Career discovery: NGO/IO Olivier Menzel, Chairman and Founder, Blackswan Foundation

Dr Olivier Menzel graduated from the University of Geneva where he obtained a Master of Medical Genetics in 2001 and a PhD in 2006 from the University of Lausanne and EPFL at the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC). For seven years he directed the laboratory of pediatric surgery at the University Hospital of Geneva. In parallel he created the BLACKSWAN Foundation, a Swiss foundation to support research on rare and orphan diseases worldwide, organized an international scientific conferences (RE(ACT) Congress)and launched an online platform for sharing scientific knowledge and crowdfunding (RE(ACT) Community). In 2013 he obtained an Executive MBA from the HEC of Lausanne with a specialization in Management Healthcare. He acted as managing director of a company specialized in the identification, acquisition, development, marketing and sale of research programs for rare and orphan diseases and as director of the second largest group of private clinics in Switzerland. Now he is Managing Director at Think Rare Sàrl and fully involved in the BLACKSWAN Foundation activities.