Sleep Bern

History

The University Hospital in Bern was one of the first hospitals in Switzerland where clinical neurology was developed. Between 1870 and 1920, Prof. H. Quincke (the first doctor to perform lumbar punctures), Prof. H. Lichtheim, Prof. P. Dubois (became the first (associate) professor of “neuropathology” in 1902) and other internists initiated lectures and seminars in neurology. In the following years, internists were slowly replaced by neurologists, including Werner Bertschi-Rochaix, who founded the Swiss Society for Clinical Neurophysiology in 1948. He was one of the first neurologists in Switzerland to use the electroencephalogram.

The Interfaculty Research Cooperation IRC - “Decoding Sleep: From Neurons to Health & Mind”, is an interdisciplinary project funded by the University of Bern, which started on the 1st of March 2018 and will be closed in 2024. IRC consolidated research in Sleep Medicine and Sleep Science at the University of Berne and Inselspital. The Sleep Bern platform stems from the IRC and other research, teaching, clinical and administrative activities.

The Clinic for Internal Medicine at the Inselspital opened the first neurological department with 12 beds in 1958 under the chairmanship of Prof. Rolf Magun (1958–1960). Prof. Marco Mumenthaler succeeded him (1962–1990) and was also the first head of his own neurology clinic (1966). From 1990 to 2012, Prof. Christian W. Hess headed the University Clinic for Neurology followed by Prof. Claudio L. Bassetti (2012-2024).