Malaria Elimination Oversight Committee

Panel members’ biographies

Evelyn Ansah Dr Evelyn Korkor Ansah is an Associate Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Director of the Centre for Malaria Research, University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ghana. Prior to this, she was the Deputy Director responsible for Research at the Research & Development Division of the Ghana Health Service. Her basic training was in Medicine at the School of Medical Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. She later pursued a Master of Public Health at the School of Public Health, University of Ghana and subsequently a PhD in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London. She was admitted as a Fellow of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons in 2009. Dr Ansah has worked at all levels of the health system. She practised as a doctor for three years at the Ridge Regional Hospital, Ghana. Following this, she worked as a District Medical Officer in a rural area in Ghana for an initial eight years and became District Director of Health Service for seven years. As Deputy Director of the Research & Development Division of the Ghana Health Service she was responsible for coordination of the Ghana Health Service National Research Agenda as well as research capacity strengthening. Her research interests lie in malaria, diagnostics, health systems, public health and capacity building for health research. She serves as a reviewer and has several publications in peer-reviewed journals. She serves as a member of various committees (i.e. Steering Committee of the ACT Consortium and as an investigator of the Malaria Capacity Development Consortium) and is the founding Chair of the Institutional Review Board of the Dodowa Health Research Centre, Ghana. Currently, she serves as a Vice chair of the Technical Review Panel of the Global Fund, Member of the 2018 Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM) Pan African Conference International Scientific Committee.

Tom Burkot Professor Tom Burkot is a Tropical Leader in the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia. He received his B.Sc. from the University of Notre Dame (USA) and M.Sc. and PhD degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in medical entomology. Prior to joining James Cook University, he was a research entomologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1991 to 2011 where he worked on the transmission and control of malaria in Africa and Asia as a member of the Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria and the President’s Malaria Initiative. From 1988–91, Professor Burkot was based at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, the Papua New

1 Guinea Institute of Medical Research (1983–88) and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (1981–83). He has served as a consultant for the Secretariat of the Pacific Community and the World Health Organization on malaria, filariasis and dengue. As a National Research Council Fellow, Professor Burkot developed the first ELISAs to identify and quantify human sporozoites in vectors. Professor Burkot has served on the Global Fund’s Technical Review Panel, the Vector Control Advisory Group and Expert Review Groups for malaria elimination that developed the WHO Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016–2030. He presently serves on the Malaria Policy Advisory Committee and the management board for Building Out Vector Borne Diseases in Sub-Sahara Africa Management. He has authored or co- authored more than 135 scientific journal articles, book chapters and other publications

Rose Leke Rose Gana Fomban Leke is Emeritus Professor of Immunology and Parasitology at the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Yaoundé, Cameroon. Until her retirement in March 2013, she was Head of Department at the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and Director of the Biotechnology Centre at the University of Yaoundé 1, Cameroon. She serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Medical Research Institute and as Vice President of the Scientific Committee of Cameroon First Lady’s Research Centre in Yaoundé. She is a Fellow of the Cameroon Academy of Sciences and Doctor Honoris Causa (DSc) from the University of Ghana where she was invited as the 2014 Aggrey-Fraser-Guggisberg Memorial Lecturer. In 2011, she was one of 6 women who received the African Union Kwame Nkrumah Scientific Award for Women, which recognizes female excellence in scientific research and was elected International Honorary Fellow of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in 2015. She is Executive Director of the Cameroon Coalition against malaria, and is the Chair of the Multilateral Initiative in Malaria Secretariat launched in 2010 at the Biotechnology Centre of the University of Yaoundé 1. Dr Leke has been President of the Federation of African Immunological Societies and a Council member of the International Union of Immunological Societies. She is a member of the African Advisory Committee for Experts in Malaria and a Member of the Board of Trustees of the African Malaria Network Trust. She has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the European Malaria Vaccine Initiative, the WHO Advisory Committee on Malaria Vaccines, the TDR/Multilateral Initiative in Malaria Task Force and as a consultant on many other WHO committees, including the Malaria Policy Advisory Committee (MPAC). Her research interest is in the immunology of parasitic infections, particularly malaria. She has a keen interest in global health issues, particularly about health systems strengthening. With grants from the NIAID, she and collaborators in Georgetown University and at the University of Hawaii have developed expertise in studying malaria during

2 pregnancy, particularly placenta malaria, publishing many papers and training many young scientists for their MD, MSc and PhD degrees, post- doctoral fellows.

Kevin Marsh Kevin Marsh qualified in medicine at the University of Liverpool in 1978 and after undertaking specialist training as a physician began his research career at the Medical Research Council Unit in the Gambia working on the immunology of malaria. From 1985-89 he was at the Institute of Molecular Medicine in Oxford and in 1989 established with colleagues a series of research projects on the clinical epidemiology and immunology of malaria at Kilifi on the Kenyan coast. These have subsequently developed into an international programme involving around 800 staff working across a number of countries in east Africa. For the last 27 years he has lived in Kenya. Professor Marsh has a broad interest in clinical, epidemiological and immunological aspects of malaria and has authored or coauthored over 450 publications on different aspects of malaria. He has a particular interest in developing and strengthening research capacity and scientific leadership in Africa. Professor Marsh is Senior Advisor, African Academy of Sciences in Nairobi, Kenya, and also professor of tropical medicine at the University of Oxford. He is a member of a number of international advisory committees relating to malaria and to global health research. A fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and the African academy of Sciences, he was awarded the Prince Mahidol prize for medicine in 2010 and the Al Sumait prize for health in 2016.

Kamini Mendis Dr Mendis is an independent Consultant on malaria and tropical medicine, having retired in October 2010 as the Coordinator of malaria treatment and malaria elimination in WHO. She began her career as a clinician and moved to research on immunology and vaccine development in malaria, and then onto a wide range of fields in the areas of immunology, epidemiology, clinical studies, pathogenesis, and disease control in malaria. In 1980 she founded the Malaria Research Centre at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, and a postgraduate training programme in research, supervising many PhD and MSc students and building a network of young scientists in Sri Lanka. She continued academic pursuits in Sri Lanka as a Professor in Parasitology until 1997 when she left for Geneva. She has made several original contributions to scientific knowledge on malaria. Her work on malaria research has been honoured by national and international awards. In Geneva, she helped establish the Global Forum for Health Research and then served in the Transition Secretariat of the then Director- General-elect of WHO. She was instrumental in the planning and launch

3 of the Global Roll Back Malaria Initiative in 1998 and then headed the component on treatment and elimination of malaria at the WHO Global Malaria Programme where she was engaged in global efforts to reduce the burden of malaria. Dr Mendis is currently engaged in malaria control and elimination efforts in Asia, and has conducted several national reviews of malaria control programmes in countries in Asia. She is a member of the Technical Advisory Group on Malaria in Sri Lanka which supported the country to achieve WHO certification of malaria elimination. She serves as a malaria adviser to international funding agencies and research councils, and as a member of several international and regional expert committees on malaria including serving on the MPAC.

Frank Richards Dr Richards is the Director of the river blindness, lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis and malaria programmes at The Carter Center. An expert in parasitic and tropical diseases, he has worked extensively in Latin America and Africa. Dr Richards spent 23 years with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where he focused on parasitic disease control and eradication. He is the recipient of many awards, including the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene's Bailey K. Ashford Medal. He has also authored or co-authored more than 180 articles, letters, and chapters and holds faculty appointments in the School of Public Health and School of Medicine at Emory University

Mirta Roses Periago Dr Mirta Roses Periago is Director Emeritus of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), regional WHO office for the Americas, where she served as Director for two consecutive terms from 2003 to 2013, and previously served two terms as Assistant Director of PAHO (1995-2003) responsible for the direct supervision of PAHO/WHO Representative Offices in the Americas. Dr Roses has vast international experience in public health, having worked for almost three decades on behalf of the countries of the Americas, actively participating in global efforts in epidemic control,

equity in health, social promotion, and health regulation. She started her international career as coordinator of the Epidemiological Surveillance Unit of the Caribbean Epidemiology Center (CAREC) in Trinidad and Tobago, providing services to all the Caribbean countries, then as an epidemiologist in the Dominican Republic, becoming PAHO/WHO Representative in the Dominican Republic and in Bolivia. Dr Roses has received a Doctor Honoris Causa from various prestigious universities in Argentina, Mexico and the Dominican Republic and has been awarded national recognitions, such as Civil Orders from Spain, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic

4 Leonardo Santos Simão Dr Leonardo Santos Simão is a medical doctor by training. After his graduation from the Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique in 1980, he worked in rural areas of Mozambique as medical officer at district and provincial levels. He holds a Master’s degree in Public Health (Community Health in Developing Countries) from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (United Kingdom). He also taught in the Faculty of

Medicine of the Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique. Dr Simão served as the Executive Director of the Joaquim Chissano Foundation and prior to that he served as Mozambique’s Minister of Health and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, where he remained until 2005. He is also the Chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Mediation Reference Group, and Chairman of the steering committee of the Business Environment Support Fund in Mozambique, a development initiative funded under Denmark’s development cooperation activities. Currently, Dr Simão serves as member of the Secretariat at the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) and is President of the Manhiça Foundation in Maputo, Mozambique.

Linhua Tang Linhua TANG is Professor and Former Director, National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. He obtained his M.D from Harbin Medical University, China and his M.Sc, (Trop. Med) from the Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Thailand. Professor Tang has served as advisor to the National Steering Committee on Malaria Elimination Program in China (2010 - ) and Chairman of the Expert Advisory Committee on Malaria for the Ministry of Health of China (1997- 2010). Prior to that, he was Director of WHO Collaborating Center for Malaria, Schistosomiasis and Filariasis in China (2002-2010), and Chief Editor of Chinese Journal of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases (2004 - ). He has over 30 years of experience in both malaria research and field control, and has wide knowledge on malaria control and elimination at national and international levels. His main research is epidemiology, clinical treatment and drug efficacy of malaria. Professor Tang has performed temporary consultancies for the WHO and has been involved in global malaria control and elimination. He was the member of Task Force for Improved Use of Antimalarial Drugs; International Task Force member on artemisinin resistance containment in South East Asia; member of the malERA International Advisory Committee, among others. Professor Tang provides consultancy and research experience in cooperation of malaria control and elimination, mainly for the sub-Mekong regions. He has contributed to more than 225 peer-reviewed publications.

5 Yongyuth Yuthavong Yongyuth Yuthavong is a former Deputy Prime Minister and former Minister of Science and Technology in Thailand and an outstanding scientist with a particular interest in the broad issues of public policies, especially those concerning the application of science and technology for development – as well as human development in general. Dr Yongyuth spent a long career at Mahidol University, conducting research and teaching. He was appointed Professor of Biochemistry in 1983 and was honoured with the “Outstanding Scientist of Thailand”

Award in 1984, from the Foundation for the Promotion of Science and Technology. During the same period, he was chosen as the Director of the National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC) from 1985 until 1989. Dr Yongyuth became the first President of Thailand’s National Science & Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) from 1992 until 1998 and in 2004, he received the Nikkei Asia Prize for Science, Technology and Innovation from the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japan, for his outstanding work on antimalarial drug targets, as well as the prestigious “Person of the Year” Award from Thailand’s National Identity Board. Dr Yongyuth served as the Minister of Science and Technology from 2006 to 2008, when The Nation newspaper named him one of “the 35 most influential Thais over the past 35 years”. Dr Yongyuth has since returned to his research career with BIOTEC, where he now heads a research group working on the development of new antimalarials.

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