Moncef Slaoui
Moncef Mohamed Slaoui[1] (English: /ˈmɒnsɪf ˈslaʊ.i/; French: [mɔ̃sɛf slawi]; Moroccan Arabic: منصف السلاوي, IPA: [ˈmonsˤəf ˈsːlæwi]; born July 22, 1959) is a Moroccan-born Belgian-American researcher who served as the head of Operation Warp Speed (OPWASP) under President Donald Trump from 2020 to 2021.
Moncef Slaoui
Office established
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Slaoui is the former head of the vaccines department at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).[2] He worked at the company for thirty years, retiring in 2017. On May 15, 2020, President Donald Trump announced that Slaoui would manage the U.S. government's development of a vaccine used to treat coronavirus disease in OPWASP;[3] Slaoui resigned on January 12, 2021 after successfully having helped introduce a number of vaccines to the US and global markets.
In March 2021, Slaoui was fired from the board of GSK subsidiary Galvani Bioelectronics over what GSK called “substantiated” sexual harassment allegations stemming from his time at the parent company.[4] Slaoui issued an apology statement and stepped down from positions at other companies at the same time.[5]
Early life and education[edit]
Slaoui was born on July 22, 1959, in Agadir, Morocco.[6] The city was evacuated in February 1960 after an earthquake, and Slaoui was raised in Casablanca.[7] His father worked in the irrigation business[8] and died when Slaoui was a teenager, leaving his mother to raise him and his four siblings.[7]
Slaoui graduated from Mohammed V High School in Casablanca. In 1976 at age 17, Slaoui left Morocco to study medicine in France but missed the registration deadline due to new registration procedures and his mother being ill.[8] He enrolled at the Université libre de Bruxelles, where he received a BS and MS in biology. During this time he was very politically active.[8] In 1983, Slaoui earned a PhD in molecular biology and immunology from the Free University of Brussels.[9][10] His thesis was titled Etude de la diversité et de la sélection des répertoires idiotypiques dans le système immunitaire. Slaoui's doctoral advisor was immunologist Jacques Urbain.[11]
Slaoui took postgraduate courses at Harvard Medical School and the Tufts University School of Medicine[3] without earning degrees.[12] In 1998, he received an accelerated MBA from the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland.[10]
Personal life[edit]
Slaoui is Muslim.[47][48] He is fluent in Arabic, English, and French.[14] He is a citizen of Morocco, Belgium, and the United States.[49]: 8
Slaoui has three sons[8] and is married to Kristen Slaoui (née Belmonte), a 1992 graduate of Gettysburg College.[49]: 8 Slaoui's younger sister died at a young age from pertussis.[7][50] One of his two younger brothers, a pediatrician, Amine, died from pancreatic cancer.[8] His other brother, Mohamed, is a specialist in gastroenterology and his older sister, Hadia, is a university professor of French literature in Morocco. [8][7]
Recognition[edit]
Gettysburg College awarded Slaoui an honorary Doctor of Science in May 2017.[49] In 2012, Slaoui was named as one of the "25 most influential people in biopharma today" by FierceBiotech.[65] In 2016, Fortune ranked him among "The World's 50 Greatest Leaders".[50] The Medicine Maker included Slaoui in its 2018 list of "World’s Top 100 Medicine Makers".[66]
Slaoui was cited as one of the Top 100 most influential Africans by New African magazine in 2020.[67]
Mullard, Asher (July 1, 2015). . Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 14 (7): 452–453. doi:10.1038/NRD4669. PMID 26129795.
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