Professor Didier Pittet is a world-renowned infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist whose career has been dedicated to advancing global healthcare safety standards. Born in Geneva in 1957, he serves as Professor of Medicine at the University of Geneva and heads the Infection Prevention and Control Service at the Geneva University Hospitals. After completing his medical training, he joined the Internal Medicine Department at HUG in 1984, later pursuing epidemiological studies at the University of Iowa City before returning to Geneva in 1992 to establish the hospital's pioneering Infection Prevention and Control Service. His leadership extends to the global stage as Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Patient Safety, a position he assumed in 2005 following his groundbreaking work on infection control protocols.
Professor Pittet's seminal contribution to medical science came with his development of the multimodal Geneva Model for hand hygiene, which demonstrated conclusively that alcohol-based hand rub significantly outperforms traditional soap and water in preventing nosocomial infections. His landmark 2000 publication in The Lancet provided the scientific foundation for this approach, revealing how strategic implementation of alcohol-based solutions could dramatically reduce healthcare-associated infections when combined with proper training and monitoring systems. The Geneva Model's brilliance lies in its comprehensive five-point strategy that addressed not only the technical aspects of hand hygiene but also the behavioral and organizational factors that influence healthcare workers' compliance. This evidence-based approach transformed infection control practices worldwide, establishing alcohol-based hand rub as the gold standard for healthcare settings and saving countless lives through significantly reduced transmission of pathogens.
The global impact of Professor Pittet's work is underscored by the adoption of his Geneva Model by 170 countries and its designation as the universal standard by the World Health Organization's Clean Care is Safer Care program, which he leads. His methodology now protects approximately 90% of the world's population through its implementation in healthcare facilities across every continent, representing one of the most successful public health interventions of the modern era. Beyond his foundational work on hand hygiene, Professor Pittet continues to shape global health policy, recently serving as president of France's Independent National Mission to evaluate the management of the Covid-19 crisis, appointed by President Emmanuel Macron in 2020. His enduring legacy lies in transforming simple hand hygiene from an overlooked practice into a cornerstone of patient safety worldwide, with his principles continuing to guide infection control efforts during pandemics and everyday healthcare delivery.
