Foundation

The International Foundation Psychosomatic and Social Medicine, currently headquartered in Basel/Switzerland organizes conferences and symposia and offers prizes for medical students/doctoral candidates.

The Foundation is a non profit organization, the members of the Board of Trustees are registered with the canton of Bern. The headquarters of the foundation is in Basel/Switzerland.

The tasks of the Foundation in the field of psychosomatic medicine and social medicine are internationally oriented.

Experience shows that medical students and younger professionals in different countries are inspired in therapeutic areas of work through the offering of prizes. 

The Foundation offers a biennial Ascona Student prize for essays in which students reflect on their personal experience of a relationship to an individual patient. The papers are not mere descriptions of the experience, but should also theoretically analyze what the relationship shaped and which therapeutic steps may be pointed toward. For the prize-winning papers 5.000, - SFr. are biennially available. The public award ceremony takes place during the Congress of the International Balint Federation (IBF). The winners are invited to the Congress and will present their works there. Travel costs will be reimbursed.

Doctoral students who write their dissertation in the field of psychosomatic medicine, have the opportunity to submit their dissertation for the prize offered annually jointly by the German College of Psychosomatic Medicine (DKPM) and our Foundation with a prize money of 1.000 €.