Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, PhD, is Emeritus Professor at the Institut Pasteur and Emeritus Director of Research at the Inserm. She heads the Regulation of Retroviral Infection Unit at the Institut Pasteur in Paris
She has been involved in retrovirology research since the early 1970’s. She is recognized for her major contributions to HIV/AIDS research, in particular as the first author of the publication that reported in 1983 the discovery of the cause of AIDS, a retrovirus, later named HIV.
In 1988, she became responsible for her own laboratory at the Institut Pasteur and initiated research programs on viral and host determinants of HIV/AIDS pathogenesis. She has also been implicated in collaborative programs on HIV vaccine research. Today, the research programs of her team are focused on mechanisms required to protect against HIV/SIV infections or controlling AIDS, in particular at the level of innate immunity.
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi has been strongly implicated in promoting integration between research, training and actions in resource limited countries, in particular through the Institut Pasteur International Network and the coordination of the ANRS research programs in Cambodia and Vietnam.
In February 2009 she was elected member of the French Academy of Science. She is since July 2012 the President of the International AIDS Society (IAS). In 2013 she was nominated Grand Officier de la Légion d’Honneur.
Through her career, she received more than 10 national or international awards, including the Nobel Prize for Medicine. She was also awarded Doctor Honoris Causa of a number of universities. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi is author and co-author of 270 original publications, of more than 120 articles in book reviews and 250 communications in international congresses.