Dr. Manon Lounnas, a Researcher specializing in the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases at IRD, serves PREZODE as a Scientific Officer. Researcher specializing in the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases. Her work focuses on developing prevention strategies for zoonotic diseases through One Health approaches. She currently serves as the global coordinator of the PEPR PREZODE, Scientific Officer in the PREZODE Secretariat, and contributes to the scientific coordination of the PREACTs program.
Dr. Lounnas earned her PhD in microbiology and genetics from Montpellier University in 2015, with a strong background in infectious disease research. Her expertise combines genetic tools with ecological and evolutionary concepts to investigate the mechanisms driving disease emergence. From 2016 to 2018, she worked as a lecturer in Biology at the University of Montpellier and as a research engineer in the bacteriology laboratory of the University Teaching Hospital of Montpellier.
Between 2018 and 2021, she was a postdoctoral researcher at IRD on the TB-Speed project, a global initiative aimed at improving pediatric tuberculosis diagnosis. She coordinated laboratory activities across seven countries and contributed to the development and clinical validation of a simplified diagnostic test for children, deepening her expertise in clinical studies and public health implementation in low-resource settings.
Years of fundamental research on the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases, coupled with operational experience, have convinced Dr. Lounnas that a multidisciplinary approach is essential to tackling complex health challenges. Given their multifactorial causes, infectious disease risks cannot be effectively addressed without considering broader socio-economic contexts and health policies.
This conviction led her to join PREZODE in 2021, where she has played a key role in shaping the initiative’s scientific direction, particularly through coordinating the development of its Strategic Agenda. She now supports global scientific coordination efforts, fostering international collaborations and advancing interdisciplinary research to prevent zoonotic disease emergence through her active involvement in various working groups of the initiative.