Pr Placide Mbala, National Institute of Biomedical Research, Democratic Republic of Congo

Placide Mbala Kingebeni is an associate professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Kinshasa; he is the head of the Epidemiology and Global health Department and Director of the Clinical Research Center at the National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Dr Mbala has extensive experience in medical biology, with specific training and expertise in microbiology, virology and outbreak investigations. His research focuses on viral zoonoses presenting risk factors for human contamination. As principal investigator and co-investigator for several university and US-funded grants, Dr. Mbala laid the foundation for his research projects in the very remote regions of the DRC, where most outbreaks occur. He has contributed to several research projects including clinical and genomic characterization of zoonotic viral pathogens such as Ebola, mpox virus, SARS-CoV2, etc. Currently, Dr. Mbala, as co-principal investigator, is leading several research studies on mpox in the DRC, including a clinical trial on the efficacy of tecovirimat for the treatment of adults and children with mpox in the DRC (study PALM007), a collaboration between the INRB and the NIH; the MBOTE (Mpox Biology, Outcome, Transmission and Epidemiology) study in the DRC, a collaboration between the INRB and the ITM; the MPX-TRN (Mpox Threat Reduction Network), a collaboration between INRB and UCLA; Sentinel Population Surveillance for Emerging Infections in the DRC, a collaboration between INRB, UCLA, DRC-VetLab and USDA; and the International Mpox Response Consortium, a collaboration between INRB and the University of Manitoba.