INAUGURAL VIRCHOW PRIZE
UNDER THE HIGH PATRONAGE OF
FRANK-WALTER STEINMEIER
PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY
The Virchow Prize 2022
Towards Health for All
THE VIRCHOW PRIZE 2022 IS AWARDED TO
John N. Nkengasong
University of Yaoundé, Cameroon
African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Ethiopia
U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy, United States
© Michael Tewelde
Born in Cameroon, Dr Nkengasong has over thirty years of experience in global health. He began his academic career at the University of Yaoundé studying Virology. In Belgium, he then received his M.Sc. from the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp and his PhD from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Brussels, where his doctoral research in virology was the first to characterise all genetic subtypes of HIV in Africa. He also received a Diploma in Leadership and Management from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
John N. Nkengasong continued his impressive career as Chief of Virology at the World Health Organization (WHO) and subsequently as the Acting Deputy Director at the Centre for Global Health, U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr Nkengasong then served as the Founding Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). In June 2022, he was confirmed as the US Coordinator of the Global AIDS Response and Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy at the US Department of State – the first person of African origin to hold this position.
The Virchow Prize Committee affirms that Dr John N Nkengasong has unparalleled commitment to addressing complex global health challenges and making healthcare accessible to world’s most vulnerable. Through his various leadership roles, he has developed systemic and holistic approaches which have fundamentally shaped the global health landscape, mobilising efforts towards the attainment of the UN SDGs and “health and wellbeing for all”.
Announcement of the Virchow Prize Committee Rationale
as made by Professor Dr Gerald Haug,
President of the Virchow Foundation for Global Health
As the President of the Virchow Foundation for Global Health
and the Chair of the Virchow Prize Committee
it is my great privilege
to announce today that
the 2022 Virchow Prize for Global Health is bestowed upon
JOHN N. NKENGASONG
for his outstanding and significant lifetime contributions towards strengthening global health.
John Nkengasong was born in Cameroon and started his impeccable and impressive academic career at the University of Yaoundé studying virology.
Nkengasong then obtained master’s degrees in tropical biomedical sciences and in medical and pharmaceutical sciences at the Tropical Institute of Medicine in Antwerp and holds a doctorate in medical sciences and virology from the University of Brussels. His doctoral research group was the first to characterize all of the genetic subtypes of HIV in Africa.
Continuing his outstanding contributions to understanding infectious diseases, he researched on the diagnosis, pathogenesis, and drug resistance of HIV/AIDS as Chief of Virology at the World Health Organization (WHO).
John Nkengasong then joined the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, United States. Assigned to Abidjan, Ivory Coast, under his leadership the team created one of the first laboratories on the continent capable of precisely measuring HIV in the blood and sequencing the virus.
In 2011, Nkengasong played a crucial role in establishing the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), a pan-African organisation strengthening laboratory networks and systems in Africa, as well as lending strong support and development opportunities to African researchers.
In 2016, John N. Nkengasong significantly contributed to establishment of the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention as Founding Director. Under his leadership the Africa CDC established strong cooperation between African Union member countries to tackle future health threats. The organisation became more independent and currently employs beyond 200 experts, raising significant funds to fulfil its important mission.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, John Nkengasong continued to coordinate the continent’s response and was appointed a Special Envoy to the Director-General of the World Health Organization on COVID-19 Preparedness and Response.
In June 2022, he was appointed the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy of the United States. As the first director of African origin, John Nkengasong is leading, managing, and overseeing the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief PEPFAR.
The utmost impressive and outstanding role which Nkengasong has demonstrated since his earliest academic and political beginnings in scientific research, underscored by his establishment of crucial global health institutions and his education and training of new generations of global health scientists, activists, and diplomats, led to the unanimous decision of the Virchow Prize Committee to award him the 2022 Virchow Prize for Global Health.
John N. Nkengasong has made exceptional contributions to improve global health, through scientific, societal, and political innovations. He was one of the key individuals to establish the global health dynamics and infrastructures in the Global South. During his time as Director of the Africa CDC, he implemented and developed health-improving governance and cooperation, enhancing health and individual well-being on a global scale.
Addressing complex and diverse global health challenges, Nkengasong from early on in his life acknowledged the immense importance of worldwide cooperation and the necessity for systemic and holistic approaches to efficiently and effectively bridge Global South and Global North with his unparalleled commitment.
He has an exceptional track record of nurturing and supporting the younger scientific community, providing them mentorship, guidance, support, and exposure.
Before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, he remains a significantly strong, essential, and widely recognized voice in addressing systemic and health inequalities, including gender inequalities, while calling for greater and more equitable access to vaccines. This has also contributed to the increase and prevention of infectious diseases towards improving community health.
The Virchow Prize Committee is convinced that for his lifetime influence and achievements on the attainment of SDG 3 “Good Health and Well Being for All”, as well as its intersectionality with the other goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals such as SDG 17 “Partnerships for the Goals”, John Nkengasong well deserves the honour of receiving the Virchow Prize for Global Health.
The Virchow Prize Committee and the Virchow Foundation for Global Health cordially congratulate John N. Nkengasong as the 2022 Laureate of the Virchow Prize for Global Health.
Berlin, September 12, 2022
Comments from Virchow Prize Committee members
“John Nkengasong made the dream of a safer and fairer African continent within reach through his strikingly impressive acts of fervour and courage during the most formidable era of devastations caused by COVID-19. Despite the constraints, he fostered innovative capacities and technical capabilities in the region and beyond” says Dr Precious Matsoso, Virchow Prize Committee Member and Former Director General, Department of Health of South Africa.
“John Nkengasong has been a true leader in driving the first Centres for Disease Control and Prevention within the African Union. His contributions to policy changes, research, guidance for health workers and decision makers, emergency health system strengthening, advocacy, and access to COVID-19 vaccines for Africa have all been outstanding. Dr Nkengasong has been instrumental to Africa, through his successful risk management of COVID-19 and recent nomination as US Ambassador for PEPFAR. He is truly deserving of the 2022 Virchow Prize for Global Health”, applauds Minister Awa Marie Coll-Seck, Virchow Prize Committee Member and Minister of State to the President of Senegal.
“Dr Nkengasong has transformed disease surveillance and outbreak control for the African continent, exemplified during the exigency of the COVID-19 pandemic. His work has inspired and will have saved millions of lives”, states Professor Gabriel Leung, Virchow Prize Committee Member and Former Dean of Medicine, University of Hong Kong.
“Dr John Nkengasong has been a leader in public health for decades. From early in the HIV pandemic to his outstanding leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic as Director of the Africa CDC. He has been the voice, but also the action of the vulnerable population in Africa – and globally. An example of leadership in global health, coming from a low-and-middle income country with significant contributions”, praises Professor Patricia J Garcia, Virchow Prize Committee Member and Professor of Public Health, Cayetano Heredia University, Peru.
“John Nkengasong’s singular leadership in public health combines the excellence of a scientist with the selflessness of a human being who dedicates himself to service, driven by doing what is right for that time and context. He created Africa’s CDC’s unique space in public health, galvanizing a growing movement of experts, scientists, partners, donors, and the community at large, committed to transforming public health in Africa. This foundation was critical to Africa’s united response to the pandemic”, states Dr. Roopa Dhatt, Executive Director, Women in Global Health.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier
President of the
Federal Republic of Germany
High Patron of the
Virchow Prize for Global Health
The inaugural 2022 Virchow Prize for Global Health has been held under the High Patronage of the German Federal President, Frank Walter Steinmeier.
Under the High Patron, the mission of the international Virchow Prize for Global Health and its alignment with health-related Sustainable Development Goals within the United Nations 2030 Agenda are endorsed. As stated in the Federal President’s letter upon taking over the patronage on May 12, 2022, “international and interdisciplinary collaboration in research networks to address global health crisis deserve our great support”.
2022 marks a very special year, because of awarding the first laureate of the Virchow Prize for Global Health; representing a milestone towards improving awareness of global health issues and achieving our common mission of health for all.
The Virchow Foundation for Global Health is very honoured to have been allowed awarding the 2022 Virchow Prize for Global Health to John N. Nkengasong under the distinguished recognition of President Steinmeier.
HIGHLIGHTS
FULL CEREMONY VIDEO
2022 Laureate’s Speech by John N. Nkengasong
I am truly overwhelmed with gratitude and appreciation for this humbling recognition.
I would like to start by recognizing some of the dignitaries who are here this evening:
Mayor Giffey,
Ambassador Stéphanie Seydoux,
Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,
Professor Dr. Peter Piot,
Professor Dr. Axel Pries,
The Virchow Foundation for Global Health and the founders of the foundation – thank you for bringing visibility to the great work of Rudolf Virchow and his many contributions to global health,
Excellencies, Ladies, Gentlemen and friends,
Dr Chief Fuasegong, friend from childhood,
Good evening!
I am humbled and honored to accept the Virchow Prize for Global Health on behalf of the global health community.
Even more humbling is the overwhelming feeling of being the inaugural laurate of this prestigious prize.
I would like to extend a special thank you to the Virchow Prize Committee for this honor.
Ladies and gentlemen, friends, colleagues –
I accept this Prize for Global Health at a moment when 620 million people across the world have been infected with the SARS-COV-2 virus and over 6.5 million have died of the COVID-19 disease caused by the virus.
I accept this Prize at a moment when over 85 million people have been infected with the HIV virus in the last 40 years, and about 40 million lives lost due to this terrible disease and over 38 million still living with the disease.
I accept this Prize today knowing that the global health community is battling multiple public health challenges including repeated Ebola outbreaks, monkey poxs, cholera, tidal wave of rising non-communicable diseases and mental health.
In the 21st century, Global Health will continue to be challenged by population growth, climate change, urbanization, increasing pressures on water supply and others.
I also accept this Prize recognizing the tremendous disparity, tremendous inequities, and tremendous gaps in health systems that characterize the global health practice landscape.
The word “global” in global health can be subjective or objective, depending on the context and setting. Some still see global health as doing something for others.
In 2009, Peter Piot and Geof Garnet wrote a piece in the Lancet – entitled – “Health is Global”
In three words, they described it all. What affects one affects all of us. The current COVID-19 pandemic made global health truly global.
Like public health and medicine, global health should have three basic functions: 1) ability to generate new knowledge and theories about global health issues, 2) determine structural influential factors, and 3) develop global solutions with appropriate frameworks, strategies, policies, laws, regulations, political leadership, and diplomacy.
I always remember Kofi Annan as a great global health leader.
When he became Secretary-General at the UN just before the turn of the century, ignorance and denial of the HIV / AIDS epidemic were at its height, and new infections were rising dramatically. The poor could not afford the drugs that meant a lifeline.
Kofi Annan was instrumental in breaking the taboos around AIDS. Using diplomatic prowess and his charisma to convince leaders to act- and if that did not help, then Kofi Annan spoke up: “Friends, we know what it takes to turn the tide against this epidemic. It requires every president and prime minister, every parliamentarian and politician, to decide and declare that ‘AIDS stops with me. AIDS stops with me.’”
Kofi Annan demanded that deeds followed lofty proclamations. When Governments invested less than one billion dollars for the prevention and treatment of HIV / AIDS, he demanded ten. Annan lobbied relentlessly until the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was founded.”
Rudolf Virchow would have been proud of Kofi Annan and addressing today’s challenges in global health would require the philosophical and visionary thinking of Rudolf Virchow who was a physician, biologist, anthropologist, politician, and writer, who said that “medicine is a social science, and politics is nothing but medicine on a grand scale.”
In brief, good global health is good politics!
Receiving the Virchow Prize for Global Health symbolizes the spirit of global health and partnerships that continue to inspire and enable the progress in global health.
Today I come to Berlin as a trustee, inspired and with renewed dedication to global health. I accept this prize on behalf of all women and men who are engaged in the fight to break down the barriers in global health inequities. As a trustee, from the depth of my consciences, I am aware that this prize is much more than an honor to me personally. Rather it recognizes the many supporters and enablers who have accompanied me in my three decades of global health.
To paraphrase Dr Martin Luther King – Every time I take a flight, I am always mindful of the many people who make a successful journey possible – the known pilots and the unknown ground crew.
In this spirit, I had the benefit of training during my undergraduate years at the University of Yaoundé in Cameroon. It was an exciting time for me. I was working in the laboratory of my late Professor Peter Martin Ndumbe when I met Professor Peter Piot in the 80s. Two important mentors in my life who shared the same name and who happen to be the inspiration for the name of our first-born son.
Shortly after that chance encounter, Peter made it possible for me to travel from Cameroon to Belgium for graduate school. Peter is actually the catalyst for my career in public health – having created an opportunity for me to study at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium, where I was the first African to lead a renowned virology laboratory at the age of 34.He took a risk at that time – so let’s give young people a chance to lead.
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention served as another instrumental training ground for me. CDC taught me true public health. It’s where I was able to build on the strong foundation of my education at University of Yaoundé and the Institute of Tropical Medicine and truly become a public health expert.
At CDC, I benefitted from working with Dr. Alan Greenberg in Côte d’Ivoire to stand up a virology lab. Alan is an epidemiologist who understood the importance of lab.
Another influential person in my career at CDC was Dr. Debi Birx. Establishing ASLM is one of my proudest moments at CDC and served as a testament to the power of partnerships.
Tedros, you were there when we launched ASLM in Addis in 2013. As Ethiopia’s Minister of Health, you were critical to ASLM’s launch and securing buy-in and support from across the continent.
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has been another pivotal part of my career journey that was heavily dependent on partnerships and key champions of public health like South Africa President Honorable Cyril Ramaphosa, African Union Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat, and talented staff of Africa CDC. Africa CDC is where I saw firsthand how public health and good politics come together to enable the young Agency to play a vital role in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
In my current role as the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Special Representative for Global Health, I not only stand on the shoulders of the accomplished PEPFAR coordinators and their achievements, the PEPFAR personnel across the globe, our partner countries, civil society, and public-private partners for the support they’ve extended to me as we work together to bring HIV/AIDS to an end by 2030. And even more excited by Secretary Anthony Blinken’s vision to prioritize global health and health security as one of his major priorities.
Let me take a moment to say a special thank you to my family: my lovely wife Susan is here and has been the pillar behind my journey in global health. Our children Pete, Gladys, Paul – thank you all for accommodating me and supporting me.
Colleagues and friends, we should all refuse to accept despair as a response to the multiple challenges facing the global health landscape.
We should refuse to accept the view that scarcity should tragically define inequitable and timely access to global health commodities.
We should refuse to despair on multilateralism and regionalism and continue to strengthen these institutions and reform them as needed (both global and regional) as an expression of instruments of global solidarity and cooperation.
Only through cooperation, collaboration, coordination, and communication shall we have courage to face the uncertainties of the future of global health challenges.
As I move to the end of my remarks, I have reflected on my three-decade journey in global health and reach the conclusion that good global health practice will require that we master the concepts of what I call 5 Ps: Know your Pathology/Pathogen, Population, Policy, Politics, and Partnerships.
In conclusion, I strongly believe we should invest in global health leadership skills. So, I strongly believe Rudolf Virchow would know what I mean when I say that I accept this award in the spirit of a curator of some precious heirloom, which I hold in trust for its true owner – the next generation of global health leaders.
I thank you!