Executive Summary
Established in 2008 and co-hosted by the University of Bordeaux and the French national institute of health and medical research (INSERM), the Bordeaux Population Health research centre (BPH) is one of the largest centers in France dedicated to research in epidemiology and public health. With about 500 staff members (including > 120 permanent researchers / faculty) the BPH size has doubled since 2015.
With 3000 publications over the past 5 years, more than 40 software made available to the scientific community, and over 10 M€ research grant funding obtained yearly, the BPH has an intensive research activity on a large variety of public health issues. Distinctive domains of excellence include brain health, infectious diseases, data science (encompassing largescale “omics” studies), and more recently social and environmental determinants of health. Several BPH teams conduct large-scale research projects (including major clinical trials) in collaboration with middle and low income countries, with an international associated laboratory in Abidjan, serving as a hub for West Africa and the coordination of a large interdisciplinary program addressing policy-oriented research on Africa.
The center has a close relationship with the University of Bordeaux public health teaching and training structure, the ISPED (Institute of Public Health and Development) that attracts ~1000 students per year. It also hosts graduate schools in digital public health and in African transitions, as well as various international summer schools, reflecting its strong involvement in research-based teaching.
Over the past decades, BPH researchers have created and followed up several large and deeply characterized cohort studies spanning across the life-course, both in a population-based and clinical setting, with increasingly rich biobank data (e.g. Three-City, Paquid, i-Share, MEMENTO, HIV Aquitaine, Agrican…). They also have a leadership role in various world class international consortia and international clinical trials in their distinctive domains of excellence. The BPH further benefits from numerous international collaborations and privileged partnerships (e.g. with McGill university, Université de Montréal, Kyoto University, the Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and neurodegenerative diseases) and has a leadership role in the recently established ENLIGHT European University Alliance.
Another distinctive feature of the BPH is its strength in biostatistics in both basic and applied research, resulting in tight collaboration of biostatisticians and data scientists with epidemiologists and clinicians, allowing the development and timely application of cuttingedge methods. An important methodological focus has been on prediction modelling, to improve prediction of disease progression and complications, or response to treatment, leveraging highdimensional biological information and machine learning algorithms. There is also an increasing focus on developing precision medicine approaches, leveraging various large-scale molecular resources.
The research spectrum of the BPH was recently expanded towards applications for population health
and prevention, including methods for population health interventions, research on the impact and mitigation of social inequities on health across the life-course, and on strategies to improve health services. The centre further has an increasing role in public health surveillance, through its expanding health data research component, based on the secondary use of large electronic databases (administrative medical/ non-medical databases, electronic health records) especially in the field of pharmaco-epidemiology, and through the follow-up and analysis of unique disease registries (mostly on cancer, infectious, and cardio-neurovascular diseases).
Over the next contract (2022-27), the BPH will comprise 10 research teams, as well as a mission-oriented scientific coordination across teams, organized in thematic or methodological clusters reflecting our main areas of excellence: brain health across the life course, data science, infectious diseases and preparedness, aging and resilience, and environmental and social determinants of health. The BPH is strongly committed to contributing to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and to improving population health both locally and globally, embracing a comprehensive precision and global health approach targeting major health challenges, with a special focus on brain, vascular and infectious diseases, as well as cancer.
