Professor Placide Mbala Kingebeni

Prof Placide Mbala Kingebeni is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kinshasa, and serves as Head of the Epidemiology and Global Health Department and Director of the Clinical Research Center at the National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Dr Mbala has extensive expertise in medical biology, with specific training in microbiology, virology, and outbreak investigations. His research focuses on viral zoonoses that present risk factors for human transmission. 

As a principal investigator and co-investigator on several university and US-funded grants, Dr Mbala has established the foundation for research projects in remote regions of the DRC, where most outbreaks occur. He has contributed to studies on the clinical and genomic characterization of zoonotic viral pathogens, including Ebola virus, mpox virus, and SARS-CoV-2. 

Dr Mbala is currently a co-principal investigator on multiple research initiatives addressing mpox in the DRC. These include: 

• PALM007: A clinical trial on the efficacy of tecovirimat for treating adults and children with mpox, a collaboration between INRB and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

• MBOTE (Mpox Biology, Outcome, Transmission, and Epidemiology): A collaboration between INRB and the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM). 

• MPX-TRN (Mpox Threat Reduction Network): A partnership between INRB and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). 

• Sentinel Population Surveillance for Emerging Infections in the DRC: A collaboration between INRB, UCLA, the DRC Veterinary Laboratory, and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). 

• The International Mpox Response Consortium: A collaboration between INRB and the University of Manitoba. 

• AFROSCREEN: A project in collaboration with INRB, ANRS, IRD, and Institut Pasteur.