Ralph Schär, MD
PD Ralph Schär, MD, is a specialist in neurosurgery and Head Physician at the University Department of Neurosurgery at the Inselspital in Bern. Ralph Schär is Head of Spine Surgery and specializes in the surgical treatment of complex spinal diseases.
After…
PD Ralph Schär, MD, is a specialist in neurosurgery and Head Physician at the University Department of Neurosurgery at the Inselspital in Bern. Ralph Schär is Head of Spine Surgery and specializes in the surgical treatment of complex spinal diseases.
After studying medicine at the University of Bern, he completed his basic neurosurgical training at Inselspital. As part of his specialization in spine surgery, he completed a year at the Schulthess Clinic in Zurich and a fellowship at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada.
His research focuses on patient safety in neurosurgery with a focus on patient selection, surgical procedures and infection prevention.
Languages: German, French, English
Contact
Specialities
- Spinal surgery, especially minimally invasive or open surgery for disc hernias, spinal stenosis, spinal instabilities produced by degenerative, tumors or infectious spinal diseases.
- Navigated instrumentation and stabilization of the spine
- Intraoperative ultrasound for spinal procedures.
- Clarification and surgical treatment of spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid loss syndrome.
- Intervention pain therapy of the spine (infiltrations)
- General cranial neurosurgery (intracranial hemorrhage, traumatic brain injury, tumors, hydrocephalus)
- Clinical research of patient safety in spine surgery and cranial neurosurgery.
Projects
- Sponsor-Investigator (PI) in the clinical trial «Suprafascial Vancomycin Powder for Prevention of Surgical Site Infections after Instrumented Posterior Spinal Fusion: A Randomized Controlled Phase-II Trial»
- Principal investigator in the on-going observational study eCRANIO about elective craniotomies
Memberships
- AANS – American Association of Neurological Surgeons (Member)
- AO Spine (Member)
- EANS – European Association of Neurosurgical Societies (Member)
- EUROSPINE (Member)
- FMH Swiss Medical Association (Member)
- SGNC – Swiss Society for Neurosurgery (Member)
- VSAO – Association of Swiss Residents and Senior Physicians of FMH (Member)
Awards
Appointment as Neurosurgery Officer of the AO Spine Switzerland Council
1st Research Prize awarded by the Swiss Society of Neurosurgery with the paper "Reoperation Rate After Microsurgical Uni- or Bilateral Laminotomy for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis with and Without Low-Grade Spondylolisthesis: What do Preoperative Radiographic Parameters Tell Us?"
Best Original Paper in Clinical Neuroradiology with the paper "Vascular Dynamics of Cerebral Gliomas Investigated with Selective Catheter Angiography, Perfusion CT and MRI".
Professional experience
Head Physician and Head of Spine Surgery, University Department of Neurosurgery, Inselspital Bern (Prof. Andreas Raabe)
Senior Physician I and Head of Spine Surgery, Department of Neurosurgery, Inselspital Bern (Prof. Andreas Raabe)
Senior Physician I and Deputy Head of Spine Surgery, Department of Neurosurgery, Inselspital Bern (Prof. Andreas Raabe)
Senior physician II and deputy head of spine surgery, Department of Neurosurgery, Inselspital Bern (Prof. Andreas Raabe)
Resident, Neurosurgery/Spine Surgery, Schulthess Clinic Zurich (PD Dr. François Porchet, PD Dr. Dezsö Jeszenszky)
Deputy Senior Physician, University Department of Neurosurgery, Inselspital Bern (Prof. Andreas Raabe)
Resident, University Department of Neurosurgery, Inselspital Bern (Prof. Andreas Raabe)
Resident in rotation (non-specialist year), University Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Inselspital Bern (Prof. Jukka Takala)
Resident in rotation, University Department of Neurosurgery, Inselspital Bern (Prof. Rolf Seiler, Prof. Andreas Raabe)
Education
EUROSPINE Advanced Diploma
Clinical Fellowship in Spine Surgery/Spinal Neurosurgery (Complex Spine Surgery), St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto, Canada (Prof. Howard Ginsberg)
DWG Master Certificate
Certificate of Competence Interventional Pain Therapy SSIPM
Study of human medicine at the Medical Faculty of the University of Bern with stays in Oxford (UK) and Brazil