London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

The Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm) has presented its International Award to Peter Piot, Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Handa Professor of Global Health, in recognition of his extensive research on deadly viruses.

This prestigious award acknowledges Professor Piot's lifelong work with internationally significant viruses, chiefly HIV/AIDS and Ebola. Former director of UNAIDS, Prof Piot has dedicated much of his life to AIDS research, policy and advocacy, and has called for a drastic acceleration in international efforts to prevent the AIDS epidemic in a major report from the UNAIDS and Lancet Commission earlier this year.

Professor Piot co-discovered the Ebola virus in 1976 and was a leading voice during the most recent outbreak of the disease in West Africa last year, when he was highly instrumental in mobilising the international community to respond. He recently chaired an independent panel of experts who released a hard-hitting analysis of the global response to the Ebola outbreak, published in The Lancet. The report also offers 10 major reform proposals to improve the response to future pandemics.

Inserm, the French Institute of Health and Medical Research, awards six prizes each year to honour the diversity and wealth of subjects that make up biomedical research, as well as the creativity and enthusiasm of the men and women directing such research every day.

The Institute released a video in which Prof Piot describes his passion for scientific discovery, his intolerance of injustice, how his co-discovery of the Ebola virus changed his life and fuelled his enduring interest in epidemics, and his long-term vision for global health.

The International Award was presented alongside the Grand Prize, the Honorary Award, the OPECST-Inserm prize, the Prize for Research and the Innovation Award. This year the prizes were presented to eight researchers and research engineers at an official prize-giving ceremony at the Collège de France, Paris, on Tuesday 8 December.

Image: Cartoon of Prof Piot. Credit: Aurélie Bordenave/Inserm