Mirdad KAZANJI

Dr Mirdad Kazanji, Reasearch Director at the Pasteur Institute, currently Directeur of the Pasteur Institute of Guyana.

After university studies at the University of Montpellier, he acquired a PhD in virology at the University of Paris XII, in 1993. 

After five years of postdoctoral at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, he joined the scientific executives of the Pasteur Institute. He also holds a diploma of “Habillitation à Diriger des Recherches” (HDR) from the University of Paris 7 in 1999. His professional career has led him to study viruses at the Pasteur Institute, at the Ohio State University in the United States and at the International Centre for medical Research of Franceville in Gabon.
DR Mirdad Kazanji then leaded the Pasteur Institute in Bangui, Central African Republic, from 2009 to 2014.

He is an elected member of the Assembly of Cents of the Pasteur Institute, a member of the administration Council of the University of Guyana, a member of the administration Council of the Regional Health Observatory in Guyana, a member of the Academic Council of the University of Guyana, an elected member of the administration Council of Pasteur Network Association, a member of the general Council of “Guyane Developpement Inoovation”, business incubator and innovation and a member of the scientific Council of the Territorial Collectivity of Guyana.

Dr Mirdad Kazanji has received many scientific and civil distinctions. He is laureate of the JANSEN Prize of the national Academy of Medicine, laureate of the Caribbean Academy of Sciences, he is Knight of the National Order of Merite, and Officer and Commander of the Order of Central African Reconnaissance. Since January 1rst, 2021, he has been a Knight of the Legion of Honour. He is the author of more than a hundred publications published in scientific and medical journals on the natural history of viruses, their origins and transmissions as well as on public health problems related to the surveillance and emergence of viral epidemics.