René Prêtre graduated at the University of Geneva. He completed the cardiac surgery program in his country (with periods of work at NYU in New York, Great Ormond Street in London and Hôpital Necker in Paris) and specialized in pediatric cardiac surgery. He is presently director of the pediatric cardiac surgery (PCS) in Romandie (which includes the units of Geneva and Lausanne University Hospitals) and a regular consultant in the PCS at the Children's hospital in Zurich.
