Professor Don de Savigny, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH)
Professor Don de Savigny is Head of the Health Systems Research and Dynamic Modelling Unit of the Department of Public Health and Epidemiology at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, located in Basel, Switzerland. He has a PhD from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and is an epidemiologist and public health specialist. He is also Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Basel and Honorary Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Prior to this, he was Head of the Swiss Tropical Institute Field Laboratory in the United Republic of Tanzania (currently the Ifakara Health Institute) from 1984 to 1988 and Principal Health Specialist for the International Development Research Centre, Canada from 1988 to 1996. He has lived and worked for many years in Africa, most recently (1996-2003) as lead facilitator of the Tanzania Essential Health Interventions Program (TEHIP) for the United Republic of Tanzania Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.
He is a frequent advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO) and has led a number of its groups and committees as Chair of the Health Metrics Network (HMN) Technical Advisory Group; Chair of the WHO Roll Back Malaria Vector Control Working Group; Chair of the RBM mHealth for Malaria Working Group; and Chair of the WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases Scientific Oversight Committee for Community Case Management of Malaria. Currently, he chairs the HMN Technical Subcommittee of the HMN Executive Board. He has also served on the Scientific Advisory Committee for the International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and their Health in Developing Countries (INDEPTH) Network of Demographic and Health Observatories; the WHO Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research; the WHO African Malaria Expert Committee; and the Council for Health Research for Development.
His current research focuses on system-level interventions to strengthen health systems in developing countries, particularly health information systems, and on the health system effects of global health initiatives for scaling up to reach universal coverage.