Audrey Dubot-Pérès

Since 2008, Audrey Dubot-Pérès has been Head of Virology at LOMWRU, supporting medical diagnosis at Mahosot Hospital in Vientiane, Lao PDR, and conducting research projects. In 2012, Audrey was made an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow in Tropical Medicine by the Nuffield Department of Medicine, Oxford University.

Audrey’s main topics of interest are central nervous system infections (CNSi); arboviruses, mainly Japanese encephalitis (JEV) and dengue; and respiratory infections. Her team’s accomplishments include: the diagnosis and first isolation of JEV in Laos; first JEV detection from human throat; the use of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) to collect epidemiological data from rural areas; the molecular epidemiology of dengue in three provinces; and the first serosurvey showing Zika circulation in Laos. 

After earning in 2003 a PhD in biology at Lyon 1 University, Audrey held a post-doctoral position at the Pasteur Institute of Madagascar to work on hepatitis C epidemiology. In 2005, she was hired as virologist by the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) in the Unit of Emerging Viruses (UVE: Aix-Marseille Université, Università di Corsica, IRD 190, Inserm 1207, IRBA), Marseille. From 2005 to 2008, Audrey was posted to Mahidol University, Thailand, to set up a molecular laboratory at the CVVD (Center for Vector and Vector-borne diseases). Her collaboration with LOMWRU began in 2006 with an investigation of viral aetiologies in the CNSi study at Mahosot Hospital. This partnership was strengthened by her posting at LOMWRU in 2008 for three years. Her main activity was to set up the virology team by training Lao staff in medical virology.