Robert Steffen, Professor Emeritus at the University of Zurich was the Head of the Division of Communicable Diseases in the Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute and Director of a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Traveller's Health. He also is Adjunct Professor at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston.
In the 1970’s he started systematic research in morbidity and mortality of illnesses and accidents related to international travel. Meanwhile he has (co-)authored over 400 publications, among them many relating to vaccination. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Travel Medicine, of the International Journal of Public Health and Section Editor for Clinical Infectious Diseases. In the 27 years of his tenure at the Zurich University Center for Travel Medicine he supervised over 1 million vaccinations as in that travel clinic there were almost 20,000 consultations per year.
Robert Steffen presided the Swiss Federal Commission for Influenza; he was Vice- President both of the Federal Commission on Vaccination and of the Swiss Bioterrorism Committee. The WHO often has invited him to advisory boards, such as during the revision of the International Health Regulations (IHR). During the Ebola outbreaks in West Africa 2014-2016 and 2018-2020 in the DRC he served as Chair of the Ebola Emergency Committee.
