Jean-Paul Gonzalez
Jean-Paul Joseph Gonzalez graduated from Medical School of Bordeaux University, France (1974). After completing his internship in Amazonian French Guiana, he spent his career as medical researcher, working at the Pasteur Institute International Network and Institute of Research for the Development. He earned a PhD in viral ecology and molecular biology in 1984 (Clermont-Ferrand University, France). He dedicated his career to research, training and expertise for developing countries across the Americas, Africa and Asia. His main fields of research and expertise encompass the understanding of fundamentals and domains of disease emergence, viral disease eco-epidemiology, and biosurveillance. He has lead field and laboratory teams of researchers within institutes of country partners, including Brazil, Central African Republic, Gabon, Senegal, Thailand, Laos, among others. He worked at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and Fort Collins, and, as a visiting professor at Yale University Arbovirus Research Unit. He is trained in high security laboratory practices and research, as well as the early development of geographical information systems applied to infectious diseases. He and his teams have identified new pathogens for humans and animals, and developed tools and strategies for biosurveillance, control and prevention of highly pathogenic infectious disease. He has revisited the spread and dynamics of several viral haemorrhagic fevers, giving them spatial and temporal dimensions. He has developed several scientific concepts (e.g.: long lasting co-evolution of germs and hosts) and research strategies for public health (e.g.: Telemedicine technology for country with limited access to health). In 2016, he joined Health For Development (H4D), an innovative and socially responsible company, founded in 2008, and a reference in Telemedicine. He has published more than 300 peer reviewed scientific manuscripts, books and book chapters.