Yves Charpak, Former advisor at the WHO and Director of International Affairs of the Institut Pasteur, LGB, 1971
Yves Charpak
La Grande Boissière, 1971
Former advisor at the WHO and Director of International Affairs of the Institut Pasteur
France
Learn more about me :
I am an « active retiree” from institutional health institutions while keeping strong feet in related activities: some consultancy, active member of some professional societies in France, Europe, and the world… and participating in some expert committees or consultations.
I am now sharing my time between Paris and a small city (750 inhabitants) close to Forêt de Fontainebleau, where I am locally elected to the city council. And my last challenge is the creation of a Foundation, “Fondation Charpak, l’esprit des sciences”. Our goal is to develop a more scientific spirit and knowledge in the governance of our societies.
I am married with three adult kids. They have their lives, but they keep a friendly and protective eye on my wife and me, with good relationships and regular opportunities to meet. My wife is working in Paris in a national public health agency. Doing half on-site and half part-time distance work.
My favorite memory of Ecolint: I joined Ecolint in my last year of school, coming from schools in France around Geneva (Ferney-Voltaire, Gex, Bellegarde, Annemasse). I was very impressed by the diversity of nationalities, and of international experiences of students. I was a kind of « alien from the mountains » in this group. But it was extraordinary that all “differences” were welcomed, clearly part of the school's values and philosophy. I was well accepted and recognized event with my local specificities and cultural gaps. Including speaking very bad English! This was all new for me after experiencing the very “rigid and monocultural” French school system.
My experience at Ecolint probably played a role in my curiosity about the world, and my quickness in deciding to move out of my « comfort zone » around Geneva and my family to go study in Paris. If not, I may have stayed around Geneva to study.
I cannot project myself in doing differently, but I remember being mainly driven by opportunities more than planning for the future. I feel that a lot of personal and professional opportunities may occur in life. Sometimes they are not perceived as such, in particular for those who plan very strictly what they intend to do and stick to it. Many of the choices I made were a bit “risky” and changed my professional life. For example becoming a researcher in Epidemiology after my medical studies, moving away from an academic career to create a consultancy company for evaluating the health system. Finally, being asked to enter WHO at a high-level post in the European Regional Office in Copenhagen and move there with my family. Later, I stopped working for the WHO because my family was back in Paris and it became hard to live in different locations.
None of those choices was planned for me. I just seized the opportunities while adapting to constraints but keeping coherence in the way I performed my tasks: having a scientific mind was my constant drive in all those jobs. Leading to my (last) challenge with the Foundation.
My words of wisdom for Ecolint students: I would advocate for keeping a balance between strongly focusing on studying and being a “social human being”. And I believe that Ecolint is still a good place to be for that. I would insist on resisting strong pressures from the environment, whether the family or social background on deciding what to do later in life. And I would also advocate for keeping the idea that if you do well and enjoy what you do, unexpected opportunities will occur, especially if you don’t make too many plans!