CEPI’s CEO Richard Hatchett receives honorary doctorate from the University of Oslo

3 September 2024, OSLO, Norway - Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI, was yesterday awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Oslo for his “outstanding strategic and scientific leadership of CEPI, which has contributed to increased global ability to deal with a number of existing infectious diseases and increased preparedness to prevent the development of a new possible pandemic of Disease X, especially being able to respond to an outbreak of Disease X with a vaccine within 100 days”.

The honorary doctorate was conferred during a ceremony at the University of Oslo's Annual Celebration on 2 September 2024, after Dr Hatchett had given a keynote speech on the theme of “From Pathogens to Policies: Enhancing Biosecurity in an Age of Emerging Threats”.

CEPI’s strong partnership with Norway 

The doctorate exemplifies the close ties between Norway and CEPI, which is headquartered in Oslo. The Norwegian Government is one of CEPI’s ‘founding fathers’ and played a vital role as a sponsor and initial investor at the Coalition’s launch in 2017. 

The global need for an organization like CEPI was recognized after the devastating West AfricanEbola epidemic in 2014-15, which killed more than 11,000 people. The world’s response to this crisis fell tragically short: a vaccine that had been under development for more than a decade was not deployed until over a year into the epidemic. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health was a central collaborator in a clinical trial of the vaccine in Guinea, which was shown to be nearly 100% effective, suggesting that much of the devastation caused by the epidemic could have been prevented. 

A growing Coalition 

Championed by Norway, CEPI was established as the result of a consensus that a coordinated, international, and intergovernmental plan was needed to develop and deploy new vaccines to prevent future epidemics. The Coalition has since expanded significantly with financial backing from over 30 national governments, the European Commission, philanthropic organisations and private sector partners.

Norway’s unwavering support for CEPI reflects the country’s decades-long commitment to improving global health and promoting equitable access to vaccines and has enabled the Coalition to become a cornerstone of global health security and pandemic preparedness.