Naim Ouldali

Naim Ouldali is a Full Professor of Pediatrics at Paris Cité University and Permanent Researcher (PU-PH) affiliated with the Department of General Pediatrics and Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Robert Debré University Hospital, AP-HP. Since 2024, he has served as Head of the EPIC research team within the IAME research unit, focusing on critical challenges in pediatric infectious diseases.

His research centers on three interconnected axes: modeling invasive bacterial disease epidemiology (particularly pneumococcal disease evolution post-vaccination), investigating virus-bacteria interactions (with emphasis on RSV as a trigger for bacterial infections), and improving therapeutic management through quasi-experimental approaches. The EPIC team addresses the global burden of pneumococcal disease causing 300,000 annual child deaths, studying serotype replacement dynamics and respiratory virus-bacteria synergies. Their work combines national surveillance data with multi-center clinical studies to inform vaccine development and public health interventions.

Professor Ouldali's publication record demonstrates exceptional productivity with over 15 high-impact papers in 2023-2025, primarily in The Lancet, JAMA, and NEJM family journals. His research spans pneumococcal disease resurgence, RSV immunoprophylaxis effectiveness, MIS-C therapeutics, and post-pandemic infection dynamics, consistently employing advanced epidemiological modeling techniques. Recent work has significantly advanced understanding of 'immune debt' concepts and nirsevimab's real-world impact.

He currently supervises five early-career researchers (Zein Assad, Inès Fafi, Manon Jaboyedoff, Léa Lenglart, Zaba Valtuille) within the EPIC team. The lab maintains strategic collaborations with ACTIV research unit and the French National Reference Center for Pneumococci, enabling integrated analysis of clinical, microbiological, and epidemiological data. Professor Ouldali's work bridges hospital-based clinical research with population-level public health modeling, creating unique opportunities for students to engage in translational science addressing urgent global child health challenges.

The EPIC research team, under Professor Ouldali's leadership, operates at the forefront of pediatric infectious disease epidemiology. By modeling pathogen evolution following human interventions and quantifying virus-bacteria interactions, the team generates evidence directly applicable to vaccine policy and therapeutic guidelines. Their current projects on pneumococcal serotype replacement and RSV-bacterial infection links represent critical pathways for reducing childhood infectious disease mortality worldwide.