Dr. Odette Tomescu-Hatto has been appointed Executive Vice-President, International Affairs at the Institut Pasteur, with effect from January 2024.
Credit: © Institut Pasteur – François Gardy
Dr. Odette Tomescu-Hatto has been appointed Executive Vice-President, International Affairs at the Institut Pasteur, with effect from January 2024.
Following the meeting of the Board of Governors on October 11, 2023, Dr. Odette Tomescu-Hatto was appointed Executive Vice-President, International Affairs at the Institut Pasteur, with effect from January 2024.
Dr. Odette Tomescu-Hatto holds a PhD in Political Science/International Relations from Sciences Po Paris and a Master of Sciences (MSc) from the University of Montreal, as well as a degree in Public Affairs from the University of Bucharest. Dr. Odette Tomescu-Hatto is also an associate professor at Sciences Po Paris, where she has been teaching international relations and public diplomacy for 20 years.
As Institut Pasteur Executive Vice-President, International Affairs, Odette Tomescu-Hatto will be responsible for enhancing the Institut Pasteur’s international influence in the field of biomedical research. As well as being responsible for developing scientific cooperation and coordinating international partnerships, she will contribute to the implementation of joint projects with the other Pasteur Network members.
Dr. Odette Tomescu-Hatto will be a member of the Institut Pasteur’s Senior Management Committee and Executive Board.
Institut Pasteur President, Professor Stewart Cole, said: “The Institut Pasteur has operated internationally since its inception in 1887. Its strategic partnerships and research collaborations are guided by a policy of openness that puts scientific excellence at the heart of international cooperation. With her solid experience in representation, participation in international meetings at a high strategic level and inter-ministerial coordination, Odette Tomescu-Hatto will continue to develop this partnership strategy in the interests of global health.”
“I am proud to be joining the Institut Pasteur and to be able to contribute to the development of new collaborations and strategic partnerships at the institutional and scientific level in order to better address the challenges of human health in the spirit of the Pasteurian values of universalism and solidarity. At a time of major geopolitical change, global health issues require ambitious international action and concerted responses that draw on expertise, training, research and innovation. In that respect, the human and scientific community of the Institut Pasteur and its international network continues to play a key role in meeting today’s challenges and strengthening the architecture of global health,” commented Odette Tomescu-Hatto.
Biography of Dr. Odette Tomescu-Hatto
Odette Tomescu-Hatto holds a PhD in Political Science/International Relations from Sciences Po Paris and a Master of Sciences (MSc) from the University of Montreal, as well as a degree in Public Affairs from the University of Bucharest. Since 2018 she has been Deputy Director of Europe and International Affairs (DEAI) at the Institute of Advanced National Defense Studies (IHEDN), an institution under the authority of the Prime Minister.
From 2016 to 2018, she worked for the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) as Head of International Relations where she coordinated several strategic partnerships for global health together with the World Health Organization (WHO), the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and the French Development Agency (AFD).
From 2011 to 2016, she was Head of the Climate Change Unit at the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and coordinated the COP21 Interministerial Task Force, which led to the conclusion of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Responsible for monitoring energy/climate negotiations within multilateral bodies (including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change), she played a key role in the development of climate diplomacy and outreach tools.
A former visiting researcher at the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) and expert for the French Ministry of Defense and the OECD, she is the author of numerous expert reports and has published in several scientific journals including Études Internationales, Études du CERI and Perspectives on European Politics and Society.