Vittoria Colizza - Irène Joliot-Curie price 2021

Vittoria Colizza is research director at INSERM (National Institute of Health and Medical Research) and Sorbonne University, within the Pierre Louis Institute of Epidemiology and Public Health, where she directs the EPIcx laboratory (Epidemics in complex environments, www.epicx-lab.com). Through modeling, his research covers a wide range of questions about epidemic and pandemic risks, taking into account the role of social contact networks and mobility, as well as the interplay between the behavior of populations and the dynamics of contagion. By integrating data from sensors and digital surveillance, its work provides actionable information for the management of epidemic and pandemic crises. Since January 2020, she has actively participated in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, advising French government bodies and health agencies, as well as international authorities. For her work on the pandemic, in 2020 she received her title of Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic by the Italian President, the highest distinction of the Italian Republic.

A physicist by training (PhD in Statistical and Biological Physics in 2004 at the International School of Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy), she worked at Indiana University (United States, 2004-2007) at the School of Computer Science as a Post-Doctoral Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor, and joined the ISI Foundation (Turin, Italy, 2007-2010) after being awarded an ERC Startup Fellowship in Life Sciences in 2007. In 2011, Victoria Colizza joined INSERM in Paris, and was promoted to research director in 2017. Since 2020, she has been visiting professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan.