Her years of training as a doctor coincided with the unfolding of the AIDS epidemic, at the moment when the virus responsible had not yet been named because it was unknown and where over 90% of the patients manifested the disease through pulmonary complications, namely pneumocystis and tuberculosis. It was therefore as a young doctor that she became involved in the treatment and care of patients with HIV. The term "comprehensive treatment and care" did not exist at that time but was an absolute necessity as long as the stigmatisation of infected populations was intense in the West, namely for homosexuals and then drug addicts who, in addition to the disease, experienced social, professional and family difficulties. Her ethics as a care provider are in large part based on these issues.

At the same time as her clinical activity, she was head of the Laënnec Hospital laboratory where research for infectious agents in the lungs of HIV patients was performed. Finally, she directed and continues to direct a team that does research on respiratory pathology. It was within this framework that she conducted very early work on the optimisation of diagnostic means for pulmonary infections associated with HIV, then on the deleterious impact of these infections on HIV replication. Several of these studies were supported by the National Agency for AIDS Research when it was created.

Her ever continuing work with an interface between clinical care for patients and research issues has led to her appointment to numerous INSERM commissions including the Clinical Research Commission created in 2006.

As a member, on the other hand, of the International Relations Group of the Board of Directors of the French Language Society of Pulmonology as well as the International Relations Commission of the Paris Descartes School of Medicine, she is working on cooperation in the domain of training not only at the university but also in the field with young doctors.