OHDSI Switzerland - National Node
Local Collaboration. European Impact.
As one of the youngest national nodes hosted at Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, the Swiss OHDSI National Node is dedicated to building a robust and sustainable semantic foundation for clinical data, fostering interoperability, terminological expertise, and OMOP CDM implementation across the Swiss research ecosystem, while acting as a national hub for collaboration and institutional exchange. Positioned as a bridge between Switzerland and the developing European Health Data Space, it aims to support future collaborative projects by enabling secure, scalable, and internationally aligned health data reuse for research and precision medicine.
Community Snapshot
6
data partners
6
active organisations
Objectives
- Support sustainable OMOP adoption across Swiss hospitals, research groups, and organisations.
- Align Swiss data models and vocabularies with European and global OHDSI standards building a strong semantic layer providing interoperability by OMOP readiness
- Coordinate and collaborate: support common platforms & implementations; connect national & European projects
- Building expertise in interoperable medical ontologies
- Point of contact: easily accessible entry point for newcomers beginning their OMOP journey
Gallery
Focus areas
- Projects & collaborations
- INFRA: INFection Radar was developed to visualize and predict patients at risks for infection and sepsis built on an interoperable ontology with a dual modelling of the Swiss Personalized Health Network (SPHN) and the OMOP Common Data Model;
- https://sphn.ch/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/20220928_SPHN_Lay-Summary-Template_INFRA_def_EN_DE_F.pdf
- Bits to Breakthroughs Program on Data-Driven Approaches in Health and Medicine with the goal of enhancing interoperability and supporting the OHDSI activities; https://www.bitstobreakthroughs.ch/
- ACROSS – Actionable, Collaborative, Reusable, interOperable Sepsis System– infrastructure project aligning to the OMOP CDM, accepted in the 2024 Swiss Data Science Center Call; cross-institutional collaborating Centre hospitalier universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) and Inselspital, Bern University Hospital (Insel); ACROSS Project
- SHINe – Swiss Health Interoperability Network- cross-institutional infrastructure project for a semantic collaboration platfrom, Swiss Data Science Center and Inselspital Bern, accepted in the 2025 Swiss Data Science Center Call; https://github.com/OHDSI/SHINeSwissMappings
- CARESCORE - infrastructure project funded by the Digitization Commission University of Bern led by Inselspital Bern for federated OMOP CDM data modelling collaborating Centre hospitalier universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Inselspital, Bern University Hospital (Insel) accepted in 2025; https://www.unibe.ch/university/campus_and_infrastructure/digitalization_at_the_university_of_bern/implementation/projects/research_projects/index_eng.html
- Swiss National Node Kick-off — Bern, Friday, 17th October, 2025
- 1st Swiss study-a-thon — Bits to Breakthroughs conference, 2025; https://osf.io/f2ukp/overview?view_only=42e18ec260cc455fb621312479b111df
- 1st OMOP CDM aligned ontology:— DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.34753.11363
- Strong semantic layer
- Ensure Data Interoperability from the first entry point
- Building expertise in terminologies and strengthen the Swiss SNOMED CT edition
- Medical decision support and research
- Alignment of datamodels
- Common collaboration platform
How to join OHDSI Switzerland?
Governance
- Lead Institution: Inselspital University Hospital Bern – Olga Endrich –
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - The newly founded Swiss OHDSI National Node follows a lean and inclusive governance model, with Inselspital providing coordination while ensuring representation across institutions and stakeholder groups in Switzerland. It will serve as a national hub for collaboration, connecting partners and aligning efforts in support of interoperable, OMOP-based research.
- Join the OHDSI Community and select the Europe chapter: https://www.ohdsi.org/community/
- Request to be added to the Switzerland mailing list / newsletter:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Participate in open national events and working groups. https://www.linkedin.com/company/bits-to-breakthroughs/about/
- Bits to Breakthroughs: LinkedIn
- OHDSI Switzerland: LinkedIn
→
Join the OHDSI Community and select the Europe chapter:
www.ohdsi.org/community/✉
Contact Olga Endrich,
Activities
Useful resources
- Semantic Layer in Health Care https://preprints.jmir.org/preprint/93256
- SHINe – Swiss Health Interoperability Network (collaborative initiative) https://github.com/OHDSI/SHINeSwissMappings
- Bits to Breakthroughs 2025 Study-a-thon – collaborative modeling and semantic harmonization work informing OMOP conventions https://osf.io/f2ukp/overview
- Bits to Breakthroughs pogram https://www.bitstobreakthroughs.ch/about-us.html
- INFRA: INFection Radar https://sphn.ch/network/projects/
- Bits to Breakthroughs conference - dates will follow, please subscribe to updates here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bits-to-breakthroughs/about/
- Bits to Breakthroughs: LinkedIn
Upcoming events
- Bits to Breakthroughs conference - dates will follow, please subscribe to updates here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bits-to-breakthroughs/about/
Contributing organizations (selected)
The Switzerland Node includes organizations active in local node activities.
This is not an exhaustive list and will evolve as the community grows.
Interested in joining OHDSI Switzerland?
Connect with the national node and follow upcoming activities.