From 1968 to 1969 he was a member of a medical crew in Biafra during the Nigerian Civil War, under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Assistant surgeon in the Awo Omama war hospital. 1971 he co-founded M�decins sans Fronti�re (Doctors Without Borders), and from 1976 to 1979 he was administrator of that organization. In 1980 he co-founded M�decins du Monde (Doctors of the World) which he directed until 1987 when he became President, a post he held until 1989. He currently holds the title of Honorary President. He is a member of the board of various humanitarian organizations such as Association pour l'Action Humanitaire which he co-founded and Children Action. He was a co-founder of the International Harm Reduction Association in 1996.
He received the Silver Cross of the French Red Cross in 1969 and the Chevalier de la L�gion d'Honneur in 1993.
He is a consultant in Cardiology and has been Head of the Cardiac Rehabilitation Center, Centre Cardiologique du Nord, Saint-Denis, Paris, since 1980.
For 25 years, he has worked to promote and defend democratic institutions through new organizations devoted to the defense of human rights, trying to demonstrate a better practical understanding of how the people who suffer can be protected while keeping their dignity. He has chosen medical assistance as the way to achieve these goals through his participation in the creation of the largest French medical humanitarian NGOs. In the process, he was present and worked closely with the people who suffered from most international medical emergencies since 1968.
From 1982 to 1985, he had the opportunity to share his experience with a group of intellectuals around French philosopher Michel Foucault. They worked at convincing political leaders to accept and defend the concept of humanitarian action and to acknowledge the right to assist victims of catastrophes which led to UN resolution no. 45/100, introduced by French Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Bernard Kouchner and voted on December 14, 1988.
He helped set up international human rights operations such as creation of the committee against genocide in Biafra; providing a boat to rescue "boat people" in the south Chinese sea in 1979; supplying a plane for El Salvador Refugees; promoting the "International Convention on the rights of children" with the Fran�ois Bagnoud Association and UN Secretary General Xavier Perez de Cuellar including direction and publication of a book with a foreword by President Fran�ois Mitterrand; organizing a campaign, "SOS Yanomami Indians;" and organization of the project "10,000 children voices from Paris for Sarajevo" with Barbara Hendricks in 1994.
He also contributed to the development of an international humanitarian medical relief network, and in 1990, founded M�decins du Monde USA, Doctors of the World, along with Dr. Jonathan Mann.
He has been an advisor to the government and a member of two governmental committees in France: the National Consultative Committee for Human Rights for the Prime Minister (1989 - 1996), and the Consultative Committee on Drug Policies for the Minister of Health (1994 - 1997).
He was appointed special adviser to Bernard Kouchner, French Minister of Health and Humanitarian Affairs in 1992 and has continued in that capacity for ten years. He has taken an active part in convincing medical authorities of the need to change policies regarding AIDS, Human rights and drug addiction. He was Director of the 8th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm in March 1997 and presided at the "Rencontres Nationales sur l'Abus de drogues et la Toxicomanie" (national conference on drug abuse and addiction) in December 1997.
He has been an associate member of La Soci�t� Fran�aise de Cardiologie since 1980, and a member of Soframas, French Aeronautic Society, since 1995.
He has organized and been invited as guest speaker at numerous national and international conferences, forums and colloquia on humanitarian action and human rights.