Professor François-Xavier Mbopi Keou

With over three decades of Laboratory Medicine and Global Health experience, Prof Mbopi-Keou possesses a unique depth of knowledge of Infectious Diseases in Africa. In recognition of the ground-breaking nature of his work describing the association between genital herpes and HIV infection, he was awarded the first-ever GlaxoSmithKline Elion International Research Award 2000, named after the Nobel Prize Laureate Elion Truly. In addition, for a decade, he embodied the concept of “mobile medicine” by screening HIV/AIDS and other Infectious Diseases in urban and rural areas of Cameroon.

Prof. Mbopi-Keou received his training from the Universities of Bordeaux and Paris, The Institut Pasteur, The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine & Harvard University. He is currently a full Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology/Parasitology, Haematology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the University of Yaoundé I in Cameroon. He was the pioneer Head of the National Public Health Laboratory and the Division of Laboratories and Blood Safety at the Cameroon Ministry of Public Health.

Moreover, Prof Mbopi-Keou is a Fellow of the Cameroon Academy of Science, and Member of several International professional, and academic societies, UN Technical Advisory Committees, and a Knight of the Cameroon National Order of Valor.