Plenary Speakers
Alexander Pym
Director of Infectious Disease, Wellcome
United Kingdom
Alexander leads the Infectious Disease team at Wellcome, a global charitable foundation which supports science to solve urgent health challenges. With an extensive background in molecular microbiology and translational medicine, Alex leads Wellcome’s work on infectious disease, supporting research into ways to reduce the risks and impacts of infectious disease globally. Alex joined Wellcome from Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson where he led the discovery and development of new drugs for tuberculosis (TB) and related diseases. Alexander spent his early career working as a doctor in rural South Africa, where he led the district TB control program. After working on some of the first HIV clinical trials of HAART in London he completed a PhD in Molecular Microbiology at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, supported by a Wellcome Research Fellowship. He went on to spend over a decade in South Africa working initially on clinical drug development at the South African Medical Research Council, before leading a translational research group at AHRI.development at the South African Medical Research Council before leading a translational research group at AHRI.
Anna Levin
Associate Professor, The Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo
Brazil
Anna Levin graduated as a physician at the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil, where she went on to complete her training in Infectious Diseases. Her main interest is healthcare-acquired infections and antimicrobial resistance, an emerging field when she started her career. Sheis currently professor at USP in Infectious Diseases (ID), head of the Division of ID in Hospital das Clinicas, USP’s main teaching hospital, where she also presides the Infection Control Committee. She is currently involved in the global collaborative research network “Centres for Antimicrobial Optimisation” (CAMO-Net) with researchers in the UK, Uganda, South Africa and India.
Tumani Corrah
Founder & Co-President, Africa Research Excellence Fund
Gambia
Professor Sir Tumani Corrah is Emeritus director of the Medical Research Council Unit, The Gambia, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is the Founder and President of the Africa Research Excellence Fund (AREF). Established nine years ago, AREF focuses on the continent’s emerging health researchers, providing them with the knowledge and essential skills for a successful research career that will impact policies to improve health and save lives in Africa and the rest of the world. To date, AREF has impacted the scientific careers of over 650 health researchers from 41 African countries.
Olajide Idris, MD, MPH
Director General and Chief Executive Officer, NCDC
Nigeria
Dr. Olajide Idris is the 3rd Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control & Prevention (NCDC). Dr Idris is the immediate past Commissioner for Health for Lagos State, Nigeria’s most populous State, with 22 million inhabitants. He was responsible for health care planning, health policy formulation, implementation as well as supervising health service delivery in the state.
Dr Idris has over 30 years’ experience in Medical Practice, Healthcare Systems Management, Consulting, Pharmaceutical, public health and Research. In Medical Practice, he has worked as a medical doctor in his early and mid-career stages at hospitals and for private companies in Nigeria. He also worked with two premier healthcare consulting companies covering healthcare planning and research, hospital management and direct provision of clinical services.
He attended the King’s College, Lagos, Nigeria. He is a graduate of the College of Medicine of the University of Lagos, Nigeria, and obtained his Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from Yale University, Connecticut, USA. , and was a post-doctoral research fellow at the Columbia University, New York, USA.
Notably, he led the Lagos State response team in mobilizing the resources and coordinating the collaboration with the Federal Government of Nigeria and other International partners in the rapid containment of the Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in Lagos and Nigeria. He was actively involved in the Nigeria Covid-19 response.
He is a member of the American Public Health Association, Nigerian Medical Association and a Board member, University of Ibadan Research Foundation as well as the Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria.
More to follow…