Francine Ntoumi

Francine Ntoumi is founder and chief executive director of the Congolese Foundation for Medical Research, in the Republic of Congo, and associate professor on molecular epidemiology of infectious diseases at the University of Tübingen, in Germany. She is a member of several scientific committees and international scientific networks in Europe and Africa. Her main research area is malaria, and throughout her career she has trained African scientists of various nationalities in disciplines such as immunology and molecular epidemiology. Since 2008, she leads the Congolese Foundation for Medical Research aiming at strengthening health research activities on infectious diseases in the Republic of Congo.

Since 2009, professor Ntoumi has been involved in developing health research capacities in Central Africa through the coordination of the Central Africa Network on Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and Malaria (CANTAM), and since 2018 through PANDORA the Pan-African Network for Rapid Research, Response, Relief and Preparedness for Infectious Diseases Epidemics. She is president of the Scientific Committee of the IRD (Research Institute for Development, IRD, in France) and vice president of the African Academy of Science for Central Africa.

She is the recipient of several international scientific awards including the African Union Kwame Nkrumah Regional Scientific Award for Women, Georg Forster scientific Prize, and Prix Christophe MERIEUX.