Professor Francine Ntoumi, from the Faculty of Science and Technology in Brazzaville (Congo), has been awarded the 2016 Christophe Mérieux Prize.
She was awarded the €500,000 prize on June 8, 2016 in Paris by the Institut de France, on behalf of Fondation Christophe et Rodolphe Mérieux. This award recognizes Professor Ntoumi’s research on infectious diseases in Central Africa and her commitment to improving biomedical research capacity in the Republic of Congo.
“This Prize will help us expand our current research on malaria during pregnancy. Above all, it will help us set up a research and training center on infectious diseases, the first of its kind in Congo“, said Francine Ntoumi.
Professor Ntoumi was trained as a biologist and has a PhD from Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris. She started her career researching malaria (immunology and molecular epidemiology) at Institut Pasteur in Paris, and continued her work in various countries such as Gabon, Germany, and Congo. She has held important positions in international organizations in the Netherlands and Tanzania.