Professor Awa Marie Coll Seck is a leading expert in Infectious Diseases and Bacteriology-Virology, holding both an MD and a PhD. Her extensive experience also includes public service as a former Senior Minister of State to the President of Senegal. She now chairs Galien Africa, where she leads the annual Galien Forum Africa and Prix Galien Africa.
Prof. Coll Seck has been twice Minister of Health in Senegal (2001-2003 / 2012-2017). She was named “Best Minister in the World” in Dubai in February 2017 at the World Government Summit.
Prof. Coll Seck had the responsibility of directing the Department of Infectious Diseases at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal. She was Executive Director of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership from 2004 to 2012 and Director of the Department of Policy, Strategy and Research of UNAIDS (1996-2001).
Prof. Coll Seck is on the Board of numerous organizations including Resolve to Save Lives, VaxSen (Institut Pasteur de Dakar), AFRIVAC, Gavi-the Vaccine Alliance, Grand Challenges Canada, and Exemplars in Global Health.
Prof. Coll Seck is a member of the Advisory Board of the Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program (USA) and the African Mayoral Leadership Initiative (AMALI). She is also a member of the Climate and Health Council of the S-The Snofi Collective Foundation and she sits on the Strategic Orientation Council of the Foundation Une Santé Durable pour Tous (France).
Previously, Prof. Coll Seck was a member of the Jury of the Noguchi Africa Prize (Japan), the Virchow Prize (Germany) and the Isa Award for Services to Humanity (Bahrain). In 2024, she was also a Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Health.
Prof. Coll Seck has received numerous honors, including Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite of Senegal, Burkina Faso and the Gambia, as well as the the Palmes académiques, Ordre du Mérite and the Légion d’Honneur of France. She has also received Japan’s second highest award, The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star.
Prof. Coll Seck is the author of more than 150 scientific publications.