PD Jakob Usemann, MD, PhD

I am a clinical scientist (post-doctoral research fellow and clinical consultant) at the University Children’s Hospital Zurich and Basel. I am supervising two PhD students, and co-supervising two further PhD students in the pulmonology research group and I am part of the Basel-Bern Infant lung Development cohort. My research focuses on risk factors associated with lung development during childhood. In order to study the small contribution of different risk factors associated with lung functional development, I studied different lung function tests and developed new clinically useful scores to assess respiratory disease in children. May aim is to further understand pathophysiological changes after cancer therapy using sensitive outcome measures.

• Scientific Board: European Respiratory Society (ERS) Clinical Research Collaboration Working Group

• Chair «Lung function» at Deutsche Gesellschaft für pädiatrische Pneumologie

• Member: Swiss Society for Pediatric Pulmonology, European Respiratory Society, German Society for Pediatric Pulmonology, European Society for Pediatric Research,

• Chair: Section Lung function, German Society for Pediatric Pulmonology

• Delegate: Pulmonology, Swiss Society of Pediatrics

• The Lancet Planetary Health
• American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
• European Respiratory Journal
• Journal of Applied Physiology
• British Medical Journal
• Pediatrics, Clinical and Translational Immunology
• Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
• Environmental Research
• Respiratory Medicine
• Pediatric Pulmonology
• Clinical and Translational Immunology and many more

Editorial Board: PloS One, IF 3.7

PI or Co-PI to peer-reviewed grants summing up to CHF 1510’000 over the last 6 years.

1. Swiss Cancer Research: Novel lung function testing and lung imaging to identify origins of pulmonary dysfunction in childhood cancer patients. (366.000 CHF; 7/2022; Principal Investigator)

2. Vertex Unrestricted Grant: In depth analysis of treatment effects by Trikafta (Elaxacaftor, Tezacaftor and Ivacaftor) on disease specific breath features using SESI-HRMS and sputum inflammation and microbiome in children and adolescents aged 12 and older with cystic fibrosis. (220.000 CHF Co-Investigator, 09/2021)

3. Swiss Cancer Research: Pulmonary dysfunction after childhood cancer: assessing early-stage disease (Phase 2). (370.000 CHF; 7/2021; Co-Investigator)

4. Palatin Foundation: Combining lung function, lung imaging and breath analysis to investigate pulmonary dysfunction in childhood cancer patients. (CHF 200.000; 09/2020; Principal Investigator)

5. Lungenliga Schweiz: Effects of air pollution on lung function and lung growth in Swiss children. (CHF 60.000; 07/2020; Principal Investigator)

6. Lungenliga Bern: Luftibus in the school-smoking behavior and respiratory health outcomes in Swiss children. (CHF 63.000; 06/2020; Co-Investigator)

7. University Children’s Hospital Zürich, Forschungszentrum für das Kind: Interdisciplinary assessment of single ventricle patients: how do heart, lungs, and patients adapt to an unphysiological circulation? (CHF 66.000; 01/2020; Co-Investigator)

8. University of Basel Research fond: Exhaled breath analysis in pediatric patients exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (EBATS). (CHF 80.000; 08/2018; Principal Investigator)

9. University Children’s Hospital Basel «Special Program» Grant: Non-invasive urinary eicosanoid profiles to study acute respiratory tract infections in infancy. (CHF 65.000; 12/2017; Principal Investigator)

10. Deutsche, Schweizer und Österreichische Gesellschaft für pädiatrische Pneumologie: «Cluster Analyse von Risikofaktoren für Respiratorische Symptome im ersten Lebensjahr und Assoziationen mit Asthmaentwicklung im Schulalter.» (CHF 20.000; 04/2016; Principal Investigator)

• Pfizer Research Price Clinical Research Award to my PhD Student Amanda Gisler (2022)

• Swiss Aerosol Award (Swiss Aerosol Group, SAG) (2021)

• German Society of Pediatric Pulmonology Poster Award (2020)

• Swiss Society for Pediatrics Talent Prize (2019)

• Swiss Society for Pediatrics Poster Award (2018)

• University Children’s Hospital Basel Research Award (2017)

Theses under my co-supervision

• Amanda Gisler; PhD University of Basel, accepted 2022: «Main and Interaction Effects of Gaseous and Particulate Pollutants on Respiratory Health in Children»
• Andrea Suter; MD University of Basel, accepted 2019: «Variability of Tidal Breathing Parameters in Preterm Infants and Associations with Respiratory Morbidity during Infancy: A Cohort Study»
• Desirée Demann; MD University of Bern, accepted 2018 : «Interrupter technique in infancy: Higher airway resistance and lower short-term variability in preterm versus term infants»

Teaching activity

• Clinical skills training for MD students, University Children’s Hospital Zürich
• Teaching at the «Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes»: «Krankheit, Evidenz, Nichtwissen. Aktuelle Fragen der Philosophie der Medizin.»
• Medical student teaching during the «Wissenschafts Monat (WIMO)» at the University of Basel