Malaria und Diarrhö | NZZ". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  16. "Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern". PAHO.org. 17 July 2019.
  17. "No emergency declaration for Ebola, WHO says". Devex. 2018-10-17. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  18. Gallagher, James (2019-04-12). "Ebola outbreak 'not global emergency yet'". BBC News. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  19. Ebola outbreak declared global health emergency - VIDEO , retrieved 2019-08-13
  20. "WHO declares Ebola in Congo to be emergency of 'international concern'". The Washington Post .
  21. "WHO sounds Ebola alarm as risks intensify". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  22. "DRC's Ebola outbreak an 'emergency' - Chinadaily.com.cn". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  23. Woodall, John Jack (2016-02-08). "WHO reform: bring back GOARN and Task Force 'Scorpio'". Infection Ecology & Epidemiology. 6: 30237. doi:10.3402/iee.v6.30237. ISSN   2000-8686. PMC   4748086 . PMID   26860977.
  24. "Members – Swiss Society for Infectious Diseases". www.sginf.ch. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  25. "WHO | Biographies of the members of, and advisers to, the IHR Emergency Committee regarding the Ebola outbreak in West Africa". WHO. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  26. Grady, Denise (2019-07-17). "Ebola Outbreak in Congo Is Declared a Global Health Emergency". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  27. "The International Society of Travel Medicine". www.istm.org. Retrieved 2019-08-13.
  28. Steffen, Robert (2016). "Epidemiology of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in international travellers to Western/Central Europe and conclusions on vaccination recommendations". Journal of Travel Medicine. 23 (4). doi: 10.1093/jtm/taw018 . ISSN   1708-8305. PMID   27087558.
  29. Steffen, Robert; Jiang, Zhi-Dong; Gracias Garcia, Mónica L.; Araujo, Prithi; Stiess, Michael; Nacak, Tanju; Greinwald, Roland; DuPont, Herbert L. (2018). "Rifamycin SV-MMX® for treatment of travellers' diarrhea: equally effective as ciprofloxacin and not associated with the acquisition of multi-drug resistant bacteria". Journal of Travel Medicine. 25 (1). doi:10.1093/jtm/tay116. ISSN   1708-8305. PMC   6331114 . PMID   30462260.
  30. Steffen, Robert; Hill, David R.; DuPont, Herbert L. (2015-01-06). "Traveler's diarrhea: a clinical review". JAMA. 313 (1): 71–80. doi:10.1001/jama.2014.17006. ISSN   1538-3598. PMID   25562268.
  31. Steffen, Robert (2018). "Travel vaccine preventable diseases-updated logarithmic scale with monthly incidence rates". Journal of Travel Medicine. 25 (1). doi: 10.1093/jtm/tay046 . ISSN   1708-8305. PMID   30016468.
  32. Steffen, Robert (2010). "Influenza in travelers: epidemiology, risk, prevention, and control issues" (PDF). Current Infectious Disease Reports. 12 (3): 181–185. doi:10.1007/s11908-010-0100-9. ISSN   1534-3146. PMC   7088976 . PMID   21308527.