Professor Dr Peter Piot

Research Priorities: Infectious diseases, Ebola virus, modes of transmission of the HI virus, prevention of and treatment for HIV/AIDS, public and global health
Peter Piot is a Belgian-British physician and microbiologist. He became world-renowned as a co-discoverer of the Ebola virus and for his research into infectious diseases. He deciphered the modes of transmission of HIV and helped develop preventive programmes. Peter Piot is the Chief Scientific Advisor on Epidemics for the EU, and was Associate Director of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Programme on AIDS, as well as Founding Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and Under Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Peter Piot’s research focuses primarily on the clinical, microbiological, epidemiological, and health policy aspects of sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, the health of women in Africa, as well as global health policy. In 1976, Peter Piot and colleagues isolated the Ebola virus. The virus is highly contagious and the infectious disease often proves fatal. When the previously unknown disease first broke out in Zaire in the 1970s, Piot and colleagues from Zaire and from the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) described the epidemiology of the disease, isolated affected persons, educated people about the disease, and thus managed to contain the first Ebola epidemic.
In the 1980s, Peter Piot led research into HIV/AIDS in Africa. He played a significant role in the first major international HIV/AIDS project in a developing country: “SIDA” in Zaire. The insights gained from this project were key to the understanding of the new infectious disease. The researchers identified modes of transmission of the virus, for example transmission from mother to child.
In his period as Director of UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, Peter Piot merged the UN organisations that deal with AIDS. Under his leadership, UNAIDS became the most important advocate for a global response to AIDS. Via his engagement with science, policymakers, and society, he roused people to action, organised funding for the fight against AIDS, and initiated worldwide campaigns. He promoted preventive and therapy programmes for HIV in countries with low- and middle-income levels. He also played a key role in ensuring global access to antiretroviral treatments. He is Special Advisor on COVID-19 to the President of the European Commission, and Chief Scientific Advisor on Epidemics for the EU.