Pathbreakers of Arab America—Moncef Slaoui

posted on: Jan 14, 2026

By: John Mason / Arab America Contributing Writer

This is the one-hundred and fifth in Arab America’s series on American pathbreakers of Arab descent. The series features personalities from various fields, including entertainment, business, sports, science, the arts, academia, journalism, and politics. Our one-hundred and fifth pathbreaker is Moroccan-born Arab American, Moncef Mohamed Slaoui, a molecular biologist, immunologist, researcher, and executive. Slaoui is known for his work in the pharmaceutical industry, notably in vaccine development, and served as the head of Operation Warp Speed in the United States, an initiative aimed at accelerating the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

Eminently qualified, Slaoui has positively impacted public health and the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Slaoui was born in the Moroccan southern coastal city of Agadir in July 22, 1959. In response to an earthquake in Agadir in February 1960, the city was evacuated and Slaoui and his family moved to the industrial city of Casablanca, where his father worked in the irrigation business. When his father died when Slaoui was only a teenager, he was left with his four siblings to be raised by his mother.

A point of interest is the background, origin, and meaning of Slaoui’s one-consonant/four-vowel family name. It is a surname of North African origin, specifically Moroccan. It is derived from the city of Salé, located near Rabat. The name indicates that the original bearer or their ancestors hailed from or were associated with Salé. The etymology is straightforward: “Slaoui” essentially means “from Salé” or “of Salé.”

Slaoui graduated from Mohammed V High School in Casablanca and, at age 17 in 1976, left Morocco to study medicine in France but ended up enrolling at the Université libre de Bruxelles. There, he received a BS and MS in biology. During his time in Brussels, he was reportedly highly active politically. In 1983, Slaoui earned a PhD in Molecular Biology and Immunology from the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. The title of his French-language dissertation in English is: “Study of the diversity and selection of idiotypic repertoires in the immune system.” This topic focuses on studying the causes of pandemics such as COVID-19.

Slaoui completed postdoctoral studies at Harvard Medical School and Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston. He was a professor of Immunology at the University of Mons, Belgium, and has authored more than 100 scientific papers and presentations. In 1998, he received an accelerated MBA from the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Slaoui’s wife, Kristen, has a Bachelor’s degree in both Biology and Classical Studies from Gettysburg College. She earned a Ph.D. in Physiology from The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and completed an NIH Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Washington. He and Kristen lived in the United States from 1983 to 1985 while each did post-doctoral research at Harvard. When Kristen was recruited to continue research on influenza at SmithKline-RIT in Belgium, Slaoui began teaching immunology at the University of Mons in Belgium.

A result of his multiple residences, Slaoui is fluent in Arabic, English, and French, is a citizen of Morocco, Belgium, and the U.S., and is a Muslim. He and Kristen have three sons.

Slaoui has worked in many positions in the pharmaceutical industry, some in research and development, others in management, but always with his valuable technical background in mind. In 1988, he joined SmithKline-RIT as a vaccine researcher, then in 2006, he was promoted to head of research and development at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). His ventures into entrepreneurial projects were not always successful, such as the $720 million acquisition of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals he led, which folded amidst bad financial times in 2013. Another misstep was his 2012 oversight of GSK’s purchase of Human Genome Sciences for over $3 billion. This sale amounted to some as the selling-off of “GSK’s entire oncology business, which Novartis turned into a ‘cancer heavyweight.'”

On the plus side in Slaoui’s thirty years working at GSK, according to Wikipedia, “he oversaw the development of numerous vaccines, including Cervarix to prevent cervical cancer, Rotarix to prevent gastroenteritis in children, and an Ebola vaccine. He also spent 27 years researching on a malaria vaccine, Mosquirix, that was approved by the European Medicines Agency in 2015 and touted as the first in the world.”

In many respects, Slaoui has been a pioneer in advancing medical advances in molecular biology and immunology. For example, in July 2013, he wrote an op-ed in the ‘Huffington Post’ titled, “It’s Time to Further Incentivize Medical Innovation,” in which he outlined recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the pharmaceutical industry. Furthermore, in December 2016, GSK established the Slaoui Center for Vaccines Research in Rockville, Maryland—named after Slaoui and GSK’s first research and development institute in the U.S.

In March of 2021, GSK fired Slaoui as chairman of the board of directors of Galvani Bioelectronics, a medical research firm owned mostly by GSK, over what the board of GSK called “substantiated” sexual harassment allegations. While the allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct towards an employee of GSK by Dr. Slaoui were earlier in his career, Slaoui nevertheless issued an apology for his behavior.

Slaoui headed the highly successful White House ‘Operation Warp Speed’ in developing and delivering COVID-19 vaccine doses

Slaoui was named to lead the ‘Operation Warp Speed’ by President Donald Trump in May 2020. Slaoui worked alongside chief operating officer and four-star general Gustave F. Perna to develop and deliver 300 million doses of a vaccine for the coronavirus disease in January 2021. His service to the White House was limited to his role in Operation Warp Speed, and he resigned on January 12, 2021, just before Joe Biden took office. While Slaoui was not in the limelight during his tenure at the White House, he clearly played a critical role in rolling out the COVID-19 vaccines. He is proud of that work, and shortly after his resignation, he sat for an interview at his home in Pennsylvania with ‘Science’ magazine to review his experiences.

Slaoui’s interview addressed the shortcomings of the COV-19 vaccine rollout, but also the joy of getting his first dose of the [COVID] vaccine.” He was not taken on by the Biden administration, attributing that decision to what Slaoui characterized with disdain as “politics.” In any case, Slaoui agreed to help the Biden transition team in February.

Slaoui reflected on his time with Operation Warp Speed, discussing challenging interactions with former President Donald Trump and how to be better prepared for a future pandemic. “Never a Trump supporter—he’s a Democrat—Slaoui had reluctantly taken the Warp Speed job because, as the former head of vaccines at GlaxoSmithKline, he thought he could help solve one of the world’s most urgent problems.”

Asked his opinion about President Trump, Slaoui responded, “I completely disagree with the values that he projects, as a person, in terms of respect, in terms of capacity to listen, accepting diversity. Many of the policy decisions that ended up politicizing this pandemic were wrong, particularly regarding mask-wearing. But at the same time, I do think that Warp Speed was absolutely visionary in bringing together science, government, the military, and the private sector to give us full empowerment. It was the right thing to do.”

Slaoui continued, “My preference is even after the fact, not to politicize this. I worked so hard to stay out of any politics because I was convinced it would derail it. Even now, I think it could derail it when I see the headlines. It just kind of makes me sad.”

In ending the ‘Science’ interview, Slaoui noted, “I’m not married to that name (ORS). I don’t care. Honestly, I feel so fortunate and happy to have served and hey, that’s all that counts. I would redo it in the blink of an eye. But next pandemic virus, please, do not come during an election.”

Sources:
-“Moncif Slaoui,” Wikipedia Series on Arab Americans, 2025”
-“Proud of vaccine success, Warp Speed’s ex–science head talks politics, presidents, and future pandemics,” Science, 1/25/2021

John Mason, Ph.D., focuses on Arab culture, society, and history and is the author of LEFT-HANDED IN AN ISLAMIC WORLD: An Anthropologist’s Journey into the Middle East, New Academia Publishing, 2017 and of his new novel, WHISPERS FROM THE DESERT: Zaki, a Little Genie’s Tales of Good and Evil (2025), under his pen name, Yahia Al-Banna. He has taught at the University of Libya in Benghazi, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, and the American University in Cairo. John served with the United Nations in Tripoli, Libya, and consulted extensively on socioeconomic and political development for USAID and the World Bank in 65 countries.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Arab America. The reproduction of this article is permissible with proper credit to Arab America and the author.

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