On October 13, 2017, Professor Stewart Cole was appointed President of the Institut Pasteur by its Board of Directors for a four-year term. He will take office in January 2018.
The decision follows a lengthy selection process, undertaken since May this year, by a search committee chaired by Professor Jules Hoffmann, Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine.
Following this appointment, Christian Vigouroux, Chairman of the Institut Pasteur Board of Directors stated: "Our aim is to develop and strengthen the Institut Pasteur's outstanding research to improve health for all people worldwide. In 2018, Stewart Cole will be responsible for devising a new strategic plan for the coming 4 years."
In his own words: "My priority as President of the Institut Pasteur will be to implement an innovative program and to strengthen the Institut Pasteur's prominent position in order to meet the global medical and health challenges of the 21st century, particularly in biology, microbiology and infectious diseases."
Stewart Cole succeeds Professor Christian Bréchot, whose term came to an end on September 30, 2017.
Biography
Stewart Cole is an internationally renowned scientist and Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis. Since 2007 he has served as Professor and Director of the Global Health Institute at the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) – a world-leading education and research center.
For 24 years Cole worked as a researcher and also held various research management positions at the Institut Pasteur. He was Director of Strategic Technologies and then Executive Scientific Director, contributing to several patent applications relating to HIV/AIDS, cervical cancer and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. He participated in the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Institut Pasteur in Iran, the Institut Pasteur in Montevideo and the Institut Pasteur in Lille. Professor Cole was also acting President of the Institut Pasteur in Paris in 2005.
He has been the recipient of many national and international prizes and distinctions. In 2009, he was awarded the World Health Organization’s prestigious Stop-TB Partnership Kochon Prize for his leadership and groundbreaking accomplishments in genetic research on M. tuberculosis and his contribution to novel therapeutic strategies for tackling TB.
During his career, he has been involved in the work of several foundations and scientific committees, and was notably Chair of the board of the Innovative Medicine for Tuberculosis Foundation and President of the commission médicale for the Fondation Raoul Follereau.
Stewart Cole has also published more than 350 scientific papers on infectious diseases, most notably tuberculosis and leprosy.
Photo: © Institut Pasteur