Stéphanie DEBETTE
Title: PU-PH
Function: Team Leader, PI
Affiliated entities INSERM
Prof. Stéphanie Debette is an internationally renowned neurologist and epidemiologist, specializing in genetic and environmental factors in stroke, imaging markers of brain senescence and cognition. Her research focuses on identifying the molecular mechanisms underlying brain ageing, and on improving the prevention and treatment of dementia and stroke.
After completing a doctorate in medicine in 2006 and an internship in neurology, as well as additional training in vascular neurology, she trained in statistical genetics and obtained a doctorate in epidemiology at the University of Lille.
She then completed a research stay in clinical neuroscience at St George's University Hospital in London, followed by a postdoctorate at Boston University School of Medicine, in the neuroepidemiology and neurogenetics unit, where she took part in the famous Framingham cohort study. She obtained her habilitation to direct research (a recognition of the highest level of qualification in the French academic system) from the University of Paris VII in 2013. After a period as senior lecturer in Paris between 2010 and 2014, she joined the University of Bordeaux as a university professor - hospital practitioner in 2014.
Prof. Stéphanie Debette's career has been marked by a commitment to large-scale fundamental research projects - notably on the genomics of complex diseases - but also by an investment in clinical research, geared towards improving patient care and diagnosis. In addition to her participation in international expert committees dedicated to the development of consensus and recommendations for clinical practice, Prof. Debette continues to provide consultancy services.
These activities are enriched by over 250 publications, an ERC and a hospital-university research program - 'Investissements d'avenir’ on small cerebral vessel diseases (RHU-SHIVA). As Chair of the International Stroke Genetics Consortium (ISGC) and member of the Research Steering Committee of the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium, she has succeeded in expanding research collaborations beyond Europe, North America, and Australia, establishing lasting partnerships with institutions in Southeast Asia and more recently with Africa and South America.
In 2008, Prof. Stéphanie Debette was awarded the Bettencourt Prize for her research into genetic risk factors for cerebral white matter hypersignals and their applications in predicting the risk of stroke and dementia. She was subsequently awarded the Fondation Claude Pompidou prize for dementia research, the European Stroke Organization prize for scientific excellence, and the Ordre National du Mérite medal.
Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Bordeaux and neurologist at Bordeaux University Hospital since 2014, she currently heads the Bordeaux Population Health (BPH) research center, co-hosted by the University of Bordeaux and Inserm. Specializing in population health issues, this center covers a wide range of pathologies (infections, neurology, oncology, traumatology, psychiatry...), and explores a wide variety of environmental exposure factors (social, nutritional, ecological, pharmacological...).
This interest in health determinants and trends has naturally extended to Paris Brain Institute's major research missions: understanding and treating neurological and psychiatric diseases, some of which are increasingly prevalent in the population and represent a major challenge for our society.