Prof. Heiner C. Bucher MD MPH is an emeritus professor of clinical epidemiology (University of Basel) and a former consultant for the Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Hygiene (University Hospital Basel), registrar (ETH Zurich, 2017-2021, Department of Health Sciences and Technology), researcher (University of California, 1988-1989, Berkeley, USA), visiting professor (McMaster University Hamilton, 1994-1996, Canada), and visiting scholar (Stanford University, 2013, Palo Alto, USA). He developed
the first method of indirect comparison for meta-analysis (Bucher method) which has become very prominent for use in HTA and led to the development of network meta-analysis. He has a long-standing experience in HIV research where he has conducted numerous studies using large-scale observational data and data from the Swiss HIV Cohort Study. In addition, he has conducted several trials in primary care aiming at optimizing the use of antibiotics in respiratory tract infections. He has been involved in over 100 meta-analyses, using direct and indirect comparisons and individual patient data meta-analyses to investigate the effectiveness of medical interventions in clinical trials. He has been very active in comparative effectiveness research, using large-scale routinely collected data and designing innovative interventions in primary care with the use of pragmatic clinical trials. He has also been very active in Health Technology Assessments (HTAs) in Switzerland and Germany.
