Thomas Hugle MD, PhD, MA

Dr. Thomas Hugle obtained his medical degree at the University of Freiburg in Germany in 2001. He performed his clinical training in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology at the Ospedale Civico in Lugano (Switzerland) and the University Hospital in Basel. He also worked clinically at the Hôpital Necker in Paris (Nephrology and Immunology) and the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, UK (Rheumatology). Dr. Hügle received his MD in 2001 in the field of chronic inflammation and fibrosis in Hepatitis C Infection at the University of Freiburg. This work was awarded the Heinz-Kalk Memorial award. In 2008 he performed his Ph.D. in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK entitled „The Role of Inflammation in Systemic Sclerosis“ under the supervision of Prof. Jaap van Laar.

Dr. Hugle joined the Osteoarthritis Research Group Basel in 2011. He has subsequently set up the Osteoarthritis Research Lab and the Osteoarthritis Research Center Basel. From 2010 he worked as a consultant in the Rheumatology department at the University Hospital Basel and was finally appointed in 2016 as Professor and head of the department of Rheumatology in Lausanne. Before that, he obtained a Master's degree in healthcare management at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern in 2015.

Dr. Thomas Hugle's research interest is in the role of chronic inflammation in primary and secondary osteoarthritis and in digital rheumatology. He has also a strong interest in technical innovation: he invented and developed in collaboration with the company Dr. Karl Storz Tuttlingen the „Retroforceps“ for synovial biopsies. Dr. Hügle also patented the first anatomic forearm crutch shell named „Ulnar Pro“, which is currently produced by the European market leader Rebotec.