Affiliation: Bern University of Applied Sciences / University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich Country: Switzerland

1. Current Status, Position

Prof Dr Helena Jenzer has 2 job activities and affiliations: 50% as past head of applied Research and Development Nutrition and Dietetics at Bern University of Applied Sciences (Bern). 80% cover research activities and 20% teaching. 50% as chief pharmacist at the University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich. The main activity actually is to develop the Quality Assurance system and to promote hospital pharmacy research for the Medical Faculty of the University of Zurich.

2. Education

Helena Jenzer is a specialist in hospital pharmacy, educated at the Universities of Fribourg and Bern Switzerland from 1978-1984. She got the Doctor of pharmacy Degree in 1987. She had then leading positions as head of a hospital pharmacy for more than 25 years, as well as positions as qualified person in producing hospital pharmacies and in a blood product manufacturing industry. She is specialised in all questions of quality assurance, manufacturing and quality control in a frame of cGMP and PIC/s guidelines. She has a CAS in Public Health Collaboration. She was a member of the board of the GSASA and is currently member of the Scientific Committee of the EAHP (European Association of Hospital Pharmacist). Her further activities were leading full-time a nutritional medicines research division at a University of Applied Sciences, which lead to a series of publications including supply chain related articles about the availability of medicines. In 2014 and 2015 she was main proposer and became chair of COST Action CA15105 (European Medicines Shortages Research Network - addressing supply problems to patients). Actually, she has two half time equivalents as head researcher and as chief hospital pharmacist.

3. Research Area

Starting from her thesis topic on biomolecular mechanisms of thyroid hormone biosynthesis, Helena Jenzer performed research on enzymology of cytochrome enzymes such as peroxidases, oxygenases, cyclooxygenases and Nitric Oxide Synthase (NOS) competing Arginase. Many of these enzymes are involved in nutritionally related diseases and metabolic pathways such as wound healing, angiogenesis, energy production (respiratory chain, oxidative phosphorylation). The latest activities have been focusing on the genomics based impacts of nutrients and pharmaca on obesity, physical performance, metabolism of antipsychotic drugs, aromatase, ethnicity-dependant nutritional disorders and many more.

Conflict of interest: None