Pierre Fontana obtained his medical degree from the University of Lausanne in 1994, followed by a doctorate in medicine in 2000, and a PhD from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Paris V in 2003. He also obtained specialist FMH qualifications in internal medicine (2004) and angiology (2006), as well as the FAMH qualification in laboratory medicine (haematology) in 2013. He joined the Division of Angiology and Haemostasis at the HUG in 2002, becoming successively senior clinical associate, staff physician and head of the haemostasis laboratory, and then head of the Haemostasis Unit. 

Privat-docent at the Faculty of Medicine since 2009, he was appointed assistant professor in the Department of Medicine in 2014, associate professor in 2017, then promoted to full professor in September 2025.  He has also been Director of the Academic Department of Medicine since 2023. In terms of research, Pierre Fontana is particularly interested in platelet function and has won several awards, including the Leenaards Prize in 2007. He is also co-founder of the Geneva Platelet Group, whose aim is to promote translational research into platelet function and anti-aggregation drugs by bringing together specialists in clinical and basic research, as well as epidemiologists.