An Algerian researcher at the head of a famous institute that saved humanity from deadly diseases

The French Pasteur Institute, which specializes in the study of biology, viral diseases and vaccines, announced on its official website the appointment of Algerian biologist Yasmine Belkaid as general director of the ancient institute, to be the second woman to head the institute since it was founded by Louis Pasteur in 1887, and the second Algerian figure after Professor Hakim Jaballah. , who served as director of the institute in South Korea.

According to the institute’s statement, the appointment of Professor Yasmine Belkaid came after a lengthy selection process that began in June 2021, and on Wednesday, March 29, the board of directors decided to choose the Algerian researcher to succeed Professor Stuart Coleman, provided that she begins her duties in January 2024, for a period of 6 years.

Following the appointment, Yves Saint-Junior, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Institut, said: “Yasmine Belkaid has high scientific and medical experience and the ability to lead innovative programs that will expand the international influence of the Pasteur Institute, building on its legacy, its interdisciplinary collaboration and its ability to train future generations of scientists. including women.”

Professor Yasmine Belkaid said: “As the next president of the Institut Pasteur, I aim to position the institute as a leading scientific research organization in immunology, strengthening its position in the surveillance, prevention and identification of emerging pathogens at the international level.”

Yasmine Belkaid, born in Algiers in 1968, is a researcher specializing in immunology, but before that she specialized in biochemistry, when she obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Houari Boumediene University in Algiers, before immigrating to France to continue her postgraduate studies, where she obtained a certificate in Immunology in 1996 from the University of Paris-Sud, and then to the United States of America to pursue a postdoctoral “fellowship” in the biology of intracellular parasites at the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

It has more than 220 scientific articles on infection, immunity, germs, and nutrition, and many awards, the most important of which are the Robert Koch Award in 2021, the Lowry Prize in Biomedical Sciences in 2019, and the Sanofi Pasteur Institute Award in 2016.

Victoria Goodwin

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