On behalf of the entire BPH community warmest congratulations to Geneviève Chêne, co-leader of the PHARes team, on being awarded the insignia of an Officer of the Légion d’Honneur

On 26 October 2026, Prof. Geneviève Chêne received this prestigious honour from Annick Alpérovitch, a former Inserm research director in the ‘exceptionnelle’ category and a pioneer in the development of neuroepidemiology in France.

As epidemiologist and professor of medicine Geneviève Chêne has built her career between Bordeaux and Paris, combining research, teaching and public health responsibilities. Her work, at the interface between clinical research and epidemiology, has focused on HIV/AIDS and, subsequently, on brain ageing.

At national level she headed the Inserm Institute of Public Health and the IReSP, and subsequently Santé publique France during the most acute phase of the Covid-19 pandemic. In Bordeaux, she was head of the public health division at the University Hospital, director of the Isped at the University of Bordeaux, and led a research team for nearly ten years.

More recently, as part of the BPH’s PHARes team, of which she is co-leader, her research has focused on two main areas: improving hospital-based epidemiological surveillance and informing public policy-making. As part of the Orchidée project, led by Santé publique France, she is responsible for the scientific coordination of the development of a network of 26 French university hospitals. As part of a collaboration with Boston University, she is also helping to produce regional assessments, through the reuse of public data, with a view to addressing the social and environmental determinants of health.

In her speech, she made a point of extending this honour to all those who had made her journey possible: her mentors, her teams, her colleagues, her students, and all her loved ones.