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Peter Piot appointed EU special advisor on Covid-19

Image: PieterMorlion [CC BY 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons

Belgian virologist to advise European Commission president on vaccines, diagnostics and treatments

World-renowned Belgian virologist Peter Piot has been appointed special adviser on Covid-19 to the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

“Professor Piot’s invaluable experience will help guide our actions to accelerate the development and deployment of vaccines, diagnostics and treatments to tackle the coronavirus, and to develop a strategy to prepare us for any future epidemics,” von der Leyen announced on 7 May.

Piot was already one of seven individual members of the Commission’s advisory committee on Covid-19, launched on 17 March. Director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, he is credited with co-discovering the Ebola virus in Zaire in 1976 and has led research on HIV-AIDS, women’s health and infectious diseases.