Kathleen Seidel, MD, has been awarded the prestigious Theodor Kocher Prize at this year's Dies Academicus. The University of Bern is using this award to recognize her approximately ten years of research in the field of intraoperative neurophysiology, which has significantly contributed to improving tumor operations.

This year's Theodor Kocher Prize was awarded to Kathleen Seidel, senior physician at the Department of Neurosurgery at Inselspital, Bern University Hospital

Kathleen Seidel developed a method that enables neurosurgeons to estimate the distance to important nerve centers and pathways during tumor operations in the brain and spinal cord. In a second step, she developed the so-called dynamic sucker together with her head physician Prof. Andreas Raabe. This is a surgical instrument that the neurosurgeon uses to remove the tumor during the tumor operation. The dynamic suction cup continuously uses an acoustic signal to alert her if she comes dangerously close to the important centers in the brain or spinal cord. The dynamic suction cup has been on the market since 2015 and is now used in 37 countries.

At the Inselspital, the senior physician has built up a research group for intraoperative neuromonitoring and navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation, whose results have received international recognition.

Kathleen Seidel is also actively involved in projects to develop neuromonitoring techniques in India, South Africa and other countries.

The University of Bern awards the Theodor Kocher Prize, worth CHF 50,000, to recognize outstanding young scientists from all faculties for their exceptional and promising scientific achievements. The prize is named after the internationally renowned Bernese surgeon Theodor Kocher, who received the Nobel Prize in 1909.

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