CV Science

PHILIPPE AMOUYEL MD, PhD, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health

Course and current status

Position

- Director of the UMR 744 Unit “Public Health and Molecular Epidemiology of aging related diseases” (since  1/1/2006)

- Director of the UMR 508 Unit “Epidemiology of chronic diseases : impact of gene environment interactions on Public Health” (1999-2005)

- Director of the INSERM Research Contract Unit 95-05 “Genetic susceptibilty factors of chronic degenerative diseases” (1995-1998)

- Director of the morbidity registry INSERM-DGS-InVS of Ischaemic Cardiopathies in the Communauté Urbaine De Lille

- Principal Investigator of MONICA-WHO-LILLE Project (Multinational MONItoring of trends and determinants of CArdiovascular diseases)

- Director of the Lille-Genomics Centre “ Genopole Multifactorial Genetic Diseases and Innovative Therapeutics” (1999-2008)

- Director of the Longevity Institute (2002-2003)

- Director of the Institut Pasteur de Lille (since 2002)

- Director of the Foundation for Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders (since 2008)

Formation

- Medical studies University Hospital of Lille II (1978-1983)

- First year advanced maths class preparation (Lille, 1976-1977)

- High school diploma - scientific section (grade A, Lille, France, 1976)

 Diploma

- Accreditation to supervise research (Lille II, 1994)

- Post-graduate diploma in Statistics and Heath (Paris XI, 1989).

- Master degree in Human Biology (Statistics and  Health, Paris XI, 1988)

- PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology (with distinction, Lille I, 1990).

- Post-graduate diploma in Human Biology (Molecular Biology and Protein structure) (grade A, Lille II, 1988).

- Post-graduate diploma in Biochemistry ( Lille II, 1986).

- Master degree in Human Biology (Biochemistry, Lille II, 1981)

- Doctorate in Medicine (Lille II, 1988)

Professional experience

- Assistant professor in Epidemiology and Public Health at the University Hospital of Lille (1991-1994)

- Assistant lecturer in Epidemiology and Public Health at the University Hospital of Lille (1988-1991)

- Research assistant at INSERM (1986-1987).

- Medical intern at the University Hospital of Lille (1983)

 Membership of Scientific boards and committees

- Steering committee of the WHO-MONICA International Project (1998-2004)

- Steering committee of the EUROASPIRE International Project (1994-2011)

- Scientific advisory board of the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (1996-2000)

- Scientific advisory board of the National School of Public Health (1993-1997)

- Scientific advisory board of the Institut de Veille Sanitaire (2002-2007)

- SSC n°6 of INSERM (Cardiology, Hemostasis, Respiratory diseases) (1999-2002)

- Comité d’Orientation et de Réflexion Stratégique de l’INSERM (2002-2007)

- National Committee of morbidity Registries (1996-2001)

- National Committee of Genomics Centres (2000-2003)

- Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the GenHomme program (2002-2003)

- Scientific board of the Epidemiology and Prevention council of the Europ. Soc. of Cardiology

- Scientific board of the l’Institut Pasteur de Lille (1996-2002)

- Scientific board of France-Alzheimer Association (1999-2003)

- Board of directors of the Institut Pasteur de Lille (1996-2002)

- Scientific board of the Leducq Foundation (2006-2011)

- Chair of the Joint Programming initiative on Neurodegenerative diseases and Alzheimer’s in particular (since 2009)

- Steering Group for European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing of the European Commission (2011)

Membership of Scientific Societies

- Collège Universitaire des Enseignants de Santé Publique (CUESP)

- Association Des Epidémiologistes de Langue Française (ADELF).

- Société Française de Santé Publique (SFSP).

- European Society of Cardiology - Epidemiology and Prevention group

- Nouvelle Société Française d’Athérosclérose.

- American Heart Association - Epidemiology and Prevention council

- Société des Neurosciences (Nationale et Européenne FENS)

- Society For Neurosciences

Award

- Research INSERM 2001 award – Research in Public Health

- Jean-Paul Binet 2002 award of the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale

- Kuhlmann award 2003 Society for sciences, agriculture and arts (Lille)

- Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (14 juillet 2008)

Publications

A total number of 427 pubmed indexed papers have been published. The total number of citations is 16 000, with an h-index of 61 (WOK, October 2011). Among 31 publications with IF>20 4 in Nature genetics, 1 in Cell, 1 in Nature, 21 in the Lancet, 4 in the JAMA.

1. Cambien F, Poirier O, Lecerf L, Evans A, Cambou JP, Arveiler D, Luc G, Bard JM, Bara L, Ricard S, Tiret L, Amouyel P, Alhenc-Gelas F and Soubrier F. The deletion polymorphism of the angiotensin converting enzyme gene is a potent risk factor for myocardial infarction. Nature, 1992,  359 : 641-644.

2. Amouyel P, Brousseau T, Fruchart JC, Dallongeville J. Apolipoprotein E-e4 allele and Alzheimer's disease. Lancet, 1993, 342 : 1309.

3. Amouyel P, Vidal O, Launay JM, Laplanche JL and the French Research Group on Epidemiology of Human Spongiform Encephalopathies. The apolipoprotein E alleles as major susceptibility factors for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Lancet, 1994, 344 : 1315-1318.

4. Richard F, Helbecque N, Neuman E, Guez D, Levy R, Amouyel P. APOE genotyping and response to drug treatment in Alzheimer’s disease. Lancet, 1997, 349 : 539.

5. Meirhaeghe A, Helbecque N, Cottel D, Amouyel P. b2-adrenoceptor gene polymorphisms, body weight and physical activity. Lancet, 1999, 353:896.

6. Tunstall-Pedoe H, Kuulasmaa K, Mähönen M, Tolonen H, Ruokokoski E, Amouyel P, for the WHO MONICA Project. Contribution of trends in survival and coronary-event rates to changes in coronary heart disease mortality: 10-year results from 37 WHO MONICA Project populations. Lancet, 1999; 353 : 1547-1558.

7. Meurice T, Bauters C, Hermant X, Codron V, VanBelle E, Mc Fadden EP, Lablanche JM, Bertrand M, Amouyel P. Effect of ACE-inhibitors on angiographic restenosIs after coronary stenting (PARIS) : a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet, 2001, 357 : 1321-1324.

8. Mediene-Benchekor S, Brousseau T, Richard F, Benhamamouch S, Amouyel P, and the ECTIM Study Group. Blood lipid concentrations and risk of myocardial infarction. Lancet 2001;358(9287):1064-1065.

9. Dreses-Werringloer U, Lambert JC, Vingtdeux V, Zhao H, Vais H, Siebert A, Jain A, Koppel J, Rovelet-Lecrux A, Hannequin D, Pasquier F, Galimberti D, Scarpini E, Mann D, Lendon C, Campion D, Amouyel P, Davies P, Foskett JK, Campagne F, Marambaud P. A polymorphism in CALHM1 influences Ca2+ homeostasis, Abeta levels, and Alzheimer's disease risk. Cell. 2008 ;133:1149-1161.

10. Lambert JC, Heath S, Even G, Campion D, Sleegers K, Hiltunen M, Combarros O, Zelenika D, Bullido MJ, Tavernier B, Letenneur L, Bettens K, Berr C, Pasquier F, Fiévet N, Barberger-Gateau P, Engelborghs S, De Deyn P, Mateo I, Franck A, Helisalmi S, Porcellini E, Hanon O; the European Alzheimer's Disease Initiative Investigators, de Pancorbo MM, Lendon C, Dufouil C, Jaillard C, Leveillard T, Alvarez V, Bosco P, Mancuso M, Panza F, Nacmias B, Bossù P, Piccardi P, Annoni G, Seripa D, Galimberti D, Hannequin D, Licastro F, Soininen H, Ritchie K, Blanché H, Dartigues JF, Tzourio C, Gut I, Van Broeckhoven C, Alpérovitch A, Lathrop M, Amouyel P. Genome-wide association study identifies variants at CLU and CR1 associated with  Alzheimer's disease. Nature Genetics. 2009. 41: 1094-1099.

11. Seshadri S, Fitzpatrick AL, Ikram MA, DeStefano AL, Gudnason V, Boada M, Bis JC, Smith AV, Carassquillo MM, Lambert JC, Harold D, Schrijvers EM, Ramirez-Lorca R, Debette S, Longstreth WT Jr, Janssens AC, Pankratz VS, Dartigues JF, Hollingworth P, Aspelund T, Hernandez I, Beiser A, Kuller LH, Koudstaal PJ, Dickson DW, Tzourio C, Abraham R, Antunez C, Du Y, Rotter JI, Aulchenko YS, Harris TB, Petersen RC, Berr C, Owen MJ, Lopez-Arrieta J, Varadarajan BN, Becker JT, Rivadeneira F, Nalls MA, Graff-Radford NR, Campion D, Auerbach S, Rice K, Hofman A, Jonsson PV, Schmidt H, Lathrop M, Mosley TH, Au R, Psaty BM, Uitterlinden AG, Farrer LA, Lumley T, Ruiz A, Williams J, Amouyel P, Younkin SG, Wolf PA, Launer LJ, Lopez OL, van Duijn CM, Breteler MM; CHARGE Consortium; GERAD1 Consortium; EADI1 Consortium. Genome-wide analysis of genetic loci associated with Alzheimer disease. JAMA. 2010 May 12;303(18):1832-40.

12. Lambert JC, Amouyel P, Deciphering genetic susceptibility to frontotemporal lobar dementia. Nature Genetics. 2010;42:189-190

13. Hollingworth P, Harold D, Sims R, Gerrish A, Lambert JC, …./ (165 authors)/…. Amouyel P, Williams J. Common variants at ABCA7, MS4A6A/MS4A4E, EPHA1, CD33 and CD2AP are associated with Alzheimer's disease. Nature Genetics. 2011 Apr 3, doi:10.1038/ng.803.

Scientific summary

Philippe Amouyel, MD, PhD (aged 52) is a Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at Lille University Hospital. He is head of a large academic research unit working on public health and molecular epidemiology of ageing diseases, UMR744. He develops large epidemiological, population-based studies in an attempt to decipher individual susceptibilities to age-related diseases using molecular techniques (high-throughput genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, etc.). He mainly developed his research activity at the end of the 1980’s in the field of cardiovascular diseases in general and understanding the multiple determinants of coronary artery disease and strokes in particular. He was involved in the WHO's worldwide MONICA study and was last author of the Lancet article (1999; 353: 1547-1558) - one of the world's most cited papers on cardiovascular epidemiology which described trends and determinants of cardiovascular disease in 37 populations over a 10-year period. The other part of his work is focused on the study of (mainly genetic) determinants of the neurodegenerative diseases associated with cognitive decline and of AD in particular. He recently published (as last author) a large collaborative, GWAS presenting two new susceptibility genes for AD in Nature Genetics (Nature Genetics. 2009. 41: 1094-1099). Beside these two major highly cited papers, during his career he has also published one article in Nature, four in Nature Genetics, 21 in The Lancet, and several others in high-ranking journals. All together, he has a total of 576 publications referenced in the Web of Knowledge (427 in PubMed) and an H-Index of 61.

Between 1999 and 2008, he headed the Lille Genopole, a regional network of more than 300 researchers aimed at developing high-tech platforms, launching large collaborative projects and favouring start-up creation and development. This experience of management of large projects encouraged him to apply for and obtain the post of Chief Executive of the Institut Pasteur de Lille (a non-profit private foundation dedicated to molecular research) in 2002. This foundation has several missions in biomedical research, public health and environmental control and hosts more than 1,300 staff. He now has longstanding experience of the management of research, technology transfer and business development. In 2007, he participated in the AD and related disorders national report prepared by Professor Joel Menard and was appointed as the Chief Executive of the Scientific Cooperation Foundation, the Fondation Plan Alzheimer, dedicated to AD research. This foundation underpins the research initiative of the National Alzheimer's Plan launched by the French government after the publication of Professor Menard’s report. He helped create this foundation and developed its nationwide role, with a strong willingness to support public-private partnerships. He thus has high-level expertise of setting up a large research programme and managing national and international projects. His scientific experience in the field of worldwide multicentre epidemiological studies has given him an international profile, which was reinforced recently by his election as chair of the Joint Programming Initiative on Neurodegenerative Disease Research and AD in particular (JPND), a project bringing together 23 European countries and supported by an FP7 contract (JUMPAHEAD) which he coordinates.