The future “Drines”, direction of research, innovation, and digital health, is taking shape. According to information revealed by the media Contexte and confirmed by Acteurs publics, Stéphanie Rist, Minister of Health, Families, Autonomy, and Persons with Disabilities, has instructed the four current directors of the intended directions to merge to form this new entity.
Namely, Charles-Édouard Escurat, general director of the Health Innovation Agency, Julie Lagrave, deputy director of research and innovation at the general directorate of healthcare provision, David Sainati, delegated to digital health, and whose former co-delegate, Hela Ghariani, has just been entrusted with the leadership of the Health Data Hub. Finally, Cécile Lambert, general reporter of the “article 51” device: a device aiming to perpetuate experiments of innovative organizations in healthcare.
Mission “efficient state”
It was in December 2025 that Stéphanie Rist announced the restructuring of her ministry, “to move from a fragmented institutional landscape to an integrated, more consistent and faster management”. The restructuring is particularly part of the “efficient state” mission launched by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu. “We will bring together all dedicated forces for clinical research, innovation, and digital health within a single direction,” declared the minister at that time.
The main goal, at this stage, is to provide the ministry with a better capacity for anticipation and action on artificial intelligence and healthcare data, issues that are now inevitable in the sector and on which initiatives are multiplying. The appointment of Hela Ghariani to head the Health Data Hub has more formally brought the issue of healthcare data back into the ministry’s sphere, after years of difficult installation for the GIP.
Installation in September
To carry out their mission, the four prefigurers of the future direction have been invited to rely on the work of the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (Igas). The Igas is currently working on a report outlining this future direction, and is expected to present its work in mid-May, as recently announced by Stéphanie Rist.
These works are expected to materialize in the proposal of a “macro-organizational chart around the missions of the direction” and a roadmap for its first twelve months of installation. Recruitment for the direction’s leadership is expected to start this summer, with installation beginning in early September.
