The BLACKSWAN Foundation was founded by Dr Olivier Menzel and born of the efforts of the Division of Pediatric Surgery of the University Hospitals Geneva.
Dr Menzel has based his career on advancing our understanding of rare and orphan diseases. However, he promptly realized that there was a dire lack of support from private and public funding sources in Switzerland. This is in contrast to the fact that there are 8000 rare diseases and that as many as 5 new conditions are reported weekly in the medical literature. It is estimated that as many as 500'000 Swiss residents suffer from a rare or orphan disease.
The Foundation’s mission started in 2010 thanks to the efforts and help of a multi-talented Board of Directors comprised of experts in the fields of finance, law, and the health sciences.