Andre Goffinet

Andre Goffinet

Andre Goffinet is an MD, PhD and neurologist, Emeritus Professor, University of Louvain Medical School, Belgium. He started his research career at the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research and did postdoctoral research at Harvard with Verne Caviness. He was a professor of Physiology at the University of Namur from 1989-2000, and professor of Developmental Neurobiology at the University of Louvain until his retirement. His research focused on Reelin and reelin signaling in brain development and in cortical evolution. He also worked on the role of planar cell polarity proteins, particularly atypical cadherins Celsr1-3, in axon guidance and brain development. Although he has no professional expertise in virology or epidemiology, since the beginning of the pandemic, he tried to understand what happened in Wuhan. He considers that an accidental leak of SARS-CoV-2 is a very plausible origin and should be investigated further. His principal motivation is to try and help prevent another pandemic. He is convinced that improved international regulation and control of pandemic pathogen research is a key element in any prevention strategy and should be a priority.