About me

I am a paediatric intensive care nurse by training and an Full Professor at the UAS La Source School of Nursing in Lausanne, where I lead research on child and family health. I have always been passionate about research and how it can advance care, and this has been the main driving force behind my career. Before moving into academia, I spent many years at the bedside in the paediatric intermediate and intensive care units of Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and the University Children’s Hospital Basel (UKBB), later also working as a scientific collaborator. I tend to look at situations as a whole, to connect people and ideas, and to look for what makes change last.

Throughout my clinical years, one question stayed with me: what do families go through when their child is critically ill, and how can we, as healthcare professionals, best support them? This question shaped my academic path, from a Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Child and Family Health in the Hospital Setting to a Master’s degree and a PhD in Nursing Science, and it remains at the heart of my work today. My research explores how families can be integrated into care, so that supporting the family becomes a recognised and structured part of care in paediatrics, and more broadly in the community. An important part of this work concerns implementation: how such changes can take root in practice and, more specifically, how to educate and train healthcare professionals at multiple levels to adopt a different perspective.

This way of thinking has developed over time, shaped by several people who influenced how I think and work. AOB and JC opened my eyes to public health and the wider perspective, and taught me the value of a strategic approach. MHP, together with my years as a clinician, showed me how essential a holistic, patient-centred approach is, without ever losing sight of the bigger picture: each individual, including every member of the family, is unique and part of a complex and dynamic system that has to be considered and taken care of. ASR was key in helping me adopt a critical perspective and understand the scientific process. I learned the importance of moving beyond personal beliefs and convictions towards well-founded, evidence-based statements and results, especially when it comes to contributing new knowledge.

From these experiences grew a conviction that guides my involvement at every level: every person, team, setting and system has the capacity to find its own balance. This means supporting healthcare professionals as they navigate the challenges of daily practice, helping teams and boards recognise the resources at their disposal and how best to activate them, and encouraging systems to remain human and aware of the remarkable strength they hold when the process is meaningful and valued by all. I sometimes imagine a future in which collective well-being takes precedence over individual wealth, and in which healthcare professionals at every level work together transparently, efficiently and with empathy, to achieve ambitious, dynamic and sustainable goals that inspire confidence and ensure safety.