Scientific Programme Chair

Prof. Francois-Xavier Mbopi-Keou

With over twenty five years of Research, Public Health Microbiology/Virology and Global Health experience, added to a sizeable number of scientific papers in high impact journals (including The Lancet, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, AIDS), Prof Mbopi-Keou possesses a unique depth of knowledge of HIV/AIDS and Infectious Diseases in Africa. This fact has not remained un-noticed. In recognition of the ground-breaking nature of his work describing the association between genital herpes and HIV infection, he was awarded the first ever GlaxoSmithKline Elion International Research Award 2000, named after the Nobel Prize Laureate Elion Truly. In addition, for a decade, he embodied the concept of “mobile medicine” by personnally supervising the teams that proceeded to the screening and care of HIV/AIDS and other Infectious Diseases in the midst of the populations of urban and rural areas of Cameroon, using mobile, equipped vans.

Prof. Mbopi-Keou received his training from world class universities and institutions, such as The Universities of Bordeaux and Paris, The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine & Harvard University. He served as Senior Research Scholar at the University Teaching Hospital of Paris, The Institut Pasteur, The University College of London, The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, The Central Public Health laboratories in Colindale, London (Now Public Health England) and The Children’s Hospital Medical Center, which is affiliated with The University of Washington, in Seattle, WA.

Concerning his current professional status, Prof Mbopi-Keou is a Full Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology/Parasitology, Haematology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Faculty of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, of the University of Yaounde I in Cameroon. The oldest School of Medecine in the country. In his double capacity as pioneer Head of the National Public Health Laboratory Hygiene Mobile (Now National Public Health Laboratory) and of Head of the Division of Laboratories and Blood Safety at the Cameroon Ministry of Public Health, Prof Mbopi-Keou has had a great impact on the smooth functionning of these structures in the country. This full agenda in the public realm did not prevent him from initiating important programs in the private medical sphere, as the Founder and Chair of The Institute for the Development of Africa (The-IDA), an NGO devoted to the promotion of integrated development in Africa.

Moreover, Prof Mbopi-Keou is a sought after speaker and senior International Consultant in Microbiology, Virology, Infectious Diseases and Global Health,who doubles as a Fellow of the Cameroon Academy of Science, and Member of several International professional, academic societies, UN Technical Advisory Committees (including UNAIDS) and a Knight of the Cameroon National Order of Valor. By and large, Prof Francois-Xavier Mbopi-Keou represents the kind of distinguished scholar who has always been convinced that the ultimate worth and value of scientific knowledge is to enhance the quality of life of all human beings, irrespective of their geographic or cultural origin.