Pr. Souleymane Mboup, born in 1951 in Senegal, is a virologist with world-renowned expertise in HIV/AIDS and other infectious tropical diseases. He lives in Dakar and leads IRESSEF as the founder and CEO. His first degree is in Pharmacy, followed by training in microbiology in Tours and Harvard. His research has played an important role in the fight against HIV/AIDS. He is credited as one of the discoverers of the HIV-2 virus, the closest known human virus related to the prototypic AIDS virus, HIV-1. His work first demonstrated that HIV-2 was highly prevalent in Senegalese women in 1985, and that it had been circulating in Africa since the 1960s. Although his contributions on HIV are widely known, he has developed a growing interest in arboviruses, malaria, multi resistant TB, hepatitis, Ebola, and other tropical infectious diseases. These are major and soaring public health problems exceedingly difficult to control. Today, these represent the WHO and The Global Fund’s top public health priorities for prevention and control. From 1986 to 2017, as top microbiologist at the Cheikh Anta Diop University, he managed the Laboratory of Bacteriology and Virology and transformed it to become one of the most advanced diagnostic laboratories of its kind in Africa. Recently, he founded the Institut de Recherche en Santé, de Surveillance Epidémiologique et de Formations namely IRESSEF that presently hosts over 120 scientists., a testament to the commitment of a humble man who devoted his life to saving lives around the continent. In recognition of Souleymane's immense contribution, a new bacterial genus was baptized after his name (Mboupella massiliensis). Another genus very close to the latter has also been called Pseudomboupella with two species massiliensis and timonensis. Pr. Mboup’s works, Ethics and personal achievements make him a worthy and deserving new member of African Academy of Sciences.
