Dr Marie-Paule Kieny

Dr Marie-Paule Kieny is the Chair of the Board of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi, Switzerland) and of the Medicines Patent Pool Foundation (MPPF, Switzerland). She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Fondation Mérieux (France) and an independent non-executive Director of bioMérieux (France). Dr Kieny participates in the scientific councils of several organizations active in the field of health.

Until May 2022, Dr Kieny was Director of Research at Inserm (Paris, France), where she assisted the President on international cooperation, was in charge of the Priority Research Program on Antibiotic Resistance, and chaired the French Scientific Committee on COVID-19 vaccine. Between March and July 2020, she was a member of the Research and Expertise Analysis Committee (CARE), set up by President Macron, to advise the government on treatments, vaccines and tests against COVID-19.

Until June 2017, Dr Kieny served as Assistant Director-General for Health Systems and Innovation at the World Health Organization. Her leadership at WHO included coordinating WHO’s R&D efforts during the Ebola epidemic in West Africa from 2014 to 2016 and conceptualizing the WHO R&D Blueprint, a global preparedness plan for emerging disease outbreaks. Prior to joining WHO, Marie-Paule Kieny held leading research positions in the public and private sectors in France.

Dr Kieny received her PhD in Microbiology from the University of Montpelier (1980), where she was also awarded a University Diploma in Economics, and her Diplôme d’Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches from the University of Strasbourg in 1995. She has published over 350 articles and reviews, mainly in the areas of infectious diseases, immunology, vaccinology, and health systems.

Dr Kieny has been awarded the title of Officier de l’Ordre National du Mérite (Officer of the National Order of Merit, France) in 2021, of Chevalier dans l’Ordre National de la Légion d’honneur (Knight in the National Order of the Legion of Honour, France) in 2016, and of Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite, au titre du Ministère de la Recherche (Knight of the National Order of Merit, under the Ministry of Research, France) in 2000. She was the recipient of the International Inserm Prize in 2017, the Génération 2000-Impact Médecin Prize in 1994, and of the Innovation Rhône-Poulenc Prize in 1991.