Didier Raoult (French pronunciation: [didje ʁa.ul(t)]; born 13 March 1952) is a French physician and microbiologist specialising in infectious diseases. He taught about infectious diseases at the Faculty of Medicine of Aix-Marseille University (AMU), and in 1984, created the Rickettsia Unit of the university. Since 2008, Raoult has been the director of the Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes. He gained significant worldwide attention during the COVID-19 pandemic for vocally promoting hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the disease, despite the lack of good evidence for its effectiveness and the consequent NIH and WHO's opposition to its use for the treatment of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients.
