The Department of Global Health conducts an interdisciplinary approach to address global public health issues. Its research activities range from basic science to clinical studies, with an overall approach including human, animal and environmental health (One Health approach).
In particular, the department focuses on aspects of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, covering multiple and complementary fields such as:
- Infectious disease epidemiology,
- Genomic analysis,
- Disease modelling,
- Studies of animal reservoirs,
- transmission dynamics (mechanisms of transmission and persistence of pathogens in their environment),
- pathophysiological processes and the host's immune response,
- Virulence factors,
- Analysis of resistance to treatments,
- and vaccinology.
This work is being carried out with the support of the National Reference Centers (CNRs) [page in French], the WHO Collaborating Centers (WHOCCs) [page in French] and the OIE Collaborating Centres (OIECC) hosted within the department and in close collaborations with institutions around the world, including the Institut Pasteur International Network as well as major national and international health organizations such as Santé publique France Public (the French Public Health Agency), ECDC, WHO and the OIE (World Organization for Animal Health).
Our aim is to strengthen Institut Pasteur’s worldwide initiatives, working in close collaboration with the 33 Institut Pasteur around the world (Institut Pasteur International Network), nine National Reference Centers (CNRs) [page in French], and the WHO Collaborating Centers (WHOCCs) [page in French]. Teams in the department are also working closely with national and international organizations such as Santé Publique France (SpF), the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the World Health Organisation (WHO), and the World Organisation for Animal health (OIE).
Today, the Department of Global Health is led by Director Hervé Bourhy and Deputy Director Muhamed-Kheir Taha.
Hervé Bourhy, Director of the Department of Global Health
Our department aims to provide a comprehensive, global response to the challenges facing human health. This involves international monitoring of infectious diseases in association with the Institut Pasteur International Network and research on the animal reservoirs of antibiotic-resistant bacteria or viruses responsible for new outbreaks. We are convinced that human, animal and environmental health are intimately linked."
© Portrait photographique : William Beaucardet