MICHEL TIBAYRENC, MD, PhD, is Director of Research in the Genetics of Infectious Diseases Unit of the Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement in France. Currently, he is the IRD representative in Thailand. The principal organizer of the international congresses for the Molecular Epidemiology and Evolutionary Genetics of Infectious Diseases (MEEGID) Society, Dr. Tibayrenc is also the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the journal "Infection, Genetics and Evolution,"