Bernard Pécoul

Bernard Pécoul is the executive director of the Geneva-based Drug for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi). Prior to his involvement with the DNDI, Dr. Pécoul was executive director for MSF’s campaign for Access to Essential Medicines, executive director of MSF-France, co-founder of the centre for epidemiological research Epicentre, and a MSF field physician in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. He is an outspoken patient advocate and proponent of increased research and development of treatments and innovation for neglected diseases.

Career

Dr. Pécoul joined MSF as a volunteer physician in 1983 in Honduras, where he provided healthcare to refugees from El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala. In 1985, still with MSF, he moved on to Thailand and Malaysia, managing public health projects for refugees from Vietnam, Burma and Laos. He was a co-founder and director of research and training from 1988-1991 at Epicentre, Paris, France. Then, from 1991-1998, he led the French section of MSF as executive director, where he oversaw one hundred field projects in 40 countries. From 1998 to 2003, Bernard was executive director of Médecins Sans Frontières’ Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines to increase access to essential medicines in developing countries by advocating for a combination of policies to lower drug prices on a sustainable basis; pushing for increased research into neglected diseases; and finding solutions to bring unprofitable but medically necessary drugs back into production.

While at MSF, Dr. Pécoul had been active in the creation of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), and became its executive director when it was launched as a separate organization in July 2003. DNDi is a not-for-profit organization that seeks to develop and make available drugs for patients suffering from neglected diseases such as sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis, and Chagas disease that afflict the poor in developing countries. As executive director, Dr. Pécoul is coordinates the entire research and development initiative which includes project managers and scientists located in various parts of the world, in particular Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Education and Honours

Dr. Pécoul obtained his medical degree from the French University of Clermont Ferrand, France, and his Masters of Public Health from Tulane University in the US. In 2002, Dr. Pécoul was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Tulane, and in 2007, he was voted Doctor of the Year by Impact Médecine magazine in France.

External links

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