THE PEZZ TEAM
We aim to understand as many subfields as possible and have experts in all relevant disciplines on our team. What drives us? Being able to make a difference for our patients and their families.
A private practice with its own research institute – around twelve staff members specialized in growth medicine.
SPECIALIZED IN GROWTH
Professor Dr. med. Urs Eiholzer
- Medical Specialist FMH in Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
- Specialized in growth, hormonal disorders, and diabetes
- Psychosomatic Medicine APPM
- Founder of PEZZ and overall director
more information about Urs Eiholzer
After completing his medical studies, Urs Eiholzer obtained his doctorate under Prof. Hanspeter Rohr at the University of Basel. He completed further training in general pediatrics in Lucerne, Zurich and especially in Lausanne with Prof. Emile Gautier, as well as in pediatric endocrinology with Prof. Andrea Prader and Prof. Milo Zachmann in Zurich.
Today, Urs Eiholzer leads the Pediatric Endocrinology Center Zurich (PEZZ), which he founded in 1987 and has since developed into a leading Swiss institute in pediatric endocrinology. The largely privately funded research department of PEZZ pursues the goal that research results should positively influence the quality of life of the people being studied. In 2002, Urs Eiholzer received the Venia legendi and in 2009 he was appointed adjunct professor at the University of Zurich. His clinical research focuses on questions concerning growth, puberty, body composition, as well as bio-psycho-social relationships.
In addition to intensive work on the Prader-Willi syndrome, his interest focuses on growth and the regulation of physical activity in children and adolescents.
Urs Eiholzer is the author of numerous scientific publications and articles. Several of his books are also aimed directly at patients and their families and caregivers. Two of his publications have been recognized by the British Medical Association.
Professor Dr. Dr. med. Kees Noordam
- Medical Specialist FMH in Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
- Specialized in growth, hormonal disorders, and diabetes
more information about Kees Noordam
Prof. Dr. phil. Dr. med. Kees Noordam has been working at PEZZ since July 2020. He is part of our medical team and supervises patients as well as scientific projects. As a physician, he sought a new challenge after his three children had grown up and so moved to Zurich together with his wife.
Kees Noordam comes from the Netherlands, where until 2020 he was the medical director and chief physician of the Amalia Children’s Hospital in Nijmegen and head of its department of endocrinology and diabetology. With more than 30 years of experience as a pediatrician and pediatric endocrinologist, he has an outstanding international reputation and is skilled in the evaluation of growth and hormone disorders. His scientific publications cover the entire field of pediatric endocrinology. He has conducted research on topics such as short stature, type 1 diabetes, growth hormone treatment, sex hormone replacement, bone density, psychosocial behavior, and more. Further focus areas of his work include SGA (Small for Gestational Age / growth restriction), as well as Prader-Willi syndrome and Noonan syndrome. In the Netherlands, Prof. Kees Noordam established, among other things, the Pediatric Diabetes Center in Nijmegen, which currently cares for over 350 children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Kees Noordam is co-founder and long-time advisor of the Dutch patient association “Stiftung Noonan Syndroom” and will now also advocate for this rare disease in Switzerland.
Dr. med. Claudia Katschnig
- Medical Specialist FMH in Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
- Specialized in growth, hormonal disorders, and diabetes
more information about Claudia Katsching
Dr. med. Claudia Katschnig is an experienced specialist in pediatrics with a focus on pediatric endocrinology and diabetology and has been working in Switzerland since 2008.
She combines solid medical knowledge with an impressive range of practical experience.
Claudia Katschnig completed her medical studies at the Medical University of Graz, where she also earned her doctorate. She began her professional career in Switzerland as an assistant physician in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Acute Hospital Herisau. She started her specialist training in pediatrics in 2008 at the pediatric department of the Cantonal Hospital Winterthur and continued it from 2012 at the Children’s Hospital Zurich, where she completed her training. During her time at the Children’s Hospital Zurich, she gained extensive experience in all areas of pediatrics, including the demanding fields of emergency medicine, intensive care, and neonatology.
In 2015, Dr. Katschnig began her specialization in pediatric endocrinology and diabetology and obtained the subspecialty title in pediatric endocrinology in 2017. Since then, she has been working at PEZZ, where she uses her expertise and dedication to support families with questions regarding growth and hormone disorders.
Her clinical focuses include:
- Stunted growth and growth hormone treatments
- Type 1 diabetes mellitus
- Sex hormone substitution therapy
- Thyroid disorders
- Bone density and body composition
- Sports medicine-related issues
A special focus of her work is on rare syndromes such as the Prader-Willi syndrome, as well as the care of children born small for gestational age (SGA).
PD Dr. med. Ilja Dubinski
- Medical Specialist FMH in Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
- Specialized in growth, hormonal disorders, and diabetes
more information about Ilja Dubinski
Dr. med. Ilja Dubinski brings impressive expertise in pediatric endocrinology and diabetology, which he practices with great passion and dedication.
His career most recently took him to the University Children’s Hospital of LMU Munich as senior physician, before he joined PEZZ in 2023.
Dr. Dubinski completed his medical studies at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. Early on, he showed a strong interest in scientific research and earned his doctorate at the Institute for Experimental Tumor Research in Pediatrics at the Frankfurt Foundation for Children with Cancer.
He completed his specialist training in pediatrics at the Children’s Clinic and Outpatient Department of the Dr. von Haunersches Children’s Hospital of Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich. During this time, he gained extensive experience in various medical disciplines and expanded his knowledge through training in emergency medicine.
He began his specialization in pediatric endocrinology and diabetology concurrently and successfully completed it at the Bavarian State Medical Association. Subsequently, he took on the role of senior attending physician at the University Children’s Hospital of LMU Munich, where he was responsible for managing complex cases in his field.
Since 2023, Dr. Dubinski has been working full-time at PEZZ. There, he supports families with questions regarding growth and hormone disorders with professional expertise and a holistic approach. He is particularly committed to the interplay between physical health and psychosocial well-being. For this reason, he also obtained qualification in Germany for psychosomatic primary care of children and adolescents.
His clinical focuses include:
- Growth Disorders
- Thyroid disorders
- Obesity and pubertal development
- Type 1 diabetes mellitus
- Adrenal hormone disorders
- Pituitary gland disorders
Dr. Dubinski has also made scientifically significant contributions, particularly in the field of adrenogenital syndrome in children and adolescents, for which he has been awarded several scientific prizes.
With his wide-ranging experience, scientific commitment and strong patient focus, Dr. Dubinski is a valuable addition to the PEZZ team and a competent contact person for complex issues in the field of paediatric and adolescent endocrinology.
Dr. med. Aikaterini Stasinaki
- Medical Specialist FMH in Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
- Specialized in growth, hormonal disorders, and diabetes
more information about Aikaterini Stasinaki
Dr. med. Aikaterini Stasinaki hat ihr Medizinstudium in Griechenland abgeschlossen. Bereits 2010 führte sie ihr beruflicher Weg in die Schweiz, wo sie als Assistenzärztin für Innere Medizin an der Luzerner
Höhenklinik Montana in Crans Montana (VS) begann. Ihre Leidenschaft für die Kinder- und Jugendmedizin entdeckte sie bald und begann 2011 ihre
Facharztausbildung in der Pädiatrie am Kantonsspital Winterthur. Ab 2013 vertiefte sie ihre Expertise am Ostschweizer Kinderspital St. Gallen,
wo sie ihre Facharztausbildung abschloss.
Ab 2016 übernahm Dr. Stasinaki als Oberärztin im Ostschweizer Kinderspital Verantwortung. Dort arbeitete sie sowohl auf der allgemeinpädiatrischen Station als auch auf der Kindernotfallstation und erweiterte ihre Erfahrung in der Behandlung komplexer medizinischer Fälle. Im Jahr 2021
hat sie ihre Zusatzausbildung für den Schwerpunkt "pädiatrische Endokrinologie/Diabetologie" abgeschlossen.
2022 promovierte Dr. Stasinaki an der Universität Zürich. Ihre Dissertation, eine randomisierte kontrollierte Studie über innovative digitale Gesundheitsinterventionen für Adipositas, entstand in Zusammenarbeit mit der ETH Zürich.
Seit Ende 2024 ergänzt Aikaterini Stasinaki mit ihrem umfassenden Wissen und ihrer empathischen Art das Ärzteteam im PEZZ.
Sie begleitet Familien mit großem Fachwissen bei Fragen zu Wachstum, Pubertät und hormonellen Störungen.
Ihre Schwerpunkte umfassen:
- Growth disorders and growth hormone treatments
- Precocious or delayed puberty
- Thyroid and adrenal hormone disorders
- Disorders of pituitary function
- Bone disorders
- Type 1 diabetes mellitus
- Obesity
Privately, Dr. Aikaterini Stasinaki lives with her husband and three children in Winterthur
Christiane Fritz
- Management
Barbara Hegner
- Registered Nurse KWS
Vivien Hablützel
- Certified Nurse HF, Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (KJFF)
- Medical Practice Assistant (MPA)
Carla López Tépox
- Administrative Assistant
Anika Stephan
- Research Associate
Rolf Dinkelmann
- IT-Specialist
Corina Zanetti
- External Back Office Assistant
OUR COMMITMENT
MULTIPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE – A MISSION STATEMENT FROM PEZZ BY URS EIHOLZER
Since I began working in medicine, I have been driven by the question of how knowledge and experience can be shared and multiplied so that many patients can benefit from the insights of a single individual.
GUT FEELING OR SIXTH SENSE?
Experience can sometimes justify doing things without a rational explanation. This was taught to me by my former supervisor, Prof. Emile Gautier, when I confessed at morning rounds with a guilty conscience that I had initiated investigations for a patient purely based on a feeling. “Yes, Urs, I would have been really upset if you were a beginner… but with as much experience as you have, that feeling is often the unconscious complex integration of many different variables.”
GIVE GRATEFULLY, RECEIVE GRATEFULLY
I am convinced: to share experience, people must be close to each other. Situations of competition and rivalry prevent the transfer of knowledge and experience. The one who is willing to give up something shares their exclusivity. On the other hand, the recipient of the knowledge transfer must be able to admit that they need help and support to become a master. Besides emotional closeness, gratitude is needed—gratitude for being allowed to share knowledge and experience, and gratitude for receiving knowledge and experience.
In my life, I have had the privilege of treating, caring for, and supporting tens of thousands of children with a wide range of diagnoses. In the beginning, I was guided by great teachers who allowed for a certain closeness.
FOR EXAMPLE, BEDWETTING
The question of whether and how experiences can be passed on first arose for me in the early 1990s when treating children with bedwetting. The delayed attainment of nighttime dryness is usually an isolated developmental disorder. I had observed that the children themselves could accelerate this developmental process. To help them, I had to master three skills:
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- I had to communicate with my patients in an age-appropriate manner.
- I had to convince my patients that I was right, even when they experienced a new negative outcome every night.
- I had to motivate my patients to want to fight against bedwetting.
All of this is only possible with a great deal of knowledge, experience, and energy—you must have encountered everything that can happen many times with other patients. The child must be able to recognize and rely on the expert at all times—a central part of the motivational work. This cannot be done with measured effort. The therapist needs all their strength to convince the child. I never gave up on any child—and most of the children didn’t give up either. And so, many stopped wetting their bed.
Then I wrote a small book on bedwetting with the goal of making my knowledge and experience beneficial to as many children suffering fro, bedwetting and their physicians as possible. I struggled with the question: how can one describe and convey inner attitude, commitment, closeness, and the “sixth sense” that comes with extensive experience? It is also crucial how affected children and their parents perceive you: not as a theoretician or spectator, but as a true fellow fighter and participant. It is no longer about tricks and rules, but about hope and motivation. Through this process, I realized how limited books are in transmitting experience.
AT EYE LEVEL WITH OUR PATIENTS
Over 35 years, I have seen almost everything that pediatric endocrinology has to offer. I was even fortunate to gain my first experiences up close, guided alongside the co-founders of pediatric endocrinology, Andrea Prader and Milo Zachmann.
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In addition, I have always seen many patients myself and was thus able to learn from their experiences. Most of what I know about Prader-Willi syndrome and other rare and less rare diseases I owe to the affected children, their parents, and caregivers. Had I only communicated with them through assistants or senior physicians, I would not have gained many insights. These experiences have fed into numerous scientific projects, bringing in yet more new knowledge.
A central aspect of everything is competent interaction with parents and children. Clear communication about what to expect and the likelihood of specific scenarios, not just worst-case situations. No predictions to show that you know everything, no downplaying of symptoms, but also no blindly adopting the parents’ perspective, no telling them what they want to hear to curry favor. Simply treat people as you would in your own family—at eye level.
SHARE À LA PEZZ
How can all of this be passed on? Just as Andrea Prader and Milo Zachmann did with me—only much, much more intensively and over a longer period. This is how we do it at PEZZ: The director of PEZZ is involved in every consultation. For routine check-ups, sometimes a quick look at the data and charts is sufficient. For new patients and all complex situations, the director usually participates in the consultation. According to the needs of the parents and the case, consultations therefore take place for a shorter or longer period with two of us present.
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This concept is intended to ensure that every patient benefits from the best available knowledge and corresponding experience in the house. It provides parents with additional reassurance and allows the younger physicians to gain experience in concrete situations and learn from the more experienced—over the course of years, until they have encountered most conceivable disorders and situations multiple times in this way. (It should be noted that the “younger” physicians referred to here are already very experienced, fully trained, and certified specialists in pediatric endocrinology.)
We invest significantly in this special and extensive form of knowledge and experience transfer. Except for justified exceptions, only the service of one physician is billed. The commitment to the transfer and multiplication of knowledge and experience seamlessly continues my previous 30-year dedication to Prader-Willi syndrome and my equally long work in the continuing education of pediatricians.