Michel Kazatchkine

Professor Michel Kazatchkine has over 35 years of experience in global health as a leading physician, researcher, administrator, advocate, policymaker, and diplomat. He attended medical school in Paris and completed postdoctoral fellowships at St. Mary’s hospital in London and Harvard Medical School. He is Emeritus Professor of Immunology at René Descartes University in Paris and has authored or co-authored over 500 scientific publications. Professor Kazatchkine has played key roles in various organizations, serving as Director of the national Agency for Research on AIDS in France and French ambassador on HIV/AIDS and communicable diseases. In 2007, Professor Kazatchkine was elected Executive Director of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a position in which he served until March 2012. Between 2012 and 2017, Professor Kazatchkine served as the UN Under Secretary General and Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Since 2018, he is the Special Advisor to the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. He is also Senior Fellow with the Global Health Centre of the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies in Geneva, and a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy. Professor Kazatchkine holds Honorary Degrees from Imperial College, London, the Free University of Brussels, the Catholic University of Louvain and the University of Geneva. He is an Officer of the Légion d’Honneur in France and the recipient of several other national Orders and national/ international awards.