Agnès Buzyn
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Agnès Buzyn (; born 1 November 1962) is a French
hematologist Hematology ( spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the production ...
, university professor, medical practitioner and politician who served as Minister of Solidarity and Health in the
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
of
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Édouard Philippe Édouard Charles Philippe (; born 28 November 1970) is a French politician serving as Mayor (France), mayor of Le Havre since 2020, previously holding the office from 2010 to 2017. He was Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2017 to 3 July 202 ...
from May 2017 to February 2020. A member of
La République En Marche! Renaissance (RE) is a political party in France that is typically described as liberal and centrist or centre-right. The party was originally known as (EM) and later (, LREM, LaREM or REM), before adopting its current name in September 2022 ...
(LREM), she was its candidate for
Mayor of Paris The mayor of Paris (, ) is the Chief executive officer, chief executive of Paris, the capital and largest city in France. The officeholder is responsible for the administration and management of the city, submits proposals and recommendations to ...
in the 2020 election but failed to reach the second round. Buzyn, who specialises in hematology, cancer immunology and transplant, spent most of her career as a medical practitioner, professor and researcher at
Paris Descartes University Paris Descartes University (), also known as Paris V, was a French public university located in Paris. It was one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was split into 13 universities in 1970. Paris Descartes completely merg ...
(Paris-V) and Necker–Enfants Malades Hospital. From 2008, Buzyn assumed many responsibilities as part of Health and Nuclear public institutions: president of the administrative counsel of the Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety Institute (IRSN; French: Institut de radioprotection et de sûreté nucléaire; 2008–2013); member of the committee on nuclear energy of the Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA; Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives; 2009–2015); member of the administrative counsel in 2009, then vice-president in 2010, as well as president from 2011 of the National Institute for Cancer (INCa; Institut national du cancer). Buzyn was appointed Minister of Solidarity and Health under the presidency of
Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...
, as part of the first government of
Édouard Philippe Édouard Charles Philippe (; born 28 November 1970) is a French politician serving as Mayor (France), mayor of Le Havre since 2020, previously holding the office from 2010 to 2017. He was Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2017 to 3 July 202 ...
on 17 May 2017. She kept the position on 21 June 2017 as part of the Philippe's second government. She resigned on 16 February 2020 to run in the Paris mayoral election, in which she placed third. She was as Health Minister succeeded by Olivier Véran.


Early life and education

Buzyn was born to two Holocaust survivors, her father Elie from Polish
Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...
, who survived Buchenwald's death march at age 16, and left for British Palestine after World War II. He became an orthopedic surgeon in Paris and married a French Jewish woman, Etty, whose family hid in France during the war; she became a well-known psychoanalyst and writer.RINA BASSIS
Agnes Buzyn – Stepping into Simone Veil's shoes
The Jerusalem Post, 20 September 2017


Early career

Buzyn is a qualified doctor, hematologist and university professor. From 2008 to 2013, she chaired France's Agency for Nuclear Safety and Protection against Radiation (IRSN), a position which involved reassuring the public after Japan's
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster The Fukushima nuclear accident was a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan, which began on 11 March 2011. The cause of the accident was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which r ...
in 2011. She has been head of the French National Cancer Institute and other public health executive boards. For several years she was a senior physician and researcher at the Necker Children's Hospital in Paris, teaching hematology and transplantation at
Pierre and Marie Curie University Pierre and Marie Curie University ( , UPMC), also known as Paris VI, was a public research university in Paris, France, from 1971 to 2017. The university was located on the Jussieu Campus in the Latin Quarter of the 5th arrondissement of Paris, ...
(Paris-VI). In 2016, Buzyn was appointed president of the High Health Authority (HAS), as the first woman.


Political career


Minister of Health, 2017–2020

In May 2017, President
Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...
appointed Buzyn as Health Minister. She had never been involved in party politics prior to being nominated similar to other ministers (Culture Minister Françoise Nyssen, Sports Ministers
Laura Flessel Laura Flessel-Colovic (born 6 November 1971) is a French politician and Fencing, épée fencer who served as Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports (France), Minister of Sports from 2017 to 2018. Born in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, she has won th ...
and Ecology Minister Nicolas Hulot). Early in her tenure, Buzyn signed a charter to promote vaccination with seven national health service guilds, in an effort to counter growing
vaccine hesitancy Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance, or refusal of vaccines despite availability and supporting evidence. The term covers refusals to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain about their use, or using ce ...
in France. In 2019, she implemented a HAS recommendation according to which the state health insurance system cease all reimbursements for the use of homeopathic cures from 2021. She later steered through parliament a controversial bioethics law extending to homosexual and single women free access to fertility treatments such as
in vitro fertilisation In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation in which an ovum, egg is combined with spermatozoon, sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating the Ovulation cycle, ovulatory process, then removing ...
(IVF) under France's national health insurance; it was one of the campaign promises of President Macron and marked the first major social reform of his five-year term. During France's presidency of the G7 in 2019, Buzyn hosted a G7 Ministers of Health meeting in Paris. She also co-hosted the sixth replenishment meeting of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Lyon. Ahead of the
2019 European Parliament election in France European Parliament elections were held in France on 26 May 2019 (and on 25 May in parts of overseas France and for some nationals abroad), electing members of the 9th French delegation to the European Parliament as part of the 2019 European Parl ...
, Buzyn was considered one of the front-runners to top the candidate list of the La République En Marche! party; the role eventually went to
Nathalie Loiseau Nathalie Lydie Jeanne Loiseau (; born 1 June 1964) is a French politician, diplomat and academic administrator who has served as a Member of European Parliament since 2019. Previously she was director of the École nationale d'administration (E ...
instead. By the end of 2019, addressing concerns that France's free health system was attracting illegal migrants, Buzyn said
asylum seekers An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country, and makes in that other country a formal application for the right of asylum according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 14. A pers ...
would have to wait three months before being entitled to healthcare. She assured that restrictions would not apply to children, or emergency care.


Candidate for Mayor of Paris, 2020

In February 2020 Buzyn resigned to run as her party's candidate for Mayor of Paris in the 2020 municipal election. She eventually received 17.7% of the vote, losing against incumbent
Anne Hidalgo Ana María "Anne" Hidalgo Aleu (, ; born 19 June 1959) is a Spanish-French politician who has served as Mayor of Paris since 2014, the first woman to hold the office. She is a member of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party (PS). Hidalg ...
; former LREM politician
Cédric Villani Cédric Patrice Thierry Villani (; born 5 October 1973) is a French politician and mathematician working primarily on partial differential equations, Riemannian geometry and mathematical physics. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 2010, and he ...
, a member of the
National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
, headed a list that received 7.8% of the vote.


Later career

In 2021, Buzyn was appointed by the
World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...
's
Director-General A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (, sometimes spelled ; born 3 March 1965) is an Ethiopian public health official, researcher, diplomat, and the DGWHO, Director-General of the World Health Organization since 2017. He is the first African to become W ...
as his envoy for relations with other multilateral organizations, succeeding Michèle Boccoz.


Controversies

The Minister of Health and Minister of Research oversee the
INSERM The (Inserm, ) is the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research. History and organisation Inserm was created in 1964 as a successor to the French National Institute of Health. Inserm is the only public research institution ...
where Yves Lévy, Buzyn's husband, was CEO at the time of her appointment. A controversy emerged as to whether Buzyn could effectively oversee an institution headed by her husband. On 29 May 2017, a decree was issued which stated the Prime Minister would carry out acts related to INSERM instead of Buzyn. In January 2020, in the early stages of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, she caused controversy by calling temperature checks at airports "a symbol that is useless, except to please the population". In October 2020, Buzyn was one of several current and former government officials whose home was searched by the authorities following lawsuits about the government's handling of the
COVID-19 pandemic in France The COVID-19 pandemic in France has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was confirmed to have reached France on 24 January 2020, when the first COVID-19 case in both Europe and France was identified in Bordeaux. T ...
. In September 2021, she was placed under investigation when Prosecutors at a Paris court decided that there were grounds to prosecute her for "endangering the lives of others."Paul Dallison (10 September 2021)
Ex-French health minister under investigation over handling of coronavirus
''
Politico Europe ''Politico Europe'' (stylized as ''POLITICO Europe'') is the European edition of the American news organization '' Politico'' reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices in ...
''.


Personal life

Buzyn was married to Pierre-François Veil, son of politician and Holocaust survivor
Simone Veil Simone Veil (; ; 13 July 1927 – 30 June 2017) was a French magistrate, Holocaust survivor, and politician who served as health minister in several governments and was President of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1982, the first woman t ...
, who died in June 2017. They have 2 children together. Buzyn is married to Yves Lévy, with whom she has one child. Lévy is an immunology professor and has been heading the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) since June 2014. He remains interim head since his term expired 12 June 2018 and announced on 30 July that he would not run for another term due to the controversy involving his wife.France may be back, but the old ways persist for INSERM.
The Lancet, Volume 391, Issue 10138, p 2390. Retrieved 16 June 2018


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buzyn, Agnes 1962 births Living people Politicians from Paris Paris Descartes University alumni 21st-century French politicians French people of Polish-Jewish descent 20th-century French Jews 21st-century French Jews Women government ministers of France Ministers of health of France 21st-century French women politicians French hematologists