LCNTDR & The HAT Platform Scientific Research Meeting - 'Achieving Human African Trypanosomiasis elimination'

Dr Gerardo Priotto, WHO is a medical doctor and epidemiologist by training, having spent a significant portion of his career with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and epicentre working in humanitarian aid and research projects aimed at improving public health in countries including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Brazil, Guatemala, and Thailand. Gerardo led several studies on malaria and HAT therapeutics, including three clinical trials that found and validated the nifurtimox - eflornithine combination therapy (NECT) for HAT.  Gerardo joined WHO in 2010, working on the implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR) in the Mediterranean area, the epidemiological surveillance and response in Central Africa, the design of electronic tools for health surveillance. In 2014 he joined the WHO HAT team that provides technical support, coordination and leadership across countries and partners working on HAT elimination.

Professor Torr has over 30 years’ experience of work on the behaviour, ecology and control of vectors, with particular emphasis on tsetse flies and mosquitoes.  Professor Torr was a key member of the UK government’s Tropical Development Research Institute (subsequently the Natural Resources Institute )  and was involved in the early large-scale use of baits to control tsetse in Zimbabwe and Somalia.  He later led the development of NRI’s medical and veterinary entomology programme where areas of research included improved use of insecticide-treated cattle to control tsetse and malaria mosquitoes in sub-Saharan Africa; development of artificial baits to control species of tsetse which transmit Gambian sleeping sickness in Central and West Africa; analysis of the impact of large-scale tsetse control operations in Botswana, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, and development of simulation models and decision support systems to assist in the design, implementation and monitoring of tsetse control operations.  In March 2013, Professor Torr took up a joint position of Professor in Neglected Tropical Diseases at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and The University of Warwick.  Professor Torr’s current research is in the use of targets to eliminate African sleeping sickness as well as defining the biomedical, environmental, and social risk factors for human infection with Plasmodium knowlesi.

Dr Wilfried Mutombo Kalonji joined DNDi as Project Coordinator in February 2016. Dr Wilfried is now Clinical Project Leader and Medical Manager.  Dr Wilfried coordinated the fexinidazole clinical trials on behalf of the National Sleeping Sickness Control Program of the DRC (PNLTHA) in collaboration with DNDi.   He has over 10 years of field experience in human African trypanosomiasis research and case management.  From 2006 until 2015, Dr Wilfried held various positions at the Congolese Ministry of Health for the PNLTHA. He was also a recent member of the Research Unit of the PNLTHA at the central level in Kinshasa.  He began his relationship with DNDi as a local investigator at the Centre of Dipumba in Mbijimayi for the trials to develop NECT. He has participated in several congresses and international meetings as well as co-authoring several publications in the field of HAT. 

Catiane Vander Kelen is a social scientist working at the Institute of Tropical Medicine (Belgium) in the Neglected Tropical Diseases Unit. She has a master in Social Sciences from the Université Libre de Bruxelles and a Master in Humanitarian Studies From the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. After her studies she developed a significant experience working with different NGOs in different humanitarian settings. She worked 5 years with Médecins Sans Frontières as Health Promotor in various countries for numerous projects, of which Cholera in Haiti and Zambia;  Ebola in West Africa; and sleeping sickness in oriental province in DRC. She is currently undertaking a PhD on community participation in vector control for sleeping sickness elimination in partnership with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

Charlie Kabanga is a social scientist and an international development specialist, currently working as a freelance researcher and evaluation consultant. She has over 16 years’ experience working in international development in West Africa (Cameroon and Chad), Central Africa (DRC), Eastern Africa (Uganda), and Southern Africa (Malawi, Zimbabwe and Zambia), of which 8 years have been focused on M&E of and research on various programmes including public health, education, child protection, gender, women empowerment as well as food and nutrition security. As a consultant for DNDi, Charlie led the ethnographic study on communities’ knowledge, practices, and behaviours related to Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) in DRC, which informed the development of the new Education Information and Communication (EIC) strategy. She also led the evaluation of the implementation of the HAT EIC strategy in targeted provinces of the DRC, which assessed the level of behaviour change in community engagement towards HAT control activities (screening, treatment, and vector control). She holds an MSc in Social Research Methods from Birkbeck University of London, an MA in International Development from Brandeis University in the United States, and a BA in Rural Development from Institut Supérieur de Développement Rural in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Professor Croft has worked on the discovery and development of anti-infective drugs in academia, industry and public-private partnerships. Simon’s research has focussed on novel drugs and formulations for the treatment of leishmaniasis, malaria, human African trypanosomiasis and Chagas disease, including projects on miltefosine, AmBisome and topical paromomycin which reached clinical trials for the treatment of leishmaniasis. Current research interests include PK PD relationships, topical formulations, predictive models for drugs and vaccines and leishmaniasis control programmes (KalaCORE and SPEAK India). He works extensively with industry and PDPs on NTDs and a network of collaborators in disease endemic countries. From 2004 to 2007 Simon was the R & D Director of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), Geneva and from 2008 to 2014 he was Dean of Faculty at the LSHTM.

Dr. Florent Mbo is Access and Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) Platform Coordinator at DNDi, since 2015. He is based in DRC. He has over 20 years of field experience as a GP, health district hospital medical director, head of health district and provincial coordinator of national sleeping sickness control program of Democratic Republic of Congo for over ten years. He was also investigator in HAT clinical trials and operational studies. As an access leader and HAT platform coordinator, he is focusing on advocacy to African HAT endemic countries to use new drugs by obtaining the authorization of use via Ministries of Health and training on new drug use and pharmacovigilance within endemic countries in collaboration with WHO. As a reminder the HAT platform is a capacity building platform for clinical and operational research from national sleeping sickness control programmes from the most affected endemic countries and research institutions. Other HAT platform activities include improving the research landscape, reinforcing research capacities, supporting ethics committees, developing operational research and sharing information between members through international scientific meetings and newsletters. He is a medical doctor trained in Kinshasa (1998), with MSc in Tropical Disease Control from Tropical Medicine Institute. Antwerp, Belgium (2007) and holds two university certificates: Health System Research from the School of Public Health (Free University of Brussels, 2012) and Health Policy (Tropical Medicine Institute of Antwerp, 2014).