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Frau Ministerin Bettina Martin and Prof. Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer

Prof. Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer has taken over the Department of Pathogen Evolution at HIOH.

On 26.04.2023, Prof Dr Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer was appointed by Minister Bettina Martin and took over the Department of Evolution of Pathogens at HIOH on 01.05.2023.

Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer is co-author of 100 publications in international in renowned journals such as Nature, Science, NatureCommunications and PNAS. His research has attracted considerable interest from the public, including regular coverage in the New York Times, The Washington Post and ARTE. Due to his expertise in the field of evolutionary genomics of pathogens, Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer was instrumental in setting up genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) and in Germany (he co-chaired the RKI working group on the evolution of SARS-CoV-2). Additionally, he led the first implementation of genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic and Côte d'Ivoire.     

After an assistant professorship at the University of Lyon until 2010, Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer became deputy head of the project group “Epidemiology of Highly Pathogenic Microorganisms” at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin. In 2015, he additionally became head of the “Viral evolution” working group and, since 2021, head of the “Epidemiology of highly pathogenic microorganisms” project group at the RKI. The Helmholtz Institute for One Health is pleased to have Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer as Head of the Department “Evolution of Pathogens” since May 2023. At the same time, he received his professorship at the University of Greifswald.

Ruth Suchsland

Press contact

Dr Ruth Suchsland