Born in 1972 in Geneva, Switzerland, Marie Besson completed her medical training and specialization in Internal Medicine in Geneva University Hospitals and in Clinical Pharmacology in Geneva University Hospitals and in University of Bristol, UK.

She is now the Head of the Psychopharmacolog y Unit, Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology , Geneva University Hospitals.
Her main research interests are the translational approach in the study of pain and in particular the role of the GABAergic pathway in pain transmission.
She is largely involved in teaching clinical pharmacology in medical students but also in post graduate training.

She is actively involved in the Swiss Society for the Study of Pain, being now the vice-chair of the executive committee and the chair of the scientific committee.