Science & Society seminar on 17 March – "Acting and speaking in the COVID-19 era: reflections from two physician-scientists"

On March 17, at 1.30pm, a seminar/debate will be held on the topic "Acting and speaking in the COVID-19 era: reflections from two physician-scientists," with speakers Renaud Piarroux and Philippe Sansonetti, via Teams (a Teams link will be sent out on request, please email francois.bontems@pasteur.fr).

For many of us, the past year has raised major questions about the role of research in society, especially the complicated issue of how to speak about scientific findings among the scientific/medical community and with the media, authorities and civil society.

Renaud Piarroux and Philippe Sansonetti are both physicians and scientists, infectious disease specialists who are closely involved in public health questions. They have both recently published books in which they discuss their experiences at the beginning of the pandemic, describe their work in this area and share their reflections (La vague, l'épidémie vue du terrain by Renaud Piarroux and Tempête parfaite, chronique d'une pandémie annoncée by Philippe Sansonetti). In these two books, they shed light on the early days of the health crisis and explore how scientists and physicians spoke in the public realm during this period. The seminar/debate will be an opportunity to address these issues with them and to explore the role of scientists, physicians and research structures in raising awareness and improving knowledge among the public in these types of situations.

Philippe Sansonetti is a physician and scientist specializing in microbiology. He set up and led the Molecular Microbial Pathogenesis Unit at the Institut Pasteur while working as a clinician at the Institut Pasteur's hospital, and he subsequently became the hospital's Medical Director. Since 2008, he has been a Professor at the Collège de France and holder of the Chair in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. He is also known for his engagement in the area of public health, as chairman of the WHO Steering Committee on Diarrheal Diseases Vaccine Development, for example, and as an advocate for preventive strategies and vaccine use. He is the author of a leading book on the subject (Vaccins, published in 2017 by Éditions Odile Jacob).

Renaud Piarroux is a head of department at La Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris. He specializes in infectious and tropical diseases. In 2010, he was involved in managing the cholera outbreak in Haiti. He was one of the experts who identified that the outbreak originated in a United Nations peacekeeping contingent, despite the UN's efforts to conceal this until 2016 by using experts who maintained that environmental causes were to blame (Choléra, Haïti 2010-2018, histoire d'un désastre, CNRS éditions, 2019). In March 2020, he played a part in convincing health authorities of the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic. He is also behind COVISAN, a series of mobile teams tasked with helping patients and their families to help curb the spread of the virus and perform contact-tracing, based on the model that was introduced in Haiti. The initiative was rolled out by the Paris Public Hospital Network (AP-HP) in April-May 2020.