Whatever the process was, it's one way to achieve Wikipedia notability:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvain_Lesn%C3%A9
which is not necessarily a #GoodThing:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:An_article_about_yourself_isn%27t_necessarily_a_good_thing
The discussion at AlzForum.org is useful for a more nuanced view (from within the Alzheimer's research community, it seems) to that of the mainstream press:
https://www.alzforum.org/news/community-news/sylvain-lesne-who-found-av56-accused-image-manipulation