Speaker biographies
Agnes Molnar
Acting Head
Unit
European Commission, Health Emergency
Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA)
Dr Agnes Molnar is the Lead of the Unit on intelligence gathering, analysis and innovation at the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority. She joined the European Commission in 2014 and has worked on social and environmental determinants
of health, preparedness and response to serious cross-border health threats and global health security. Dr. Molnar holds degrees in medicine and in law, as well as a PhD in the health sciences field of public health and preventive medicine.
She pursued post-doctoral research in health policy and systems and health impact assessment.
Ahmed Al-Mandhari
Regional Director
World Health Organization's Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO)
Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari was appointed as WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean by WHO’s Executive Board at its 143rd session and assumed office on 1 June 2018. A native of Oman, Dr Al-Mandhari has made a substantial, positive
contribution to the development and modernization of Oman’s health system, which has witnessed qualitative improvements in recent years, particularly in areas such as patient safety. A specialist in family and community medicine, Dr
Al Mandhari was Head of Quality Management and Development at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital from 2005 to 2006, followed by Deputy Director-General for Clinical Affairs until 2010. In 2013, he was appointed Director-General of Sultan Qaboos
University Hospital, later becoming Director-General of the Quality Assurance Centre at the Ministry of Health. Dr Al-Mandhari has also worked as a senior consultant in family medicine and public health in Oman since 2009.
Albert Ty
Deputy Director
Ministry of Health, Singapore
Dr. Albert Ty is the Deputy Director of the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (Public Health Group) in the Ministry of Health, Singapore. Dr. Ty is a neurologist and public health specialist by training. He currently heads the Ministry’s
Public Health Intelligence Branch monitoring and accessing global health developments and is also the IHR National Focal Point. Concurrently, he heads the non-communicable diseases branch that develops national policies on preventive health
and health promotion services. Dr. Ty’s particular area of focus is emerging infectious conditions that may pose a public health threat to Singapore.
Ana Bento
Science Director
Rockefeller Foundation
Ana Bento is an infectious diseases eco-epidemiologist and the Director of Science at the Rockefeller Foundation’ s Pandemic Prevention Institute. In this capacity, she is leading a team of transdisciplinary researchers to shape, develop
and coordinate integrative research into how data-driven modelling can end current and prevent future pandemics. Outside of The Rockefeller Foundation, she also is currently a Professor of Epidemiology at Indiana University – Bloomington.
In her research, she leverages mathematical and computational modelling, machine learning, and data science to identify the eco-evolutionary, demographic, and environmental drivers of pathogen emergence, persistence, and spread. She holds
a PhD in Ecology and Evolution from Imperial College London, UK.
Andrea Ammon
Director
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
Dr Andrea Ammon was appointed Director of ECDC in 2017. Prior to that, she was the Deputy to the Director and Head of the Unit for Resource Management and Coordination, where in May 2015, she was ECDC’s Acting Director. Dr. Ammon joined
ECDC as the Head of the Surveillance Unit in 2005. Her unit was responsible for developing The European Surveillance System (TESSy), implementing a long-term surveillance strategy for the European Union (EU), evaluating the Dedicated Surveillance
Networks (DSN), performing step-by-step transfer of DSN activities to ECDC, revising the EU case definitions, and producing an Annual Epidemiological Report on infectious diseases in the EU. Before joining the ECDC, Dr Ammon served in several
roles at the Robert Koch-Institute, in Berlin, Germany, most recently as Head of Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology. In this capacity, she maintained and further developed the German national surveillance system; coordinated the
national outbreak response team for current and emerging infections; coordinated emergency planning for influenza; directed the national Field Epidemiology Training Programme; coordinated epidemiological research programmes in infectious diseases
and provided scientific advice for government Ministries, Members of Parliament, and the public.
Andrea Capobianco Dondona
Global Early Warning System Coordinator
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Andrea Capobianco Dondona is a veterinary epidemiologist with over 16 years of experience as a wildlife veterinarian both, working in both diagnostic laboratories as well as in the field. He currently works as the Global Early Warning System Coordinator
for FAO in the NSAH Emergency Prevention System for Animal Health unit within the Animal Production and Health Division. Andrea leads early warning and disease intelligence activities through disease monitoring, analysis and forecasting to
ensure early warning and early action for transboundary disease threats. Over the years he has gained considerable experience in the design, development and management of health information systems including the application of new technologies,
such as artificial intelligence, to the One Health sector.
Andreas Jansen
Head
Information Center for International Health Protection, Robert Koch Institute
Dr. Andreas Jansen is the Head of the Information Center for International Health Protection (INIG) at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin. He is a trained MD with a postgraduate degree in the field of epidemiology (EPIET), a diploma in Tropical
and Travel Medicine, and holds board certification in epidemiology. Dr. Jansen has worked at WHO at Headquarters in Geneva, where as part of the GOARN operation support team, his main task was to coordinate the work on Rapid Response Capacities.
He also has experience as Head of Section for Scientific Advice Coordination at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in Stockholm where he was responsible for developing and implementing SOPs and workflows for scientific
advice, including IT implementation. In addition, Dr. Andreas has experience as a member of public health emergency response teams (pandemic influenza, Q fever, EHEC) both at the national and international level. He has extensive experience
in outbreak response and has been the principal investigator in several outbreak investigations.
Bhola Prasad Roka
Statistics Officer
Department of Health Services,
Ministry of Health and Population Nepal
Bhola Prasad Roka is from Nepal, working in the in the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division" at the Nepal Ministry of Health and Population. He has been engaged in health sector since 2001. He has keen desire to work with health statistics
including demographic information. Besides Bhola Prasad Roka has deep interest in EIOS which will make robust management in epidemiology outbreak and its mitigation in Nepal.
Boniface Dulani
Director of Surveys
Afrobarometer
Boniface Dulani holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Politics with a minor in International Relations from Michigan State University (MSU), USA, obtained in 2011. Boniface Dulani joined Afrobarometer in 2008 as a graduate research assistant while undertaking
his doctoral studies. In 2013, he was appointed Afrobarometer’s Operations Manager for Fieldwork and oversaw the fielding of surveys across the African continent. He served in this capacity until 2020 when he was appointed Director of
Survey. In addition to Afrobarometer, Boni is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Malawi and a Visiting Researcher at the Centre for Social Science Research, University of Cape Town, South Africa. In addition to
MSU, Boniface has studied at York and Sussex universities in the UK. He is a member of several professional bodies, including the African Association of Political Science, the American Political Science Association, the African Studies Association,
and the Malawi Political Science Association. Boniface has published and consulted widely on African politics, focusing mostly on Democracy and Governance; Political Economy Analysis, local development; education; public health; youth; participation
of women in politics, to give but a few examples.
Charlotte Hicks
Senior Technical Officer, Nature-based Solutions
United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre
Charlotte Hicks has experience at UNEP-WCMC where her role involved supporting government and civil society partners in decision making on biodiversity, climate change, and nature and health. She was also active in the planning, design and monitoring
of ecosystem-based mitigation and ecosystem-based adaptation, and environmental and social safeguards. She coordinates UNEP-WCMC's Nature for Health and Wellbeing focal initiative, which consists of exploring relationships between nature and
people, and using approaches such as One Health and nature-based solutions.
Chikwe Ihekweazu
Assistant Director-General
World Health Organization
Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu is the Assistant Director General at the World Health Organization (WHO) for Surveillance and Health Emergency Intelligence and leads the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, based in Berlin, Germany. Dr. Ihekweazu
was the first Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), which he led from 2016 to 2021, building it from a small unit to a leading public health agency in Africa. He acted as Interim Director of the West Africa Regional
Centre for Surveillance and Disease Control through 2017. He is a trained infectious disease epidemiologist with over 25 years’ experience working in senior public health and leadership positions in national public health institutes
including NCDC, South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases, the UK's Health Protection Agency, and Germany’s Robert Koch Institute. Dr. Ihekweazu has led several short-term engagements for WHO, mainly building surveillance
systems and responding to major infectious disease outbreaks. He was part of the first WHO COVID19- international mission to China. Dr. Ihekweazu graduated from the College of Medicine, University of Nigeria and has a Masters in Public Health
from the Heinrich-Heine University, Dusseldorf, Germany. He has over one hundred publications in medical peer review journals, mostly focused on the epidemiology of infectious diseases. Dr Ihekweazu is on the board of multiple NGOs. He was
a TED Fellow and co-founded and delivered the TEDxEuston event from 2009 to 2019.
Claudia Carella
Project Manager
Italian National Transplant Centre - National Institute of Health, Italy
Claudia Carella obtained her Master's degree in Foreign Relation (Università degli Studi di Bari) in 2009. In 2010, she started work as a project assistant in the Italian National Institute of Health, Italian National Transplant Centre
in the framework of the project: “Coordination and control activities of tissues and cell establishments, including assisted reproduction centers in the light of the implementation of Italian Decree n. 1997/191 and n.16 of 25.1.2010”.
As an expert in the Italian National Transplant Centre she participated in the meeting of the Council of Europe Committee on Organ Transplantation (CD-P-TO). In 2011 she took part in the organizing committee of WHO/CHT/SOHOV&S meeting
on “Vigilance and Surveillance of substances of Human Origin: project NOTIFY” held in Bologna. Since March 2015, she has been the project assistant for the Notify Library, WHO global initiative project of vigilance and surveillance
of blood, organs, tissues and cells.
Daniel Faktaufon
Senior Medical Officer
Centre for Disease Control Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Fiji
Dr Daniel Faktaufon worked with Fiji’s Ministry for Health and Medical Services (MoHMS) for over 10 years. As a medical practitioner, he completed an internship program at the CWM Hospital in 2011. In 2012 he was posted to Rotuma Hospital
a position he held for 2 years and in 2014, he transferred to Korovou Hospital where he was again charged with the overall clinical and administrative duties in the subdivision. In 2016, he joined the Fiji Centre for Disease Control (Fiji
CDC); a department within the Ministry responsible for controlling the spread of infectious diseases. This is a position he held from 2016 to the present day where he is currently the Principal Medical Officer for Fiji CDC. He has been involved
in the establishment and implementation of the Early Warning Alert and Response System (‘EWARS’), contributed to the review of Fiji’s CD Surveillance and Outbreak Response Guidelines, Clinical Guidelines for diagnosis and
Management of Leptospirosis, the Fiji Measles Public Health Management Guidance, as well as the Meningococcal Disease Public Health Management Guidelines. He has also been heavily involved in CD outbreak investigations and conducting capacity
building on outbreak investigation and response for health workers in the country.
David Buckeridge
Professor
McGill University
Dr. David Buckeridge is a Professor in the School of Population and Global Health at McGill University in Montreal where he directs the Surveillance Lab, an interdisciplinary group that develops, implements, and evaluates novel computational methods
for population health surveillance. He is the Chief Digital Health Officer at the McGill University Health Center, directing strategy on digital transformation and analytics. His research and practice focus on the informatics of health surveillance
and disease control and he holds a Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Health Informatics and Data Science. In the context of the COVID19- pandemic, Dr. Buckeridge provides regular projections of health system demand for the Canadian province
of Quebec, is the Scientific lead for Data Management and Analytics for the Canadian Immunity Task Force and monitors global immunity to SARS-CoV2-. He is also a technical advisor to the WHO Epidemic Intelligence from Open Sources (EIOS) program
on the application of artificial intelligence to global infectious disease surveillance. Dr Buckeridge has a MD from Queen's University, a MSc in Epidemiology from the University of Toronto, a PhD in Biomedical informatics from Stanford University,
and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada.
Dirk Brockmann
Professor of Biology
Humboldt University Berlin, Computational Epidemiology at Robert Koch Institute
Dirk Brockmann is a Professor in the Department of Biology at Humboldt University of Berlin. He also heads the project group Computational Epidemiology at the Robert KochInstitute. Before his appointments in Berlin, he was Professor in the Department
of Applied Mathematics and the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO) at Northwestern University in Chicago. A theoretical physicist by training, Professor Brockmann has had 20 years of interdisciplinary research experience working
on fields as diverse as neuroscience, network science, infectious disease dynamics and collective behavior in human and animal populations. In his research, Professor Brockmann and his team approach complex phenomena on the interface of life
sciences, social sciences and medical sciences using an integrative approach of computational methods, network science and data science. Professor Brockmann was among the first scientists that developed computational models for the global
spread of infectious diseases on the worldwide air transportation network. He has been applying global modelling approaches in the context of SARS 2003, the 2009 influenza pandemic, and, naturally during the past two years in the context of
the COVID19- crisis. Professor Brockmann believes in the values and benefits of transdisciplinary attitudes in science, the intentional breach of borders between traditional scientific disciplines.
Eloise Todd
Executive Director & Co Founder
Pandemic Action Network
Eloise Todd is the executive director and a co-founder of the Pandemic Action Network. Eloise is an advocacy, policy, campaigns, and strategy specialist with 20 years' experience working to change policies, legislation and budgets with the goal
of improving lives. Primarily, she has worked in international development, including as a political adviser on development issues within EU institutions and running international advocacy and global policy at the ONE Campaign. Eloise campaigned
against the UK's Brexit deal, building one of the largest pro-European organizations into a national campaign force. She is known for achieving ambitious policy changes, including: leading the effort to oblige gas, oil, and mining companies
to publish what they pay governments, helping raise millions in additional government funding for GAVI and the Global Fund, and advocating for increased aid budgets.
Dusan Milovanovic
Solution Architect (Technology)
World Health Organization
During his 27 years of professional career, acting in product management, systems engineering and architecture roles, Dusan Milovanovic was engaged in the research and development of disruptive information and communication technologies. His curriculum
includes a technology leadership career at Ericsson, then engagements within life science, healthcare, and public health domains. At the World Health Organization, he acts as a technology expert and a health intelligence architect within the
core team of the Epidemic Intelligence from Open Sources initiative. Dusan Milovanovic inspired and secured acceptance for creation of three Hub's prime-mover initiatives – Knowledge Representation and Reasoning for Public Health Intelligence,
Laboratory for Collaborative Intelligence, and the Open-Source Program Office. Dusan has BSc in Electrical Engineering, including Computer Science and Telecommunications.
Evangelia Petrisli
Medical Doctor
Microbiology Unit, IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero - Universitaria di Bologna
Dr. Evangelia Petrisli obtained her Degree in Medicine and Surgery and her Postgraduate Specialization in Microbiology and Virology at the University of Bologna, Italy. Since 2006 she has conducted diagnostic activity in the Operative Unit of
Clinical Microbiology of Sant’Orsola – IRCSS Malpighi University Polyclinic of Bologna. This scientific research is dedicated to the study of immunity in groups of patients at particular risk of infectious complications, mainly
solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients, and the study of new standards for the prevention, diagnosis, prognosis and therapy of congenital CMV infection. Dr. Petrisli is the scientific coordinator of “HLA-G as Prognostic
Marker for Cytomegalovirus Infection and Clinically Relevant Heart Allograft Outcomes” for the Operative Unit of Clinical Microbiology. She has been a NOTIFY Project collaborator since 2013 for the Italian National Transplant Centre.
Her main activities focus on the open access database NOTIFY Library, part of an international effort to promote the sharing of vigilance information for didactic purposes in the field of clinical application of Medical Products of Human Origin
(MPHO) in cell, tissue and organ transplantation, in medically assisted reproduction.
Florence Tanguay
GPHIN Manager
Public Health Agency of Canada
Florence Tanguay is an epidemiologist with over 15 years of experience in communicable disease surveillance and outbreak response. Florence is a graduate of the Canadian Field Epidemiology Program and joined the Public Health Agency of Canada
in 2009. In 2019, she joined the Global Public Health Intelligence Network (GPHIN) as the senior epidemiologist providing situational awareness and risk assessment on issues of public health importance domestically and globally. She took over
the management of GPHIN in September 2020. She provides strategic direction and manages the day-to-day operations of a team of multilingual and multicultural analysts and epidemiologists.
Gianfranco Spiteri
Principal Expert Epidemic Intelligence
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
Dr Gianfranco Spiteri (MD, MSc Public Health) joined the ECDC in 2010 and is currently the Group Lead of the Epidemic Intelligence group in the Surveillance Section. While at ECDC, he has contributed to the surveillance of several infectious diseases,
including sexually transmitted infections, vaccine preventable infections and emerging diseases (such as Ebola virus disease and Zika). In 2020 and 2021 Dr Spiteri coordinated ECDC surveillance work related to the COVID19- pandemic, before
joining the Epidemic Intelligence team as Group Lead in December 2021. He trained as a Medical Doctor in Malta where he is a registered Public Health Specialist. Dr Spiteri is an alumnus of the European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology
Training.
Haja Fatmata Bangura
Event-Base Surveillance Analyst
Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Sierra Leone (Jhpiego)
Haja Fatmata Bangura, is a graduate of Njala University Bo campus, and is presently pursuing Master's in public health (MPH). She is an event-based surveillance (EBS) analyst with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation/Jhpiego in Freetown, Sierra
Leone. She is responsible for tracking information from websites, rumors, mass media and social media on diseases and events of high public health concern. This information is shared with the Director of the Directorate of Health Security
and Emergencies, Partners (WHO, US CDC, Africa CDC, AFFENET and Jhpiego) for policy planning and public health action. She is also a data analyst and is involved with the weekly epidemiological Integrated Disease Surveillance Update and the
production of the national epidemiological weekly bulletin team. Haja is also a national mentor for the quarterly on data quality audit assigned to the Northern province (Bombali, Tonkolili, Falaba and Kabala).
Ibrahim Mahgoub
Program Director
Epidemic Preparedness and Response, Data.org
Ibrahim Mahgoub has over 10 years of experience in accelerating open innovation in the public and private sectors. He is the Program Director of Epiverse; a data.org initiative that supports open and privacy-preserving data analytics tools for
pandemic preparedness and response. Prior to joining data.org, Ibrahim led UNICEF’s pathfinding initiative supporting 10 governments in leveraging open software and open data to strengthen public services. In addition to advocating for
Digital Public Goods among the agencies of the United Nations and government leaders, he has piloted new approaches to scaling innovations in the fields of Vaccine Delivery and WASH. Ibrahim has also designed and implemented new partnership
models to accelerate UNICEF’s innovation work in the MENA region. Mahgoub is a firm believer in the power of open technology and collaboration to transform the public and humanitarian sectors. He holds a master’s degree in digital
transformation and innovation leadership from IE Business School.
Janaina Sallas
General Coordinator
Ministry of Health
Janaina Sallas holds a Ph.D. in Public Health from the University of Brasília and the Université Paris 13 through the COFECUB/CAPES Program. Dr. Salas received her Masters in Health Sciences and Technology from the Faculty of Ceilândia,
UnB. And has over 20 years of experience in public health. From 2020 to August 2022, she was the General Coordinator of Public Health Emergencies in the Department of Environmental Surveillance, Occupational Health and Public Health Emergencies
of the Health Surveillance Secretariat of the Ministry of Health. Here she supported the implementation and strengthening of responses to public health emergencies. Since September 2022, Dr. Sallas has been the General Coordinator of the Center
for Strategic Information in Health Surveillance (GCIEVS) with the Department of Public Health Emergency, Health Surveillance Secretariat, and Ministry of Health in the implementation and strengthening of early warning detection (EWD), Public
Health Intelligence (PHI), Event-based surveillance (EBS), and risk assessment. She is tasked with supporting the response of public health events and public health emergencies, including those in the hospital environment.
Jenny Hutchison
Head
World Organisation for Animal Health
Dr Jenny Hutchison is an experienced veterinary epidemiologist with an extensive background in data and information management systems. She has been with the World Organisation for Animal Health at its Paris headquarters for almost three years,
first as Deputy Head of the Science Department, and now as Head of the World Animal Health Information and Analysis Department. She has extensive experience with government, international organisations, private industry, and academia, and,
as a consultant, has worked in more than fifteen countries across Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe.
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Johannes Schnitzler
Medical Officer
World Health Organization
Dr Johannes Schnitzler is a Medical Doctor, Epidemiologist and Master of Science in Medical Informatics working at the Department for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence Systems. Johannes is working on systems and tools supporting public health
intelligence activities and is currently focusing on the coordination of the development and enhancement of the EIOS system. Johannes has been with WHO since 2003 working on the evaluation, development and implementation of surveillance systems
with a focus on rapid detection, automated analysis and reporting. He has supported for many years public health intelligence activities at global level including threat detection, risk assessment, verification and rapid communications and
has participated in the response to several large-scale outbreaks and pandemics. Johannes graduated from Charité medical school, did his field epidemiology training (EPIET/FETP) at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin and studied medical
informatics at the Beuth University of Applied Sciences in Berlin.
John Sung Jin Lee
Consultant - Strategic Advisor
World Health Organization
Mr. John, Sung Jin Lee is the Strategic Advisor to the WHO's community centered Epidemic and Pandemic Information platform, HIVE. He is a Strategic Advisor to the Australia Korea Business Council, Health & Biotechnology subcommittee. Mr. Lee
is an Engineer B.Eng. (from The University of Sydney) by training and a Health and Biotechnology commercialization executive. He gained his skillset and experience through project leadership, strategy, product commercialization, and corporate
governance. Prior to joining the team at Epidemic & Pandemic Preparedness & Prevention, Health Emergencies Programme at WHO this year, John Lee was the Chief Commercial Officer at Bioscience Equity Partners where he successfully established
an international investment banking group focusing on Health & Biotechnology. Between 2019 and 2022, he was the Director of a private equity firm, The IQ Group, and led the Health & Biotechnology accelerator PMO function. During the
earlier phase of the COVID19- pandemic, the team developed a saliva-based test that accurately detects the presence of antibodies to SARS-CoV2- from small saliva samples in collaboration with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
and The Wyss Institute, Harvard University.
Joy St John
Executive Director
Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA)
Dr. Joy St John rose in the ranks of Public Health in Barbados from 1994 to become the first Barbadian Chief Medical Officer of Barbados in 2005. She represented Barbados on the Executive Board of WHO, becoming the first Caribbean chairperson
of the Executive Board in 2013-2012. In 2017 she became Assistant Director General at the WHO HQ in Switzerland. She held the Portfolio of Climate and Other Determinants of Health and completed the first phase of the Climate Change and Health
SIDS Initiative. In 2019 she became Executive Director of the Caribbean Public Health Agency. CARPHA led the CARICOM regional public health response to the COVID19- pandemic. Her leadership has seen her engaged in COVID19- with several sectors
in and outside of CARICOM.
Julia Fitzner
Epidemiologist
World Health Organization
Dr. Julia Fitzner is a Medical Doctor and Epidemiologist working in the Department for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence Systems in Berlin as an Epidemiologist in the Information System Unit. Dr. Fitzner’s work has focused extensively on
enabling data reporting and analysis from different sources, covering the cycle of defining surveillance objectives, data collection, data harmonization, analysis, and reporting through different dashboards and reports. Currently, she is focusing
on setting up the Collaboratory for pandemic and epidemic intelligence in the WHO pandemic Hub. Dr. Fitzner has been with WHO since 2001 working in different areas focusing on global surveillance, data collection, and analysis. Her primary
work areas have been seasonal and pandemic influenza, influenza at the human-animal interface, COVID19-, integrated disease surveillance, and adverse events after immunization. She has also been involved in several crisis responses, including
yellow fever outbreaks, SARS, the 2009 influenza pandemic, COVID19- pandemic, and the recent Monkeypox outbreak. Julia graduated from Charité medical school and did her field epidemiology training (EPIET/FETP) at the Robert Koch Institute
in Berlin.
Karl Schenkel
Epidemiologist
World Health Organization
Karl Schenkel is a medical epidemiologist working for the new surveillance systems department of the WHO Emergencies Program in Geneva. His tasks are related to health information management in emergencies, including the development of a global
WHO surveillance strategy, developing technical guidance for Early Warning and Response, surveillance systems evaluation and data sharing, and strengthening the health workforce for surveillance and epidemiology. Together with the Tripartite
Organizations, he is coordinating a three-year project with the objective to develop multisectoral Tripartite One Health field epidemiology competencies and curriculum guidance at the humananimal-environmental interface. Further activities
in the field of One Health include a Quadripartite One Health Intelligence Scoping study. He trained as a medical doctor, and after clinical specialization as a GP conducted a master study on International Health focusing on communicable disease
epidemiology and control. Karl Schenkel has worked as a research fellow in communicable diseases epidemiology at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Berlin, Germany, including a -2year applied field epidemiology training program. He joined the
WHO in 2016.
Krzysztof Janowicz
Professor
University Vienna and University of California, Santa Barbara
Dr Krzysztof Janowicz is a professor of Geoinformatics at the University of Vienna and University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the Director of the Center for Spatial Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Kyeng Mercy Tetuh
Event Based Surveillance Coordinator
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention
Kyeng Mercy Tetuh is an Epidemiologist with over ten years of experience at the national, regional, and continental levels strengthening health systems in detecting and responding promptly to public health threats. She currently leads the Event-Based
Surveillance (EBS) program of the Africa CDC, which is supporting the establishment of early warning systems to improve early detection and reporting of public health threats. Her work involves building capacity for MS on EBS, establishing
regional EBS communities and leading the development of event management systems for the capture, analysis, retrieval, and reporting of both structured and unstructured data for Africa CDC and African Union (AU) Member States.
Leo Wolansky
Director of Data Strategy and Products
Pandemic Prevention Initiative, The Rockefeller Foundation
Leo Wolansky is a data product leader, bridging disciplines to deliver modern data and analytics solutions to social and organizational problems. He has spent much of his career at the nexus of product management, research, data, and analytics;
first in the fields of politics and business, and now in health. As Director of Data Strategy and Products on the Pandemic Prevention Initiative team, Leo leads the development of data products that support pandemic prevention and response.
He serves as a connector across science, engineering, and partnerships teams, as well as between PPI and its target users. Upon first joining The Rockefeller Foundation, Leo was the Data Product Manager for its Health Initiative, including
its Precision Public Health and COVID-response work – a key role where he identified opportunities to support and leverage digital technologies to strengthen global health systems and improve health outcomes. Formerly, he was the VP
of Analytics at Applecart, which built technology to integrate and analyze disparate social, demographic, and psychographic data to guide electoral campaign strategy and targeting.
Martin Hofmann-Apitius
Head of the Department of Bioinformatics
Fraunhofer Society, Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing (SCAI)
Dr. Martin Hofmann-Apitius holds a PhD in Molecular Biology and worked for more than 10 years in experimental molecular biology. The screening for novel genes involved in tumor metastasis lead him into the area of functional genomics and subsequently
to applied bioinformatics. Dr. Hofmann-Apitius has experience in multiple areas including academic research (University of Heidelberg (ZMBH), Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (ITG), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and industrial (BASF, Boehringer
Ingelheim, LION bioscience AG) research. Since 2002 he has led the Department of Bioinformatics at the Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing in Sankt Augustin, Germany, a governmental non-profit research institute. In
July 2006 he has been appointed as a Professor for Applied Life Science Informatics at Bonn-Aachen International Center for Information Technology (B-IT). He is (co-) author of more than 200 peer-reviewed, scientific publications. His work
focuses on information extraction (text mining) in biomedicine; biomedical semantics and data integration, and knowledge-based modeling of disease. In the field of global public health, Martin Hofmann-Apitius and his team have developed pipelines
for rapid data- and knowledge-landscaping. His team is also working in FAIR data, integrative data semantics and advanced AI methods that integrate a-priori knowledge through the integration of cause-and-effect graphs.
Mike Ryan
Executive Director
World Health Organization
Dr Mike Ryan has been at the forefront of managing acute risks to global health for nearly 25 years. He served as Assistant Director-General for Emergency Preparedness and Response in WHO's Health Emergencies Programme from 2017 to 2019. Dr Ryan
first joined WHO in 1996, with the newly established unit to respond to emerging and epidemic disease threats. He has worked in conflict affected countries and led many responses to high impact epidemics. He is a founding member of the Global
Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), which has aided the response to hundreds of disease outbreaks around the world. He served as Coordinator of Epidemic Response (2003-2000), Operational Coordinator of WHO’s response to the
SARS outbreak (2003), and as WHO’s Director of Global Alert and Response (2011-2005), He was a Senior Advisor on Polio Eradication for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative from 2013 to 2017, deploying to countries in the Middle East.
He completed medical training at the National University of Ireland, Galway, a Master’s in Public Health at University College Dublin, and specialist training in communicable disease control at the Health Protection Agency in London
and the European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training.
Mohammed Abdulaziz
Head of Division
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention
Dr. Mohammed Abdulaziz is the Head of Division for Disease control and Prevention at Africa Centre's for Disease Control and Prevention, African Union commission, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He is the co-chair for the Infection Prevention
and Control Technical Working Group for Africa CDC’s continental response to COVID19- and leads the Country Engagement work stream of Africa CDC’s Saving Life and Livelihood program for delivery of COVID19- across the continent.
He is a medical doctor and has a Master's in public health. He is a fellow of the West African College of Physicians where he rose to the position of Chief Consultant Physician before Joining Africa CDC. Dr. Mohammed is also a fellow of the
Chatham house Africa Leadership program in Public Health. Before his current appointment, he previously served as the Principal Medical Epidemiologist in Africa CDC where he was the program coordinator for the first regional initiative to
strengthen public Health in Africa. Dr Mohammed has over 40 peer reviewed scientific publications.
Nada Ghosn
Head of the Epidemiological Surveillance Program (Esumoh)
Ministry of Public Health, Lebanon
Dr Nada Ghosn has been Head of the Epidemiological Surveillance Program (Esumoh) at the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health since July 2000. She has worked to enhance communicable diseases surveillance system, building national capacity for disease
surveillance and outbreak investigation. In 2007, she worked to integrate the National Cancer Registry within Esumoh. She has also contributed to the Mediterranean programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (MediPIET), in which Esumoh
is designated as a MediPIET training site. From 2004 to 2015, she contributed to various WHO missions including training, review, and GOARN. Nada Ghosn is leading the national team in charge of COVID19- surveillance and investigation, including
contact tracing, and generating the national daily COVID19- surveillance report. As of 2022, she has also been leading the surveillance investigation of the Cholera outbreak in Lebanon. In Oct 2022, she was awarded the Lebanese second class
of the Order of Merit for her contribution to COVID19- surveillance and control. She is lecturer at Lebanese University, Faculty of Public Health.
Naif Alharbi
Director
Gulf Center for Disease Prevention and Control
Dr Naif Khalaf has just joined the Gulf CDC as the Director, Public Health Emergencies. Previously he was conducting his research in the field of Infectious Diseases and vaccine development between King Abdullah International Medical Research
Center Research and the University of Oxford. He was focusing on studying viruses that are of health importance nationally (in Saudi Arabia) with global impact, including MERS-CoV immunology and vaccine development for camels and humans. He
holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Virology and Vaccinology from the University of Oxford with background degrees in Medical Microbiology.
Nomita Divi
Executive Director
Ending Pandemics
Nomita Divi is Executive Director at Ending Pandemics. She oversees the strategy and workplan implementation at Ending Pandemics. Nomita brings expertise in stakeholder engagement, management, needs assessment, and strategic planning. Nomita has
coordinated various projects including the development of a network in South Asia, crowdsourcing epidemics intelligence through EpiCore, and enhancements in Event Based Surveillance in five countries. At Stanford, she managed health-policy
programs and a student fellowship to identify ground realities that impact health seeking behavior in India. Before Stanford, she worked at Massachusetts General Hospital, managing the application of a HIV simulation model in India, South
Africa, Cote d’Ivoire, and the Caribbean.
Oliver Morgan
Director
World Health Organization
Dr. Oliver Morgan is the Director of the Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence Systems at the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, based in Berlin, Germany. From 2007 through 2016, Dr. Morgan worked for the US Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention during which time he held critical leadership positions in the Ebola response between November 2014 and February 2016 (CDC Atlanta Ebola Response Incident Manger and CDC Country Director in Sierra Leone). From March 2010 to
October 2014, he was the CDC Country Director in the Dominican Republic. Dr. Morgan was an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer at CDC from 2007 to 2009 with the International Emerging Infections Program, during which time he conducted projects
in Thailand, Bangladesh, Kenya, Uganda, and Guatemala. Before joining CDC, he worked for the UK Health Protection Agency, leading epidemiological investigations of outbreaks (enteric, vaccine preventable, hospital acquired, zoonotic, respiratory,
and sexually acquired infections), chemical and radiation exposure incidents, terrorist bombings in London, natural disasters, and humanitarian civil conflicts. Dr. Morgan has also worked as a consultant to WHO/PAHO in several countries. Dr.
Morgan’s academic achievements include a doctorate in epidemiology from Imperial College London and extensive publication in peer reviewed journals and reference books.
Onicio Leal Neto
Digital Innovation Specialist
Ending Pandemics
Dr Onicio Leal-Neto brings 13 years of experience in digital epidemiology and technologies applied to disease surveillance. He leads Global Flu View, a digital ecosystem of global ILI activity supported by Ending Pandemics. He has worked for local governments in Brazil and as a consultant for several international organizations including Pan-American Health Organization, UNICEF, and Inter-American Development Bank. He led Participatory Disease Surveillance projects during the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Olympics and co-hosted additional events including Epicrowd and Epihack Rio. During the COVID19- pandemic, he was the chairman of Brazil Sem Corona, the biggest participatory disease surveillance strategy in Brazil. Dr. Leal-Neto was a project partner of the SURPRISE study, the first participatory disease surveillance approach for healthcare workers in 25 hospitals in Switzerland. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences, a Master’s degree and Ph.D. in Public Health & Epidemiology. He is a senior researcher at the Center for Child Well-being & Development – University of Zurich, co-leading wearables and machine learning projects for disease outbreaks and child development.
Paolo Tizzani
Veterinary epidemiologist
World Organisation for Animal Health
Dr. Paolo Tizzani is a veterinarian who holds a degree in parasitology. Until 2015, Dr. Tizzani worked at Turin University (Italy) - Department of Veterinary Sciences, where his research focused on the ecology of diseases in wildlife. From 2015
– 2010, he worked in several EU-funded projects for the control of infectious animal diseases. Dr. Tizzani joined WOAH (World Organisation for Animal Health) headquarter in Paris in 2015, as Veterinary Epidemiologist, where his main
activities included epidemiological analysis in relation with world animal health, epidemic intelligence activity to evaluate the sensitivity and quality of international animal disease reporting, and improvement of the quality of health data
collected in wildlife. Dr. Tizzani is currently with the WOAH Data Integration Department. He is the author or co-author of over 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles published in international journals.
Patipat (Keng) Susumpow
Managing Director
Opendream Company Limited
Patipat (Keng) Susumpao is a social entrepreneur, software developer, open data hacker and public health enthusiast. He earned a Bachelor in Computer Engineering in 2004, and is now pursuing a Master of Public Health at Chiang Mai University.
He serves as co-founder and product architect at Opendream, a social enterprise for sustainable digital technology development based in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand. His main interests are in ICT-based personal health care, open-source
software development and participatory digital disease detection. He pioneered the idea of disease surveillance through SMS (Short Message Service) in the north-eastern provinces of Thailand in 2009, and development and implementation of the
mobile Development of DoctorMe: Thai’s first personal health care application for iOS and Android. He also works as the technology team leader for Participatory One health Disease Detection (PODD) in collaboration with Chiang Mai University,
open sourcing PODD into a One Health Toolkit for community use.
Philip AbdelMalik
Unit Head
World Health Organization
Dr Philip AbdelMalik is an epidemiologist and public health informatician, passionate about creative and cross-disciplinary ways to enhance public health practice and capacity. With over 20 years of experience in the health domain, he currently
leads and manages an interdisciplinary team within WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, building and strengthening public health intelligence around the globe. This includes the flagship Epidemic Intelligence from Open Sources (EIOS)
initiative which is a cornerstone of the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence. Prior to joining WHO, Philip co-directed the Canadian Field Epidemiology Program and worked extensively with the Global Public Health Intelligence Network
(GPHIN) at the Public Health Agency of Canada. Philip’s work has almost always been in the context of emergency preparedness and response activities, including trying to raise two young adorable children with his lovely wife from down
under. Philip holds a PhD in Public Health Informatics awarded jointly by the Universities of Plymouth and Exeter in the UK, as well as a Master of Health Science (MHSc) in Epidemiology and Community Health and an Honours BSc with a specialization
in Human Biology, both from the University of Toronto, Canada.
Pierre Nabeth
Programme Area Manager
WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO)
Dr. Pierre Nabeth graduated as a Medical Doctor, specializing in in public health, biostatistics and epidemiology. He started his professional career in the hospital settings and general practice, then holding senior management positions in medical
NGOs, and at the Pasteur Institute in Dakar, Senegal. In 2006, Dr. Nabeth joined WHO Headquarters, leading a team aiming to strengthen national surveillance systems. He developed guidance on Early Warning and Event-Based Surveillance, which
is used as a reference document. Since 2017, he has led the Health Emergency Information and Risk Assessment Unit of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme in EMRO, charged with strengthening health information management systems in fragile,
conflict affected and vulnerable countries. One of the Unit teams which is in charge of strengthening national surveillance systems, with a focus on event-based surveillance is deploying EIOS in the 22 countries of the Eastern-Mediterranean
Region. Dr. Nabeth led the development of the regional integrated disease surveillance strategy adopted by EMR Member States in 2021. He has also led the information management pillar in the EMRO incident management support team tasked with
coordinating the COVID19-response.
Rabindra Abeyasinghe
WHO Representative
Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Singapore
Dr Rabi Abeyasinghe has worked as OIC/Acting WHO Representative CO Philippines from August 2019, and as a WHO Representative to the Philippines until January 2022. He was acting Director of Health Security and Emergencies at World Health Organizations
Regional Office for the Western Pacific (WPRO) based in Manila, Philippines where he, supported the regional response to COVID19-. Prior to joining the Country Office 2019 he was Coordinator of the Malaria and other Vector Borne and Parasitic
Diseases at WPRO. He has served WHO since 2011 in various capacities including acting Director Communicable Diseases WPRO, Regional Entomologist (WPRO) and Technical Officer (Malaria in CO Papua New Guinea). Dr. Abeyasinghe received an MD
from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, and has a MSc in Biology & Control of Disease Vectors from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, as well as the Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene from the Royal College
of Physicians, London. He has nearly 30 years of experience in malaria control and has held multiple senior positions in the Ministry of Health Sri Lanka including Director National Malaria Control Programme and Project Director, GFATM Projects.
Raquel Medialdea Carrera
Epidemiologist / Training Coordinator
World Health Organization
Dr Raquel Medialdea Carrera is an epidemiologist from Spain with a PhD in Infectious Diseases and Global Health and currently working as the Training Coordinator in the EIOS Core Team. Raquel completed her FETP in the ECDC (EPIET) based in the
Ministry of Health in Malta. Raquel has worked in Sierra Leone during the Ebola outbreak in 2015, lived for almost 2 years in Brazil during the Zika Virus epidemic and worked in India in 2018. Raquel joined WHO in 2019 to support the Ebola
response and in 2020 she joined the Go.Data/ GOARN team deploying to Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Argentina. Prior to joining the EIOS Core team in 2021, Raquel worked as epidemiologist in the COVID19- Incident Management Support Team in WHO
HQ. She is a passionate runner, hiker, and cyclist.
Richard Brennan
Regional Emergency Director
WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO)
Dr Richard "Rick" Brennan is Regional Emergency Director for WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office based in Cairo, Egypt. He oversees WHO’s support to 22 countries for emergency preparedness and response, including for the COVID19-
pandemic, major humanitarian crises, as well as multiple other emergencies. Previously he spent 7 years at WHO headquarters, including as the Director of Emergency Operations, Director of Ebola Response and Coordination, and Director of Humanitarian
Response. Rick has extensive experience in emergencies in over 40 countries across Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. He received his medical degree from the University of Sydney, completed emergency medicine training in Australia
and received an MPH from Johns Hopkins University. Following 12 years of clinical work, Rick joined the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention focusing on humanitarian and emergency management issues. Thereafter he spent 10 years as
Health Director of the International Rescue Committee in New York, overseeing global health operations. Prior to joining WHO in 2012 he led a large post-conflict health system support project in Liberia for JSI Research and Training. Rick
has made several important contributions to advance global health emergency preparedness and response, including leading the development of WHO’s Emergency Response Framework.
Samuel Mbuthia
Open Source Programme Lead
World Health Organization
Samuel Mbuthia leads the Open-Source Programme Office at the World Health Organization and is based at the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin. He has over 12 years of experience in various technology roles, including as an
applications developer and solutions architect. Prior to joining the World Health Organization, he headed the open-source contributor community at Medic, a technology non-profit organization that builds open-source tools for health workers.
Sandrine Uwamahoro
Diseases Monitoring Officer
Rwanda Biomedical Centre
Sandrine Uwamahoro is a disease monitoring officer in the public health surveillance and emergency preparedness and response division at the Rwanda Biomedical Center. She has experience in diseases surveillance and epidemiology and contributes
to the achievement of a healthy national population. She graduated from Mount Kenya University in 2018 with bachelor’s degree in public health.
Sarah Hess
Technical Officer
World Health Organization
Sarah Hess is a microbiologist by training with a postgraduate degree in international public health. Her career in WHO started in 2014 in the field of HIV and hepatitis, transitioning to emergency preparedness and response in 2018. Her current portfolio focuses on partnerships and global strategy and policy for epidemic and pandemic preparedness.
Shimaa AbuKamer
Event Based Surveillance Coordinator
Ministry of Health and Population, Egypt
Dr Shimaa Ali Ali AbuKamer is a Coordinator of Event Based Surveillance system at the Department of Epidemiology and Surveillance at the Preventive Sector within the MOHP in Egypt. She graduated from the Egyptian High Committee of Medical Specialization Board in Cairo, Egypt with a degree in applied epidemiology. She obtained the Egyptian FETP – CDC training certificate through their field epidemiology training program, also holding a diploma in Medical Quality Management from the Ain Shams University (Egypt) as a Quality Management Specialist. Prior to her role as the Coordinator of Event Based Surveillance system, Shimaa was a medical Epidemiologist also working in surveillance at the Department of Epidemiology and Surveillance at the MOHP in Cairo, Egypt.health. Her career in WHO started in 2014 in the field of HIV and hepatitis, transitioning to emergency preparedness and response in 2018. Her current portfolio focuses on partnerships and global strategy and policy for epidemic and pandemic preparedness.
Stephen Reicher
Professor of Psychology
University of St. Andrews
Stephen Reicher is Wardlaw Professor of Psychology at the University of St. Andrews. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, Fellow and Vice-President of the Royal Social of Edinburgh, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and an Honorary
Fellow of the British Psychological Society. Stephen is a social psychologist who studies group processes and collective action- including issues of social solidarity, social conflict, leadership, and social influence. During the Covid19-
pandemic he served on multiple bodies including the Advisory groups to the UK and Scottish Governments and the independent scientific group 'Independent SAGE'.
Tim Nguyen
Unit Head High Impact Events Preparedness
World Health Organization
Tim Nguyen is the Head of Unit for High Impact Events in the Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention Department of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme (WHE). His unit develops innovative approaches to community co-creation and decision-making
tools. He joined WHO in 2006 working as a Technical Officer in the Yellow Fever Programme which coordinated an initiative to provide 40 million doses of vaccine to most at risk populations. In 2008, he joined WHO’s Global Influenza Programme
and took part in the global response work for the first influenza pandemic of the 21st century. Between 2017-2014, he was the Unit leader for Knowledge Management, Evidence and Research for Policymaking at the WHO Regional Office for Europe
based in Copenhagen, Denmark. There, he established the scientific journal Public Health Panorama and developed the WHO/Europe resolution and action plan for evidence-informed policymaking.
Yasmin Rabiyan
Engagement Officer
World Health Organization
Yasmin Rabiyan is a German-Iranian dual national, and holds an M.A. in Communications and American Studies from the University of Mainz, Germany. She has more than fifteen years of experience in Communications and Advocacy roles. For over a decade,
Yasmin has worked in operational communications with Médecins Sans Frontièrs (MSF) devising communication strategies and covering humanitarian medical emergencies across the globe. Her work has spanned positions at various headquarters
and country offices, including Germany, South Africa, Malawi, Switzerland and Myanmar. Other experiences include consultancies with the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) with assignments to Ethiopia, Yemen and the Palestinian Territories,
and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Myanmar. In 2018, she co-founded and successfully launched Thant Myanmar, a Nonprofit organization fighting plastic pollution in Myanmar. As EIOS Engagement Officer, Yasmin has coordinated the expansion
of the EIOS initiative over the past three years and is responsible for ongoing engagement with the global community behind it.
Zubaida Haque
Former CEO/Member of Independent SAGE
The Equality Trust
Dr Zubaida Haque is the former CEO of The Equality Trust, and former interim CEO of The Runnymede Trust– a national race equality think tank in the UK. A leading social scientist, Zubaida has significant knowledge of intersectional inequalities within health, education, employment, housing, immigration and criminal justice in the UK. She has written and spoken widely on race and gender inequalities and was voted by Lancet in January 2022 as one of the leading women in the sphere of science and public health during COVID19-. Zubaida has worked in senior/management roles within think tanks, charities and government departments; and has participated as a Commissioner on national reviews e.g. 2001 race riots review in UK; Commission on Gender Equal Economy; [Lewis] Hamilton Commission. She is also an expert member of Independent SAGE (which engages directly with the public and shares independent and transparent advice about covid and public health safety), and an expert adviser on the London Mayor’s Advisory Group on Equality Diversity and Inclusion, independent Advisory Group on Structural Racism and Health Equity, and Advisory Group on Disadvantage Gaps in Education. Dr Haque is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.