Patrick Giraudoux, professor emeritus of ecology at the University of Franche-Comté, appointed to the Comité de veille et d'anticipation des risques sanitaires (CoVARS)
Patrick Giraudoux, professor emeritus of ecology at the University of Franche-Comté and researcher at the Chrono-environment laboratory (CNRS/UBFC) has been appointed member of the Committee for Monitoring and Anticipating Health Risks (CoVARS). This committee is the successor of the COVID-19 scientific committee chaired by Jean-François Delfraissy.
Patrick Giraudoux will be one of the 15 scientific members of the Committee for the Monitoring and Anticipation of Health Risks (CoVARS). This committee, chaired by Brigitte Autran, was created by decree on July 30, 2022, jointly by the Minister of Higher Education and Research and the Minister of Health and Prevention. It brings together leading scientists and health professionals, a patient representative and a citizen representative. The CoVARS will exercise a role of expertise and advice independent of the health authorities by adopting a "One Health" approach extended to health risks related to infectious agents affecting humans and animals, environmental and food pollutants, and climate change. François Braun, Minister of Health, declared on July 27 on Franceinfo that the committee will be "a kind of commando team of very high level scientists" and that it will be "independent, transparent in its opinions and extremely reactive".
The appointment of Professor Giraudoux is due to his recognized multi-decade commitment as a researcher in ecology in the exploration and implementation of the "One Health" approach. He will carry the ecological vision.
This appointment also recognizes the work carried out at the University of Franche-Comté. Since the 1980s, researchers in ecology and health have collaborated, among others, on the transmission mechanisms of the alveolar echinococcus with its Asian extensions. More recently, in 2008, the Chrono-environment laboratory was born from the merger of several units. One of the major axes at its creation was to continue to develop transverse research in ecology and health. Even now, a rare occurrence in the global research landscape, this research unit brings together all the disciplines necessary for the implementation of work in the conceptual framework "One Health". This UMR is also, since 2014, the backbone of the Master of Ecology of Infectious Diseases at the University of Kinshasa, which also claims to be "One Health", in the support of which Chrono-environment researchers from several disciplines participate.
The installation of the CoVARS was done this Thursday, September 29 at 11:00 am by the two ministers concerned, at the Ministry of Health.