Didier Raoult

Didier Raoult
Raoult in 2021
Born (1952-03-13) 13 March 1952 (age 72)
Dakar, French West Africa (present-day Senegal)
NationalityFrench
SpouseNatacha Caïn
Children3
Scientific career
FieldsMicrobiology
Infectious disease
InstitutionsIHU Méditerranée Infection
Aix-Marseille University

Didier Raoult (French pronunciation: [didje ʁa.ul(t)]; born 13 March 1952)[1] is a retired[2] French physician and microbiologist specialising in infectious diseases. He taught about infectious diseases at the Faculty of Medicine of Aix-Marseille University (AMU), and in 1984, created the Rickettsia Unit of the university. From 2008 to 2022, Raoult was the director of the Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes. He gained significant worldwide attention during the COVID-19 pandemic for vocally promoting hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the disease, despite lack of evidence for its effectiveness and the subsequent opposition from NIH and WHO to its use for the treatment of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients.[3][4]

As of 2024, ten of Raoult's research publications have been retracted, and at least another 156 of his publications have received an expression of concern from their publishers, due to questions related to ethics approval for his studies.[5][6][7][8]

  1. ^ "Coronavirus et hydroxychloroquine : Le professeur Raoult publie une nouvelle étude, aussitôt critiquée". Le Monde. 28 March 2020.
  2. ^ "There is a worrying amount of fraud in medical research". The Economist. The Economist Newspaper Limited. 22 February 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  3. ^ "Chloroquine or Hydroxychloroquine".
  4. ^ "WHO discontinues hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/Ritonavir treatment arms for COVID-19".
  5. ^ Kincaid, Ellie (31 October 2023). "Controversial French researcher loses two papers for ethics approval issues". Retraction Watch. Center for Scientific Integrity. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  6. ^ Kincaid, Ellie (8 January 2024). "Journals retract six Didier Raoult papers for ethics violations". Retraction Watch. Center for Scientific Integrity. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  7. ^ "Retraction Watch Database". The Retraction Watch Database. Crossref. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
  8. ^ Marcus, Adam (3 April 2024). "Embattled researcher Didier Raoult earns more than 100 expressions of concern and another retraction". Retraction Watch. Center for Scientific Integrity. Retrieved 5 April 2024.