Gilles Bloch has been appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) by the Council of Ministers. Gilles Bloch becomes Inserm’s ninth CEO since the Institute was created in 1964. He will assume his post on January 2, 2019.
A graduate of the École Polytechnique, doctor, and researcher specializing in medical imaging, Gilles Bloch spent a large part of his career at the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) before taking on major roles within research policy, including heading up the French National Research Agency upon its creation, and then being appointed Head of Research and Innovation at the Ministry of Higher Education and Research.
Gilles Bloch joined the Frédéric Joliot Hospital Unit in Orsay in 1990 to conduct research into nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Yale University in the United States, and then from 1997 onward held various management positions at the CEA before being appointed Deputy Director of its Life Sciences Division in 2001.
In 2002 he joined the Ministry of Research as an advisor for life sciences, health, and bioethics, then as assistant director. He was entrusted with leading the newly created French National Research Agency (ANR) before becoming Head of Research and Innovation at the Ministry of Higher Education and Research in 2006. In 2009, he was appointed Director of Life Sciences at the CEA.
Since 2015, he has chaired the Université Paris-Saclay group of universities and institutions.
