Prof. Abdoulaye Diabaté is Head of Medical Entomology and Parasitology at the Research Institute in Health Sciences (Institut de Recherche en Science de la Santé (IRSS) /Centre Muraz) in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso and the Principal Investigator of Target Malaria Burkina Faso. Prof. Diabaté joined Target Malaria in 2012 when he established Target Malaria Burkina Faso. He has since become a leader in malaria research and in genetic approaches to malaria reduction in Africa. Prof. Diabaté was trained as a doctor of Animal Biology and Ecology at the University of Ouagadougou and obtained his PhD in parasitology from the University of Montpellier II (France) in 2003. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship in 2005/2009 at the Laboratory of Malaria and Vector research of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the USA. He returned to Burkina Faso in 2009, where he now works at the Research Institute in Health Sciences heading the medical entomology laboratory.
Professor Diabaté has been an invited speaker in several prestigious universities including Harvard University to catalyse a lasting collaboration between IRSS and other research centres or universities across the world. He is a recipient of the Royal Society Pfizer award 2013, was awarded the Grand Challenges Star in Global Health grant and the MRC/DFID African Leader Scheme grant, the PAMCA award for his contribution to the medical entomology field and the “Chevalier des Palmes académiques” of the Government of Burkina Faso in recognition of his significant contribution to scientific research in Burkina Faso. He was interviewed by several prestigious international and national media, including the BBC, Netflix, The New York Times, the National TV channel of Burkina Faso. He is a member of the African Academy of Sciences.
Professor Diabaté and his team of eight researchers based in the United States and Burkina Faso received the 2019 Newcomb Cleveland Prize at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). For more information, please read this blog by Raymond J. Monnat, Jr. M.D.
More recently, he has been named as one of the 10 global winners of the prestigious Falling Walls Science & Innovation Prize 2023. An interview was published on the Falling Walls website titled ‘ERADICATING MALARIA: GENETIC SOLUTIONS AND AFRICAN LEADERSHIP‘. You can view the press release here.
View Professor Diabaté’s Wikipedia page here.
Professor Diabaté also runs several other research projects.
Media coverage:
- BF1TV, ‘Entretien au 7Infos du 15 octobre 2023 avec le Prof. Abdoulaye Diabaté‘
- The African Mirror, ‘This Burkinabe researcher wants his groundbreaking work to wipe out malaria, altogether‘
- The New York Times, ‘The Gamble: Can Genetically Modified Mosquitoes End Disease?‘
- Vox, ‘Target Malaria’s scientists are working to rid Africa of an ancient plague‘
- Brave New Planet Podcast, ‘Reshaping Nature Through Gene Drives‘
- Voa Afrique, ‘Des moustiques génétiquement modifiés lâchés dans la nature‘
- Le Monde, ‘Au Burkina, un premier lâcher de moustiques génétiquement modifiés crée la polémique‘
- CBC Radio Canada, The Current with Matt Galloway (from 22 minutes)
