WHO ARE WE ?

The Institute represents the determination of a diverse group to create a place of active digital memory, shared with civil society and researchers, to collectively think through the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The President

Laëtitia Atlani-Duault 2
The President, Prof. Laëtitia Atlani-Duault

The Director

 

Pr. Laëtitia Atlani-Duault is a social anthropologist, Vice-President of Université Paris Cité, President of the Covid19 Ad Memoriam Institute, which she founded at Université Paris Cité, Research Professor at the Université Paris Cité – IRD (Ceped), and Adjunct Professor at the Mailman School of Columbia University in New York. She is regularly invited as a visiting professor in the USA, Canada and Italy. She was also recently Senior Advisor for Humanitarian Affairs at the United Nations headquarters in New York, a member of the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the French Church, and a member of the Covid19 Scientific Advisory Board. 

Her work focuses on the making and governance of crises, and their impacts. She has published numerous articles in major international journals (Lancet, Lancet Public Health, Ethnologie française, Transculturel Psychiatry, Social sciences and medicine, Public understanding of science, Medical anthropology, etc.) and over a dozen books and special issues in French, English, Italian and Romanian, such as : Humanitarian Aid in Former Soviet Union: An Anthropological Perspective (Routledge 2007); Les ONG à l’heure de la ‘bonne gouvernance’ (Armand Colin – Autrepart, 2005); Au bonheur des autres. Anthropologie de l’aide humanitaire [For their Own Good. Anthropology of Humanitarian Aid] (Armand Colin 2009 ; Anthropologie de l’aide humanitaire et du développement[Anthropology of Humanitarian and Development Aid] with L. Vidal (Armand Colin 2011) ; Ethnographie de l’aide [Ethnographies of Aid] (PUF-Ethnologie française 2011) ; Chercheurs à la barre [Social Sciences Seized by Justice], with S. Dufoix (Socio, Editions de la MSH 2014) ; La santé globale, nouveau laboratoire de l’aide internationale ? [Global Health, A New Laboratory for International Aid?], with L. Vidal (Armand Colin-Tiers Monde, 2013) ; Violences extrêmes : Enquêter, Secourir, Juger [Extreme Violence. Investigate, Save, Judge], with JH Bradol, M. Lepape et C. Vidal (Editions de la MSH, 2021) ; Lieux de mémoire sonore. Des sons pour survivre, des sons pour tuer [Sonic Memories. Sounds of survival, Weaponization of Sounds], with L. Velasco (Editions de la MSH, 2021) ; Les spiritualités en temps de pandémie pandémie [Spirituality and Religions in Times of Pandemics], (Albin Michel 2022); Les personnes âgées au risque de la pandémie [The Ederly and the Covid19 pandemic], with PH Duée et JF. Delfraissy (La Documentation française 2022) ; Les violences sexuelles dans l’Eglise catholique : apprendre des victimes pandémie [Systemic Sexual Abuse in the French Catholic Church], with C. Lazerges et J. Molinario (Dalloz, 2023) ; and Religions et fin de vie [Religions, Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide] (Fayard, 2023). 

Her latest works include : Religions et fin de vie (Fayard, 2023); Les spiritualités en temps de pandémie (Albin Michel, 2022); Lieux de mémoire sonore. Des sons pour survivre, des sons pour tuer (with L. Velasco, Editions de la MSH, 2021). She was awarded the prestigious CNRS bronze medal in 2008 for her research in social anthropology and was named chevalier de l’Ordre des palmes académiques in 2018 and chevalier de la Légion d’honneur in 2022.

Photography © Samuel Kirszenbaum

Honorary Chairs

Le Président d'honneur, Pr. Jean-François Delfraissy
Honorary Chair Prof. Jean-François Delfraissy
La Présidente d'honneur, Pr. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi
Honorary Chair Prof. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi

Jean-François Delfraissy is an immunologist and professor, and chairs France’s Covid-19 Scientific Council. In 2005, he was appointed Director of the National Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis (ANRS), before also becoming Director of the Institute of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases of the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (ITMO/INSERM). In 2010, he participated in the creation of the REACTING/INSERM/ AVIESAN Group, which conducts research in emergency situations. In 2014, he appointed Inter-ministerial Delegate for the fight against EBOLA, and in 2017 was appointed President of the National Consultative Ethics Committee (CCNE). Since 2017, he has been President of the “think tank” Global Health 2030. 

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi is a member of the French Academy of Sciences and of the National Academy of Medicine in the USA. She headed the “Regulation of Retroviral Infections” unit at the Institut Pasteur until 2015. Involved in retrovirology research since the early 1970s, she is recognised for her contributions in the field of HIV/AIDS, notably as first author of the 1983 publication announcing the discovery of the virus responsible for AIDS, later named HIV, which earned her the 2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine. Author and co-author of more than 300 publications, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi has been a member of numerous high-level committees in France and abroad. Though officially retired, she remains active on the international scene, notably as President of the Board of Directors of Sidaction, Honorary President of the International Network and of the Department of Virology of the Institut Pasteur, Vice-President of the “think tank” Global Health 2030 and President of the Analysis, Research and Expertise Committee(CARE-COVID-19).

Executive Council

The original Executive Council was composed of Sadek Beloucif, Franck Chauvin, Alain Cordier, Eric Garandeau, Antoine Garapon and Denis Malvy. Each of them manages the activities that fall within their expertise.


Sadek Beloucif is Professor of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care at the Sorbonne Paris Nord University and at the Avicenne University Hospital in Bobigny (AP-HP). He was a member of the National Consultative Ethics Committee (CCNE) from 1999 to 2007 and chaired the Steering Committee of the Biomedicine Agency, responsible for ethical issues regarding organ transplants, embryonic stem cell research and medically-assisted procreation (MAP). Since 2013, he is President of the National Union of Doctors, Surgeons, Specialists and Biologists of Public Hospitals (SNAM-HP). He is also President of the Association Islam in the 21st Century (islamxxi.com) and President-elect of the Islamic Foundation of France’s Orientation Council.


Franck Chauvin has been President of the French High Council for Public Health (HSPC) since 2017, and, since 2011, President of the Commission dedicated to evaluation, strategy and foresight in public health. He is a specialist in cancer prevention and created the Hygiene Centre, a public health platform of the Lyon Auvergne Rhône-Alpes cancer cluster, dedicated to cancer prevention. He is Professor of Public Health at the Jean Monnet University of Saint-Etienne, where he participated in the creation of the University Institute of Prevention and Global Health (PRESAGE). He is also Director of Prevention and Population Health at the University Hospital of Saint-Etienne. He has led or participated in the elaboration of several national plans or reports concerning public health, such as the prevention of cancer risk behaviours, as well as the work of the HSPC, such as the “Priorité Prévention” plan. He leads a research team on the theme of people’s participation in prevention programmes and directs the cancer prevention axis within an INSERM Clinical Investigation Centre (CIC-EC). He was Vice-President of the National League Against Cancer from September 2013 to June 2019.


Alain Cordier is Honorary General Inspector of Finance, and member of the Health Insurance Scientific Council and of the Ethics Committee of Lab Santé. He is a director of France Parkinson, of the Fund for Innovation in Immunopathology, and of the Friends of l’Arche Foundation. He has held the following positions: Special advisor to the Director-General of the Ile-de-France Regional Health Agency, member of the College of the National Health Authority, Chair of the Commission on Care Strategies, Vice-Chair of the CCNE, Vice-Chair of the Council for the Future of Health Insurance, Chair of the Steering Committee of the Biomedicine Agency, Chair of the National Solidarity Fund, Chair of the Executive Board of Bayard Presse, and Director General of AP-HP.


Eric Garandeau has worked for 25 years in the service of the State in the fields of culture, audiovisual media, the digital revolution, architecture, and major projects. As Inspector-General of Finance, he worked on cultural and international projects as well as on the France Télévisions strategy. He was advisor to the Minister of Culture (2002-2004), and to the President of the Republic (2007-2010), Legal and Financial Director and then President of the National Centre for Cinema and Moving Images (CNC) (2004-2007), Vice-President of the Board of Directors of the Cannes Film Festival, Director of France Télévisions and Arte (2011-2013), and initiator and Director of the Intelligence Campus project at the Ministry of the Army (2015-2017). On leave from the civil service, he created Garandeau Consulting to carry out consultancy and manage innovative projects in the public and private sectors, culture and industry, audiovisual and digital fields, both nationally and internationally. Eric Garandeau is also a novelist.


Antoine Garapon is a lawyer and judge. After his studies at the National School of Magistrates, he was appointed as a juvenile court judge in Valencienne and then in Créteil. He then became a lecturer at the National School of Magistrates. Since 2004, he has been Secretary General of the Institute for Higher Studies in Justice. Co-director of the editorial staff of the journal Esprit, he directs the collection Bien commun at Editions Michalon and hosts a weekly programme on France Culture, Matières à penser. His latest publication (with Jean Lassègue) is La justice digitale : Révolution graphique et rupture anthropologique, (PUF, 2018).


Denis Malvy is a physician and professor of infectious and tropical diseases since 2005. He is Head of the Tropical Medicine and International Clinical Health Unit at the University Hospital of Bordeaux, and Director of the Department of Tropical Medicine and Health at the University of Bordeaux Medical School. His research focus is translational research in global health oriented towards clinical research in epidemic context. He has been involved for several years in intervention and evaluation of care in humanitarian crises and in war and civil conflict settings. He is the coordinator of studies and clinical trials conducted in sub-Saharan Africa, a focus of the INSERM 1219 center for infectious diseases and southern countries team, which he heads. Since 2019, he has been a corresponding member of the French National Academy of Medicine. He is also an Episcopal Advisor for the Romanian Orthodox Metropolis of Western and Southern Europe. He is a member of the COVID-19 Scientific Council.

Partners

Many organizations and individuals have already become participants in the Institute:

  • CNRS, INSERM, Institut Pasteur, ANRS-MIE, CCNE, Sciences Po, University of Bordeaux, University of Saclay, Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Justice, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Institut du Médicament, Global Research Institute of Paris,
  • WHO, HSPC, French Hospital Federation (FHF), Association France Victimes / Paris Aide aux Victimes, Association ATD Quart Monde, Espace de réflexion éthique de la région Île-de-France-de-France, Centre National de Ressources et de Résilience (Cn2r), SNAM-HP, SAMU 93, etc.
  • All of France’s major religious communities,
  • Artists from all disciplines (painters, musicians, filmmakers, writers…) and professionals (directors of theaters, orchestras, operas, publishers, film producers, TV broadcasters, online film platforms, etc).


This list of partners is open to anyone willing to contribute their insights and ideas. The Covid-19 Ad Memoriam Institute will get closer to similar initiatives in other countries, thanks in particular to the scientific partnership with the World Health Organization.