Moroccan Immunologist Developing Universal Coronavirus Vaccine Explains Departure from France

After his doctoral defense on a malaria vaccine at the Pasteur Institute, the immunologist took the direction of California in 1997 to do a post-doc. This decision to leave France was not spontaneous, he explained, specifying that during his last year of thesis, he was sending at least five letters a week to American universities to get this post-doc. Although proud to be the only Moroccan to enter this prestigious institute in 1992, he did not really enjoy it there.

Enduring, "I worked twice as hard as my French colleagues in order to try to win this place," to get out of the invisibility of the Arab in France. In addition to being Maghrebi, "I did not have a thesis scholarship," said Lbachir BenMohamed, adding that to meet his vital needs, he did all kinds of odd jobs. Difficulties that did not distance him from his dream, reports Jeune Afrique.

Thus, he laments, the French environment was not very conducive to the development of innovative research. Since the risk culture is not at all there, which is why scientific discoveries and advances will struggle to take hold there. The pitfalls go as far as the administration where, obtaining a residence permit, as well as a research project funding procedure, are a real ordeal.

All these reasons led the young researcher to "leave Pasteur and France for a more attractive, flexible, more open to diversity and daring" framework without social or ethical barriers to his ambitions, he concluded.