Members of the TSAG

The TSAG has been comprised of 18 members selected and approved in accordance with WHO policy and procedures.
The members include:

Cathy Bansbach: Cathy Bansbach is a Biopharmaceutical Project and Alliance Management specialist focused on improving organizational performance by identifying efficiencies, leveraging expertise, and developing effective communication and outreach plans.  Extensive experience in leading project teams in multiple therapeutic areas and in the development of both small molecule and protein therapeutics. Following a career in drug development at Wyeth and Pfizer, Cathy served as a Sr. Program Officer in Global Health at the Gates Foundation, focusing on TB and HIV.

Nick Cammack: Head of the Snakebite Priority Area, Wellcome Trust, and previously Head of Exploratory Discovery at GSK, and past Head of the Medicines Development Campus for Diseases of the Developing World. Nick was responsible for the discovery and development of medicines to treat some of the most devastating neglected diseases including malaria, tuberculosis, Chagas disease and Leishmaniasis, and also including the recent registration and approval of Tafenoquine for vivax malaria.

Nicholas Brown: Nick Brown is a clinical and interventional radiologist with dual appointments at The Wesley Hospital and The Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane. Dr Brown is a fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR). Dr Brown’s research has focused on diverse and often complementary topics in the fields of radiology, nuclear medicine, snakebite and antivenom, where he has a particular interest in the health economics of snakebite and snakebite treatments.

Thierry Burnouf: Vice-Dean, College of Biomedical Engineering, Director, International Ph.D. Program in Biomedical Engineering, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan. Thierry has hands-on experience with the human plasma fractionation industry and research on therapeutic plasma products purification and virus inactivation. He has been a member of drafting groups of several WHO Guidelines on the quality and safety of plasma products and is Secretary of the Working Party on Global Blood Safety, and Treasurer of the Working Party on Cellular Therapies of the International Society of Blood Transfusion.

Juan Calvete: Juan is Professor of the Spanish National Research Council and PI and Director of the Evolutionary and Translational Venomics Laboratory at the Biomedicine Institute of Valencia. Dr. Calvete is an expert in Structural Biology and Biological Mass Spectrometry. His research group has developed proteomic platforms to study the composition and evolution of snake venoms ("venomics") and the effectiveness of antivenoms ("antivenomics").

Moses Chisale: A pharmacist by profession, Moses has previously worked as Principal Pharmacist at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre, Malawi; Regional Advisor Pharmaceuticals for 19 years with the WHO Regional Office for Africa, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo; Director Pharmaceutical Operations for 6 years with Central Medical Stores Trust, Malawi; and Director General, Pharmacy and Medicines Regulatory Authority, Malawi. Currently Technical Advisor on Pooled Procurement of Pharmaceuticals for Small Island Developing States in the African Region.

Martins Emeje: Dr Emeje is a pharmacist and Professor of Pharmaceutical Technology. He is currently the head of Research & Development at the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research & Development, Nigeria, and is a member of the national committee for the development of the Nigerian national policy on snake envenoming.

Abdulrazaq Habib: Dr Habib is a professor of infectious and tropical diseases at Bayero University, Kano (BUK), Nigeria. His research is focused on the fields of global health, tropical medicine, health economics and outcomes research. His research group conducted the largest RCT comparing two new antivenoms among carpet viper envenomed patients in northern Nigeria and was among the first to confirm the cost-effectiveness of antivenoms especially in the setting of West Africa.

Scott Knackstedt: Commercialization officer in the Medical Devices and Health Technologies division at global health nonprofit PATH, where he supports the formulation, delivery devices, market dynamics, and MNCH portfolios, among others. He is a board member of the Global Snakebite Initiative USA Foundation and has previous experience working in impact investing in east Africa and as part of a protein design start-up in Seattle.

Ross McLeod: Ross is an economist with 20 years’ experience in market access, health outcomes and economic modelling currently works as an economic advisor to the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. He has served as a member of the Global Fund to Fights AIDS, TB and Malaria, UNITAID and GAVI proposal review panels, along with advising the Commission for AIDS in Asia and Asian Development Bank.

Naoual Oukkache: Dr Oukkache heads the Venoms and Toxins Laboratory at the Pasteur Institute of Morocco. Driven by passion, Naoual works on animal venoms and antivenoms focusing on proteomics, pharmacology, antibody engineering and preclinical studies. Naoual currently participates in clinical studies and develops innovative antivenoms. She is a member of the WHO Roster of Experts on snakebite envenoming. Naoual is also a member of the COST European Venom Network (EUVEN) project funded by the European Commission.

Paula Oliviera: Dr Oliviera is a medical doctor, and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Universidade Katyavala Bwila in Benguela Province, Angola. Her expertise covers epidemiology, treatment, clinical syndromes, and community education. Paula has developed educational programs for community health workers in the diagnosis and treatment of snakebites as well as community awareness and education tools for local populations. Paula is also involved in studies on local Angolan snake venoms and the distributions of Angolan venomous snakes.

Sumi Paranjape: Sumi is principal lead for SW Consulting, working with clients in academic, government, and nonprofit sectors to develop strategic plans, communication, and partnerships for health, health analytics, technology, and security programs. Previously, she was COO at Bloodworks Northwest; Director of Health, Science and Technology Innovation at Vulcan, Inc., and the Paul Allen Family Foundation; Director of Business Development at MRIGlobal; Co-Founder and CEO at Maya Health Network; Southeast Asia Regional Lead for the Cooperative Biological Engagement Program at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency; and Program Manager and an AAAS Diplomacy- Security-Defense Fellow at the US Department of State.

Suvarna Patil: Dr Patil has been working as a consulting physician and intensivist in a rural area of Maharashtra in Konkan for the last 25 years. She is Medical Director and Associate Professor (Internal Medicine) at B.K.L. Walawalkar Hospital, Diagnostic & Research Center & Rural Medical College, Dervan. She notably recognized that combination treatment with antivenom and fresh frozen plasma (FFP) in patients with venom-induced consumption coagulopathy reduced the incidence of acute renal failure, bleeding diatheses and the need for hemodialysis.

Julien Potet: Julien has been working with Médecins Sans Frontières’ Access Campaign since 2011. His main area of expertise in access to essential medicines for neglected tropical diseases, including snakebite envenoming. Before joining MSF, Julien worked with several non-governmental organizations as a HIV treatment access programme manager. Julien has developed an interest in passive immunization and antibody-based therapeutics.

Kavi Ratanabanangkoon: Professor Ratanabanangkoon was previously Head of Laboratory of Immunology, Chulabhorn Research Institute in Bangkok. He was a member of the drafting group of the first and second edition of the WHO Guidelines for the Production, Control and Regulation of Snake Antivenom Immunoglobulins. He is currently Emeritus Professor of Immunology at the Faculty of Science, Mahidol University and his research interests are immunochemistry of snake venom, antivenom, and diagnostic technology.

David Warrell: David is Emeritus Professor of Tropical Medicine, and formerly head of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, UK. In 1979, he founded Oxford’s Tropical Medicine Research Network. His career has been as a physician, zoologist, teacher, researcher, resident, traveler, and perpetual student in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Papua New Guinea. His research interests include malaria, relapsing fever, rabies and other tropical infections, clinical toxinology (especially snakebite), and expedition medicine.

Wolfgang Wüster: Wolfgang is Reader in Zoology (Herpetology), School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, UK. His research interests include the evolution of venom composition in snakes and the selective drivers; systematics, taxonomy and ecology of venomous snakes and their relationship with the snakebite problem; and snakebite mitigation and prevention.