Roberto BruzzoneProfessor, Institut Pasteur

I was born in Italy and studied medicine at the University “La Sapienza” in Rome.  After postdoctoral work at the University of Geneva and Harvard Medical School, I joined in 1995 the Institut Pasteur, where I am a Professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Infection.  My research has focused for many years on the cell biology of direct cell-cell communication through connexins and their associated human diseases.  In 2006, I moved to Hong Kong, where I am the Co-Director of the HKU-Pasteur Research Pole, with a joint appointment as Visiting Professor in the Li Ka Shi Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong.  Since coming to Hong Kong my research has shifted to the investigation host-pathogen interactions.  I was the Scientific Coordinator of Surveillance and Investigation of Epidemics in South East Asia (SISEA), a public health project funded by the French Development Agency in People's Republic of China, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.  I was appointed to serve as Chair of the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC) at the end of 2019, after being a Member of its Executive Committee since its inception in 2012.  I have been decorated as Officer of the National Order of Merit in France and Knight of the Order of Merit in Italy.