Gérard Escher is currently senior advisor to the Board of GESDA, the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator. He has a diploma in Biology from the University of Geneva, and a PhD from the University of Lausanne. He joined the Department of Neurobiology at Stanford University as a postdoctoral fellow and research associate. After his return to Switzerland (University of Lausanne), he led a research group working on synapse formation. In 1999, he became scientific advisor to Secretary of State for Education and Research, Charles Kleiber. He became assistant director at the State Secretariat for Education and Research in 2005, in charge of science policy and forecast. In 2008 he moved to the Ecole Polytechnique Federale in Lausanne, where he acted as senior advisor to Presidents Patrick Aebischer and Martin Vetterli.