Ebola: Congolese Jean-Jacques Muyembe receives the 2026 Virchow Prize and its 500,000 euros in Berlin

Congolese virologist Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum received the 2026 Virchow Prize, worth 500,000 euros, during a ceremony at the Rotes Rathaus in Berlin on October 10, 2026. He shares this award with Belgian Peter Piot for their pioneering work on Ebola, according to the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp (ITM). The Congolese Ministry of Health welcomed the news, reports the allAfrica press review of October 11, 2026.

From Yambuku to Kinshasa

In 1976, Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum was a field epidemiologist sent to Yambuku, in the north of present-day Zaire, to investigate an unknown disease. There, he collected the samples that paved the way for identifying what the world would come to call Ebola virus disease. Half a century later, he is considered one of Africa's leading specialists in Ebola and emerging infectious diseases, according to the ITM.

The researcher has spent most of his career building national epidemic response capabilities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly at the National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB) in Kinshasa, where he leads research and response. The ITM, of which he is a long-standing partner, awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2019.

"Serving humanity"

"The Virchow Prize is a symbol of international recognition," said the virologist, quoted by the ITM, stating he was "happy to have been able to serve humanity." He emphasized that he believed the award honored "the partnership between the ITM and the INRB." For his part, Peter Piot praised a man whose leadership and friendship continue to inspire him.

The prize is awarded by the Virchow Foundation under the motto "Towards Health for All." It refers to the legacy of the German physician Rudolf Virchow, for whom health is inseparable from society, politics, equity, and collective responsibility. A Virchow Lecture is organized in honor of the two laureates.

Recognition that puts African laboratories back at the center

The award serves as a reminder that the identification of Ebola, and the subsequent responses to outbreaks, relied on researchers and laboratories from the continent, who were long relegated to the background in international narratives. By honoring the man from Yambuku and the institute he directs in Kinshasa, the Virchow Prize recognizes science produced in Africa, on the frontlines of epidemics.