Dr. Christoph Nissen

Biography

Christoph Nissen studied medicine in Fribourg-en-Brisgau, Paris, and Berlin, specializing in psychiatry and psychotherapy at the University Hospital of Fribourg-en-Brisgau. He obtained his doctorate in 2001 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh from 2005 to 2006. Upon returning to Germany, he was appointed privat-docent at the University of Fribourg-en-Brisgau in 2011 and became an associate professor in 2014. From 2017 to 2021, he served as senior physician in the psychiatric university service, responsible for inpatient care, and was the medical director of the Center for Psychotherapy and a member of the management committee of the Bern Interdisciplinary Sleep Center. Nissen emphasizes improving the care of individuals with mental illnesses by integrating neurobiology, psychotherapy, and other therapies, advocating for a multidisciplinary approach. He focuses on the connections between sleep and mental illnesses, exploring how sleep modulation could be utilized therapeutically. Additionally, he is the president of the Sleep Unit of the German Society of Psychiatry and a former president of the Scientific Committee of the European Sleep Research Society. He is heavily involved in teaching his discipline and received the 2021 award from the Swiss Institute for Medical Education (ISFM). In January 2022, he was appointed full professor at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and chief physician of the psychiatric specialty service at HUG.

Research Interests