Laurent Degos

About Laurent Degos

Laurent Degos is doctor of human biology and graduate of the Harvard School of Public Health. He is professor of clinical haematology at University Paris Diderot.

He was head of the University Haematology Institute at Saint-Louis Hospital and of the the INSERM (French Medical research Institute) “Transplantation immunogenetics” department, of the clinical blood disease department at Saint-Louis Hospital, professor of haematology at Paris VII University, and director of the Biology and Biotechnology Graduate School.

Laurent Degos has published scientific articles in the fields of genetics, immunology, haematology and cancer. In particular, he discovered with Wang Zheng YI (Shanghai) how to transform a leukemic cell into a normal cell, thereby opening up a new approach to cancer treatment, targeted therapy and paersonlized treatment, rewarded by several prizes prizes including Kettering General Motors Prize (Washington, 1994), Brupbacher (Zurich), Gagna and Von Hoeck Prize (Brussels), Curie Loubaresse award and the Jean Bernard Award of European Hematology Association (Amsterdam 2012).

In 2004, Laurent Degos was appointed Chairman of the Board of the Haute Autorité de santé, until 2010. The Haute Autorité de Santé is an independent public body for quality and safety of health and health care. Prior to that, he chaired the governing bodies of the French Agency for Health Product Safety (AFSSAPS) and the French Transplantation Agency (EFG – now the Biomedicine Agency).

He is currently co chair (with Chen Zhu, Minister of Health in China) of FFCSA (French-Chinese Foundation for Science and its Application) and Vice President of the comprehensive cancer center Institut Curie.