LUNCH WITH THE FT: I would rather be accused of overreacting than of not doing my job, Peter Piot says
The man who helped discover Ebola when he was 27 and who led the fight against HIV-Aids speaks about the threat of coronavirus, and his love of Africa
29 February 2020 - 08:15
Peter Piot, tall, with grey stubble and a determined gait, sticks out his hand. A microbiologist and one of the world’s most famous “virus hunters” — we later decide “virus detective” is more apt — he evidently deems it safe to shake hands at this moment of coronavirus panic.
At 71, Piot is a rock-star virologist, the Mick Jagger of microbes. The man who helped discover Ebola when he was 27 and who led the fight against HIV-Aids is a legend in global health. Charming, rebellious and with little patience for protocol or authority, he has spent a lifetime battling bureaucracy as well as disease.
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