But what did he do in this mess? High-flying researcher, president of the Paris Saclay Cancer Cluster, co-founder of the biotech Innate pharma, professor at l’X, director of two academic laboratories, Eric Vivier was also to be appointed this Thursday, April 11 to the presidency of the scientific council of the IHU Méditerranée, the liner built then smashed by Didier Raoult, which some people are now trying to rebuild. Already a member of this body for about a year, the immunologist had even been unanimously chosen by his colleagues to take charge. “Eric Vivier embodies scientific excellence, and renewal compared to the Raoult era. This appointment is the logical continuation of everything that has already been undertaken so far”, also told us, a few days before the election, one of the administrators of the Institute. Alas… it was forgetting the weight of the Marseille political-scientific ecosystem, but also the old rivalries with the capital.
On the appointed day, the board meeting did not go at all as planned. Renaud Muselier, the president of the Region and historical support of Didier Raoult, with whom he is friend since medical schoolblocked the process, according to information from the regional daily Provence that L’Express was able to confirm. The Renaissance representative had not attended these meetings for several months, being represented there. But this Thursday, he came in person and paralyzed the assembly with one of those angry outbursts of which he has the secret, opposing this appointment as well as the entry of two additional members to the scientific council of the Institute, Professor Diane Descamps, head of the virology department at Bichat Hospital (Assistance publique – Paris Hospitals) and Aude Bernheim, researcher at the Pasteur Institute. Pattern ? The refusal to see an “aeropage of Parisians” (sic) set up at the IHU.
Yet another jolt in the tormented history of the University Hospital Institute, which says a lot both about the difficulties in carrying out reforms in our country, and in bringing the Raoult era to an end in Marseille. In previous episodes, we noted the departure of the sulphurous professor from the management of the Institute; the arrival of a new team at the head of the board of directors, with Emmanuelle Prada-Bordenave as president and Louis Schweitzer as vice-president; the appointment of a new director, Pierre-Edouard Fournier, a veteran of the house, dubbed by Didier Raoult but who is committed to breaking with the practices of the former management; and finally the beginning of cleaning up the organization chart with, the latest act, the withdrawal of his leadership of the department from Philippe Parola, a loyal follower of the famous microbiologist.
Bringing immunology to the IHU
“The IHU really did not need a new controversy,” sighs a good connoisseur of this organization, founded, it must be remembered, to promote French science in general, and infectious disease in particular, to the international. Renaud Muselier’s intervention appears all the more anachronistic as these three appointments were aimed precisely at helping to standardize the functioning of the IHU a little more. In research structures, scientific councils are rarely made up of local researchers. On the contrary, it is generally a question of attracting personalities recognized for their skills, at national and international level. Local particularities being what they are, the appointment of Eric Vivier, a scientist among the most cited in the world but also a Marseillais for 31 years, former director of the Marseille-Luminy Immunology Center, seemed to many an ideal compromise.
As part of the reconstruction of the Institute, it was also a question of bringing in immunology. If the IHU has almost unique capabilities in the world in terms of ‘culturomics’ and genomics, in other words the identification and analysis of microbes, until now it has not been at all interested in the study of ‘immunity. “But today, a microbiology institute is no longer conceivable without the ability to analyze the relationships between the host and the pathogens,” underlines Eric Vivier, whose skills should notably facilitate recruitment. A challenge: “There is a real deficit in reputation, continues the researcher. We must rekindle the desire by relying on the assets of the institute: a top-notch working environment, collections of microbes, clean rooms for handling pathogens, patients on site and high-level scientists, like virologist Xavier de Lamballerie”.
Develop complementarities
It was also a question of facilitating relations between the IHU, the Marseille immunology biocluster (the MIB built on the foundations of Marseille immunopole, co-founded by Eric Vivier) and the Paris Saclay Cancer Cluster (PSCC), chaired since 2022 by the same scientist. Newly created, these two entities bring together academics and industrialists across their territories, with the aim of contributing to the reindustrialization of the country. “Developing complementarities between these different organizations seemed to us an excellent prospect, it is essential that the IHU finally comes out of its ivory tower and collaborates with other local and national structures”, underlines an administrator of the IHU. Except that in Marseille, obviously, not everyone was of this opinion. Because an important parameter was not taken into account: the appointment of Vivier at the head of the PSCC, which was visibly experienced by many, on the shores of the Mediterranean, as a betrayal – even though his laboratories, his company of biotechnology and its family remain locally anchored.
“We fought to have a biocluster in Marseille. Researchers found that it was necessary to protect the local ecosystem and insisted on the risk of conflict of interest with someone who was in both Paris and Marseille,” summarizes a member of the board of directors close to Renaud Muselier, asked to pick up the phone to support the position of the president of the region to Express. To which were added, from consistent sources, personal questions. “It is unfortunately a classic in French medical research, where scientists are constantly in competition for positions, funding, projects. How do you then ask them to collaborate, even if it is in the interest of the country?”, confirms another administrator.
The stakes were obviously so important that Renaud Muselier did not hesitate to put into the balance the financial aid provided to the Institute. Indeed, if his administration does not pay direct subsidies, it collects and allocates money from the ERDF (European regional development fund) – seven million euros for the period 2021-2027, with payments staggered over time. Enough to convince the members of the board of directors to postpone any decision until a future meeting, probably in June. “It’s regrettable because it shows to what extent the microcosm of Marseille, where everyone holds on to the goatee, is dysfunctional: an all-powerful regional president can decide alone what he does with his subsidies,” laments one observer. And now ? The administrators contacted by l’Express, a bit stunned, are procrastinating and waiting to “let the dust settle”. “The IHU is just one activity among others, a completely voluntary one at that. I remain on the scientific council, and motivated to provide the help that is asked of me,” assures Eric Vivier for his part.
Clochemerlesque? No doubt, but that’s the whole problem. “This is not good for the reputation of the IHU. This brings it back to an object of local politics, which was already too much the case during Raoult’s time. It’s a very sad story”, sighs one of the administrators, disappointed. Especially since internally, everything is not settled, far from it. Maintaining their positions as executives who belonged to the close guard of the microbiologist raises questions in particular. “The changes are intended to continue,” says another manager. More in the next episode.
.