LEAP PLATFORM - Key Persons

Alistair Swanson

Job Titles:

Member of the Executive Committee
Head of Product Development, NTD Leishmaniasis - Mycetoma Cluster

Amelia Folkes

Job Titles:

Member of the Executive Committee
Head of Global Executive Office
Head of Global Executive Office, DNDi

Amelia Folkes joined DNDi in September 2016 and Heads the Global Executive Office. Amelia has over 12 years experience in the International Organization and Non-Governmental Organizations sector, including in the Executive office of MSF International supporting the Secretary General and the International President, at the MSF Access Campaign as the Coordination and Legal Officer, and at UNHCR supporting the High Commissioner's Representative in the United Kingdom. Previously, Amelia practiced as a lawyer with top international law firm Allen & Overy LLP, specializing in commercial law in London and Prague, with a focus on derivatives and structured finance law. Amelia earned her LLB law degree from The University of Manchester, England, and her postgraduate professional legal qualification with distinction from BPP University Law School in London, England.

Amit Malik

Job Titles:

Chartered Accountant
Member of the Executive Committee
Head of Operations, South Asia
Head of Operations, South Asia, DNDi

Amit Malik joined DNDi in January 2019 as Head of Operations of the Regional Office, South Asia. Before joining DNDi, Amit was in finance leadership role with BBC Media Action, a UK international charity, specializing in development communication, based in Delhi, India. He has worked with different Country teams/offices in his past roles and has been instrumental in leading key strategic and financial insights to the business. Amit is a Chartered Accountant and PGDBM in Finance by qualification, with 18 years of experience in social and commercial sectors.

Anna Crago

Job Titles:

Member of the Executive Committee
Head of External Relations
Head of External Relations, DNDi

Anna Crago joined DNDi in December 2020 and took over Head of External Relations role in July 2022.

Bernhards Ogutu

Job Titles:

Chief Research Officer, KEMRI

Carmen Pérez Casas

Job Titles:

Senior Technical Manager, Strategy, Unitaid

Carmen Pérez Casas (Pharmacist, MsC Virology LSHTM, FRCP Edin) is Senior Technical Manager, Strategy, at Unitaid. In her position, she identifies and supports interventions to surmount access barriers to best options for treatment, diagnosis or prevention of major diseases affecting low and middle-income countries. A focus of her work is currently on COVID-19 therapeutics, in addition to HIV/coinfections and comorbidities, as well as new technologies across infectious diseases such as long-acting tools and innovative delivery forms for pediatric treatments.

Carol Ruffell

Job Titles:

Member of the Executive Committee
Head, Joint Office for Southern Africa for DNDi and GARDP
Specialist

Carol Ruffell is an experienced specialist in the global public health sector, having worked primarily within the HIV/AIDS and TB arena. She is an experienced executive with knowledge of the global public health system and good insight of the Southern African health sector. She has more than 20 years of experience in the corporate pharmaceutical industry (J&J, GSK, Adcock Ingram) and in community pharmacy. She holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy from Rhodes University, a Master's in Public Health from the University of Liverpool, and a certificate in Business Project Management.

Caroline Menétrey

Job Titles:

Member of the Executive Committee
Clinical Project Leader
Clinical Project Leader, DNDi

Caroline Menétrey joined DNDi in January 2018 as a Senior Clinical Manager in the Hepatitis C team and took over the Clinical Project Leader role in the same team in October 2019. Caroline has more than 10 years of Clinical Project Management experience. She has been managing and coordinating multi-center international clinical projects and project teams in phases II/III/IV at Merck Serono as well as observational studies across Europe, Africa, North and Latin America, and Asia Pacific while working at Quintiles. During that time, she developed experience as a project leader and people manager. She has delivered projects across many disease areas, mainly neurology and infectious diseases. Caroline holds a Pharmacy degree from the University of Lausanne.

Charles Mowbray

Job Titles:

Member of the Executive Committee
Discovery Director

Chirac Bulanga Milemba

Job Titles:

Finance
Member of the Executive Committee
Director of the DNDi

Mr Chirac Bulanga joined DNDi in March 2013 as Country Operations Manager. Chirac is currently the Director of the DNDi regional office in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Chirac is a finance, administration, HR, and logistics professional with more than 15 years of progressive experience from a wide range of organizations and governmental institutions.

Chris Bird

Job Titles:

General Counsel and Company Secretary at Wellcome

Chris Bird is General Counsel and Company Secretary at Wellcome, a UK-based charitable foundation, where he is responsible for all legal, governance, and regulatory compliance issues. Before joining Wellcome, Chris was an Attorney with Osborne Clarke LLP, working in London, Brussels, and Bristol.

Collins W. Munene

Job Titles:

Member of the Executive Committee
Regional Operations Leader, Eastern Africa
Regional Operations Leader, Eastern Africa, DNDi

Collins W. Munene, joined DNDi as the Regional Operations Leader in April 2022. Collins has over eighteen years work experience in Finance, Governance, Operations, Compliance, and Programme Management in both the non-profit, public and private organisations locally and internationally. Prior to joining DNDi, Collins was the Director of Operations for the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) in charge of the African Region. Other previous roles include; National Director at the Young Scientists Kenya, Chief Operations Officer at the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF - Kenya), and Africa Deputy Regional Director at Energy 4 Impact. Collins holds a Bachelor of Finance Degree from San Jose State University (USA) and is currently finishing MBA (Strategic Management) studies at Daystar University, Kenya.

Daisuke Imoto

Job Titles:

Member of the Executive Committee
Director of Business Development, Procurement and Alliance Management
Director of Business Development, Procurement and Alliance Management, DNDi

Daisuke Imoto joined DNDi in December 2022 as Director of Business Development, Procurement and Alliance Management. Over the last 20+ years, Daisuke has developed strategies and programmes and accumulated a significant experience in development and financing, public affairs, and partnership management among various development banks or funding agencies (notably JBIC and JICA), through a passage in the pharma industry at Eli Lilly and at DNDi, where he led the Japan Office from 2017 until 2019. Prior to joining DNDi in 2022, Daisuke played a prominent role at the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund), as Vice President in charge of External Affairs and Corporate Development for three years. Daisuke holds a BA in Law from University of Tokyo and an MBA at INSEAD, complemented by a diploma in French civilization from Paris Sorbonne University.

Dale Kempf

Job Titles:

Distinguished Research Fellow and Director of Neglected Diseases Research, AbbVie

Delphine Launay

Job Titles:

Member of the Executive Committee
Pharmaceutical Development Leader

Denise Guimaraes

Job Titles:

Member of the Executive Committee
Head of Regional Operations, Latin America

Dominique Junod-Moser

Job Titles:

Member of the Executive Committee
Director of Legal Affairs

Dorothy Mbori-Ngacha

Job Titles:

Senior HIV Specialist on EMTCT and Paediatric HIV, UNICEF

Dr Alwyn Mwinga - CEO

Job Titles:

Chief Executive Officer
CEO ZAMBART Project, Zambia
DNDi Board Patient Representative / CEO ZAMBART Project, Zambia

Dr Alwyn Gladwyn Zebron Mwinga is Chief Executive Officer of the Zambia AIDS Related Tuberculosis Project (Zambart). Before joining Zambart, she worked in different capacities at CDC Zambia. She was an Expert Consultant on TB/HIV Research Priorities for the WHO in addition to serving as a member of multiple national and international boards relating to TB. She has been an Associate Editor of The Lancet Infectious Diseases and the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Zambia. In 2007, Dr Mwinga was awarded the Global Health Achievement by the Office of Global Health CDC as well as the PEPFAR Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 in recognition of her contribution to HIV and TB. She studied Tropical Medicine (M.Sc.) at the University of London, and she has a M.Med and MB ChB from the University of Zambia. In 2013 she completed her PG Diploma in Bioethics at the University of Stellenbosch.

Dr Andre Daher

Job Titles:

Head of Clinical Research, Farmanguinhos / FIOCRUZ
Head of Clinical Research, Farmanguinhos / FIOCRUZ, Brazil
Head of the Clinical Research Division of Farmanguinhos / FIOCRUZ

Andre Daher is head of the clinical research division of Farmanguinhos/FIOCRUZ, a Federal governmental pharmaceutical industry in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is a physician specialized in Infectious Diseases by the Fluminense Federal University and in Clinical Research by the Oswaldo Cruz German Hospital/Brazilian Ministry of Health. Over the course of his career, he has gained expertise on technological development in pharmaceuticals, including ongoing projects in HIV pediatrics, new malaria vivax approaches, and leishmaniasis. He served as consultant for international networks, and he is currently a consultant for clinical trials in Malaria for PAHO. Currently, he co-coordinates two collaborative initiatives for clinical research at FIOCRUZ: The Clinical Research Platform for Technological Development in Public Health, and the FIOCRUZ Clinical Research Network, involving more than 60 clinical research groups.

Dr Bernard Pécoul - Founder

Job Titles:

Founder
Member of the Executive Committee
Founder of DND I, Receives Prince Mahidol Award and Strengthens Partnerships in Thailand
Founder, DNDi
Member of the Joint Coordination Board of the Special Programme for Tropical Disease Research

Dr Bernard Pécoul led the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) from its foundation in 2003 until 2022. Under his guidance, DNDi - a not-for-profit research and development organization - with hundreds of public and private partners, has delivered twelve new treatments for six deadly diseases. It has developed a robust portfolio of projects spanning from discovery to implementation for sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, filaria, mycetoma, HIV, hepatitis C, and COVID-19. After stepping down from his position of Executive Director of the organization in September 2022, Dr Pécoul remains one of the major stakeholders of DNDi and lifelong advocate for better access to medicines. Prior to DNDi, Dr Pécoul was Director of the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines from 1998 to 2003, a position he took on after that of Executive Director of MSF-France. While working with MSF, Dr Pécoul carried out field missions in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. In 1988, he co-founded Epicentre, an MSF-affiliated NGO specialized in epidemiology. After obtaining his medical degree at the University of Clermont-Ferrand, France, Dr Pécoul earned a master's degree in public health at Tulane University, USA. In 2012, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree by the University of Dundee, UK. In 2020, Dr Pécoul was awarded the Prince Mahidol Award in the field of public health by the Prince Mahidol Award Foundation, Thailand. Dr Pécoul is member of the Joint Coordination Board of the Special Programme for Tropical Disease Research (WHO/TDR) and a former board member of UNITAID's Medicines Patent Pool. Dr Bernard Pécoul, Founder of DND i, receives Prince Mahidol Award and strengthens partnerships in Thailand

Dr Byron Arana

Job Titles:

Member of the Executive Committee
Head of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Disease
Head of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Disease, DNDi

Dr Byron Arana joined DNDi in November 2012. He has over twenty years' experience working on clinical trials and epidemiological studies, mainly in cutaneous leishmaniasis, onchocerciasis, diarrheal, and respiratory diseases. Since 2008, Dr Arana has been managing the clinical trials on visceral leishmaniasis that TDR-WHO is being supporting in the Indian Subcontinent and participating in the development and implementation of strategies in support of the Indian subcontinent's visceral leishamaniasis elimination programme. From 2000 to 2008, Dr Arana served as Co-Director of the Center for Health Studies, at Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, Guatemala and managing the first cooperative agreement between the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala and the Centers for Diseases Control, Atlanta, to support the conduction of multidisciplinary field and laboratory research on tropical disease in the Central America region. He received his medical training at the Universidad San Carlos of Guatemala (1983) and his doctoral degree on Tropical Medicine from the University of Liverpool, UK (1998).

Dr Carolina Batista

Job Titles:

Head of Global Health Affairs, Baraka Impact Finance

Carolina Batista, MD is the Head of Global Health Affairs at Baraka Impact Finance. She holds expertise in global health, access, R&D, infectious and neglected diseases and international development. During the span of her career, she has been able to design frameworks and guidelines that have ultimately impacted public policies in countries and vulnerable communities around the globe. Clinically trained in Brazil, Carolina started her career working in her country, including with indigenous communities in the Amazon. In 2007, she joined Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), working in a project in Somalia and has remained connected with the humanitarian organization ever since. In 2011 she became the director of the Brazilian Medical Unit (BRAMU) of MSF in Brazil. Her primary focus in this role was to support field operations treating neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and emerging infectious diseases. She was also involved in multiple assignments with the organization in Africa and Latin America and conducted evaluations of various programs and activities focused on NTDs. As the Head of the BRAMU, she also coordinated MSF's international campaign for Chagas disease. After three successful years with MSF-Brazil, Carolina joined the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) Latin America as the Head of Access and Medical Affairs. Under her leadership, DNDi developed and implemented successful access frameworks to diagnosis and treatment for NTDs throughout Latin America, with special focus on Chagas disease. Such access frameworks are currently used by a range of stakeholders, including local governments and clinical and academic centres of excellence. At DNDi Carolina was also able to foster partnerships in the region and played a key role in the creation of the Brazilian Forum of Patients with Neglected Diseases. Carolina is currently an elected International Board Member for MSF and she also serves as a Latin America Strategic Advisor for ISGlobal. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Carolina has worked closely to support grass roots groups in various countries, led the MSF medical response to COVID-19 in the Navajo Nation, in the United States. Carolina has authored several peer reviewed articles on global health, access to health tools, policy and humanitarian medicine. She is currently a member of The Lancet COVID-19 Commission and a board member of The Lancet Migration, Latin American hub. Carolina holds a combined master's degree in International Public Health, from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp and The Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam.

Dr Christos Christou

Job Titles:

International President, Médecins Sans Frontières

Dr Christos Christou joined the DNDi Board in September 2019 after being elected International President of MSF in June 2019. Prior to that, he acted as first General Secretary, Vice-President, and President of MSF Greece Board of Directors. Dr Christou graduated from Aristotle University's medical school in Thessaloniki, Greece, and has a PhD in Surgery from the Kapodestrian University of Athens. He holds a Masters in International Health - Health Crisis Management from the University of Athens and is member of its faculty. Dr Christou later specialized in general and emergency surgery in the Surgical and Transplant Unit of Evangelismos Hospital in Athens. In 2013, he moved to London, working as a Senior Clinical Fellow in Colorectal surgery at King's College Hospital. In 2018, he became Consultant of Colorectal and Emergency Surgery at North Middlesex University Hospital. The same year, he was awarded Fellow of the European Board of Surgery in Coloproctology. Dr Christou joined MSF in 2002 and has held a number of roles in the field. His first assignment was in Greece as a field doctor, working with migrants and refugees. He then worked as a doctor in an HIV/AIDS project in Zambia in 2004 and 2005. After a break from field missions for a number of years while he trained as a surgeon, from 2013 he joined MSF missions in a number of conflict zones and insecure contexts, including South Sudan, Iraq and, most recently, Cameroon, as an Emergency and Trauma surgeon.

Dr Craig Tipple

Job Titles:

Medical Director
Member of the Executive Committee
British Physician
DNDi As Medical Director
Medical Director, DNDi

Dr Craig Tipple joined DNDi as Medical Director in May 2021. His infectious disease, scientific, and drug development knowledge and experience will greatly contribute to DNDi's development of treatments for neglected diseases and neglected populations. Craig is a British physician scientist. He is a member of the Royal College of Physicians and holds diplomas in HIV and Genitourinary Medicine. As a doctor, he has cared for people living with HIV in London for over 12 years. He undertook his doctoral research at the Imperial College London where he studied better ways of monitoring treatment responses in people with syphilis. This research took him to Uganda and Sri Lanka where he set up collaborative research projects. In 2016, Craig joined the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline in their infectious diseases unit and worked on developing new antibiotics and treatments for hepatitis B and other viral diseases. Prior to joining DNDi, he worked as Medical Director of GSK's Phase I trials unit and led early phase R&D projects in ID. Most recently, Craig served as Global Clinical Development lead for an anti-viral monoclonal antibody for COVID-19 treatment that GSK is developing in partnership with Vir Biotechnology.