Research is often carried out by specialists who surround themselves with other specialists from the same field and with the same mind-set, limiting their exposure to new ideas and impeding access to interdisciplinary knowledge. In the field of anaesthesiology, this situation is being tested by rapid advances in acute care medicine and by demographic shifts that limit access to resources and require continuous adaptation. In addition, changes in regulatory frameworks such as the increase in ambulatory surgery are forcing the field of anaesthesiology to rapidly evolve. At various interfaces, acute care medicine is embracing a collaborative perspective. An understanding of the entire perioperative period is becoming necessary to improve quality and add value for all involved.

Our group investigates themes at the very core of anaesthesiology. We provide services for a variety of stakeholders, including patients, surgeons, interventionalists, and the entire acute care system of a hospital.

With this approach, we add value to all our stakeholders in perioperative medicine by decreasing the perioperative impact on organ systems, developing sustainable human resource and staffing policies and shared decision making through interdisciplinary collaboration.

 We place great value on our internal collaborations at the Bern University Hospital Inselspital:

• Prof. Daniel Candinas, MD, Department of Visceral Medicine and Surgery
• Prof. Thierry Carrel, MD, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery
• Prof. Joerg C. Schefold, MD, Department of Intensive Care Medicine

We are grateful for our national and international collaborations with the following researchers:

• Prof. Sharmila Anandasabapathy, MD, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston TX, USA
• PD Dr. Lukas Andereggen, MD, Department of Neurosurgery, Kantonsspital Aarau, Aarau, Switzerland
• Prof. Dietrich Doll, MD, PhD, Department of Surgery, St. Marien-Hospital Vechta, Germany
• Prof. Massimiliano Meineri, MD, Department of Anesthesiology, Herzzentrum Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
• Prof. Patrick Schober, MD, PhD, Department of Anesthesiology and HEMS Lifeliner 1, Amsterdam University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Prof. Richard D. Urman, MD, MBA, Center for Perioperative Research, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston MA, USA 
• Prof. Pascal O. Zinn, MD, PhD, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh PA, USA

• Society for Neuroscience in Anesthesiology and Critical Care (SNACC) John D. Michenfelder Award 2016 (Markus Luedi)
• University of Bern Johanna Dürmüller Bol Research Award 2016 (Markus Luedi)