Academic position

Titular Professor at the University of Zurich since 2019, without an official teaching assignment

Specialisation

Musculoskeletal infections
Internal Medicine
Prevention and treatment of orthopedic infections, including the diabetic foot

Honors and awards

• Best Paper in Epidemiology:
  ICAAC Programme Comittee Award 2010: “Short Duration of Antibiotic Prophylaxis in Gustilo Grade III Open Extremities Fractures Does not Enhance Risk of Subsequent Infection” Boston, USA, September 2010.
• Best Poster:
  Epidemiology of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in a septic orthopaedic ward. Annual Meeting of the Swiss Society for Orthopaedic Surgery, June 2013, Lausanne.
• Best Research:
  No need for search of asymptomatic urinary tract colonization before elective hip and knee arthroplasty. Annual Meeting of the Swiss Society for Orthopaedic Surgery, June 2013, Lausanne.
• Best Research contribution:
  Outstanding research contributions in orthopedic infections. Oxford Bone Infection Conference, 2019.
• Prix Marko Müller:
  Administration of antibiotic agents before intraoperative sampling in orthopedic infections alters culture results. Annual Meeting of the Swiss Society for Orthopaedic Surgery, June 2015.
• Neviaser Award:
  Journal of Schoulder and Elbow Surgery 2023 for the best research in shoulder orthopedics
• Best Clinical Poster Price:
  "A postoperative initially inadequate antibiotic treatment is not associated with an increased risk of therapy failures in surgically addressed orthopedic infections" Annual Meeting of the Swiss Society for Orthopaedic Surgery, September 2024, in Lausanne.
• Best Research Paper:
  Short postsurgical antibiotic therapy for spinal infections
  -3rd interim analysis of the SASI trials. Annual Meeting of the Swiss Society for Orthopaedic Surgery, September 2024, in Lausanne.
• Acceptance as Fellow in the Royal Academy of Physicians; July 2024, London, England, for outstanding continuous research contributions in the field of orthopedic infections.

Academic career

Continuing professional development

Professional career

Degrees / Diplomas

Grants

• Grant for prospective non-randomized study “Combinaison de daptomycine et rifampicine dans les infections ostéo-articulaires” (100,000 CHF in the years 2011 and 2012). Educational research grant from Novartis AG and Research.
• Grant for prospective randomized study “Optimalisation du traitement des bursites septiques” (50,000 CHF in the years 2014–2016. Foundation of Geneva University Hospitals, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva).
• Grant for prospective study and quality project “Itinéraire clinique de la prise en charge du pied diabétique” (50,000 CHF in the years 2014–2016. Extraordinary Grant of Geneva University Hospitals).
• Grant for prospective randomized study “A Randomized, Controlled Study to Investigate the Efficacy and Safety of a Topical Gentamicin-Collagen Sponge in Combination with Systemic Antibiotic Therapy in Diabetic Patients with a Moderate or Severe Foot Ulcer Infection” (250,000 CHF; Research Fund of Innocoll Pharmaceutical Ltd. in the years 2014–2016).
• Grant for prospective randomized study “A Randomized, Controlled Study to Investigate the Safety and Efficacy of a Topical Gentamicin-Collagen Sponge in Diabetic Patients with a Mild Foot Ulcer Infection” (110,000 CHF as a follow-up grant from the Research Fund of Innocoll Pharmaceutical Ltd. in the years 2016–2017).
• Grant for prospective randomized study “Three Weeks Versus Six Weeks of Antibiotic Therapy for Diabetic Foot Osteomyelitis: A Prospective, Randomized, Noninferiority Pilot Trial” (20,000 CHF in the years 2016–2017; Fondation pour la lutte contre le cancer et pour les recherches médico-biologiques).
• Grant for prospective randomized study “Moderate to Severe Soft Tissue Diabetic Foot Infections: A Randomized, Controlled, Pilot Trial of Post-debridement Antibiotic Treatment for 10 versus 20 days” (20,000 CHF in the years 2018–2019; Fondation pour la lutte contre le cancer et pour les recherches médico-biologiques).
• Grant for prospective study “Acne cream reduces the deep Cutibacterium acnes tissue load before elective open shoulder surgery: a randomized controlled pilot trial” (10,000 CHF from the Robert Mathys Foundation (RMS), E18_0004, 2018–2020).
• Grant for prospective randomized studies “Optimization of the surgical and medical management of diabetic foot infections” (10,000 euros from the AFOR Foundation (Association for Orthopaedic Research in the year 2020)).
• Unconditional grant for prospective randomized study “Short postsurgical antibiotic therapy for spinal infections: protocol of prospective, randomized, unblinded, noninferiority trials (SASI trials)” (250,000 CHF from the Medacta International Fund in 2021).
• Unconditional grant for prospective randomized study “General Skin and Nasal Decolonization with octenisan® set before and after Elective Orthopedic Surgery in Selected Patients at Elevated Risk for Revision Surgery and Surgical Site Infections - a Single-Center, Unblinded, Superiority, Randomized Controlled Trial - The BALGDEC Trial” (55,000 CHF from the Schülke & Mayr Research Fund in the years 2023–2024).k for Revision Surgery and Surgical Site Infections - a Single-Center, Unblinded, Superiority, Randomized Controlled Trial - The BALGDEC Trial" (55,000 CHF from the Schülke & Mayr Research Fund in the years 2023–2024).

As co-applicant:

• Advanced Nanosensor Infection Diagnostics (Projekt 118 Balgrist-  Stiftung)(153'000 CHF). principal applicant: Dr. Nissler, Balgrist Campus

Memberships

• Swiss Society for Infectious Diseases
• Swiss Society for Orthopaedics (swissorthopaedics)
• American Limb Preservation Society (USA)
• American Society for Microbiology (USA)
• Royal College of Physicians (England)
• European Society for Infectious Diseases (ECCMID)
• International Working Group on the Diabetic Foot (IWGDF)

Scientific projects

Multiple projects. Prof. Uçkay is known for several prospective randomized studies on various aspects of the treatment and prevention of orthopedic infections, including diabetic foot infections.

Prof. Uçkay is an active member of several national and international guideline committees, including the IWGDF (International Working Group on the Diabetic Foot).

Reviewer and editorial board activities

Approx. 10–18 scientific peer reviews for international journals per year.

Regular annual review of approximately 15–25 abstracts for the following conferences:

• European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID)
• Swiss Orthopaedics

Peer review for (inter)national grants and professorship applications from around the world, including Ireland, the United Kingdom, Lithuania, Portugal, and the United States.

Supervision of 11 doctoral theses at the Universities of Geneva and Zurich.

Publications

Pubmed

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