Dear all,
Today, ENS de Lyon is in mourning. We have just heard that Renaud Mahieux passed away yesterday. Renaud Mahieux was a professor in the Department of Biology and was attached to the International Centre for Research in Infectious Disease (known as CIRI). He joined ENS de Lyon in 2008 and took over as Head of the Biology department from 2013 until 2017. He was one of the founding fathers of the CIRI in 2013. His illness did not prevent him from continuing to invest in the School's activities as much as he could. We're going to miss him terribly.
Renaud Mahieux had a passion for virology and especially for the HTLV virus. His scientific work earned him the recognition of the international virology community. In particular, he developed privileged exchanges with Japan, as part of the International Alliance of the University of Lyon and EcoFECT LabEx. In 2019, he was proud to see his research team, "Retroviral Oncogenesis," receive the label awarded by the Foundation for Medical Research, for the project "Induced leukemia and pre-clinical tests in simian models."
Renaud Mahieux also had, perhaps more than anything, a passion for teaching and transmission of knowledge. With his colleagues, in 2013, he initiated the new, fully interdisciplinary "Bio Master’s", which is known to be stimulating and attractive amongst our students. It is also thanks to him that ENS de Lyon owes the first Master's graduation ceremony in the Biology department, now a tradition that has been followed in both the earth and material sciences. It is almost impossible to count the number of educational initiatives and scientific publications that were initiated under his leadership, and that were then handed over to and carried on by his colleagues.
Our thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues, his PhD students and degree students, to whom we all express our deepest sympathy.
Thank you Renaud, you were truly appreciated by the whole School. Having you as one of our professors has been, and will remain, a privilege.
Jean-Francois Pinton
President of the École normale supérieure de Lyon