Centre for Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Research (CeSHHAR), Zimbabwe
Dr Webster Mavhu
Dr Webster Mavhu is a social scientist and global health practitioner with a joint appointment between LSTM (where he is a reader in global health and social science) and CeSHHAR (where he is Director, SRH & MNCH). Over the past two decades, Dr Mavhu has been conducting implementation research to inform policy and programming. He has run a number of trials and led process evaluations for a range of complex interventions working at the interface between vulnerability, sexual and reproductive health and HIV in Southern and Eastern Africa. He has a keen interest in adolescents, men, and masculinity and health agency.
Euphemia Sibanda
Euphemia Sibanda is an epidemiologist leading a portfolio of implementation research studies in HIV and sexual and reproductive health in Zimbabwe, including the intersection of these topics with climate and health. She is based at CeSHHAR Zimbabwe, where she is Deputy Executive Director (Science) and is also a Reader in Global Health and Epidemiology at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. As a pharmacist she keen interest in antimicrobial resistance and is a Regional GEAR advisor and member of the GEAR-UP Southern Africa Gender Equity Community of Practice.
HERD International, Nepal
Dr. Sushil Chandra Baral
Dr. Sushil Chandra Baral is an experienced health and development expert with over 25 years of experience in research and development. Specialising in health systems, health policy, and planning at both national and international levels, Dr. Baral has played a pivotal role in communicable disease control, specifically Tuberculosis. He serves as a Managing Director at HERD International. In the past, he worked as a Strategic Advisor for the Nepal Health Sector Support Programme demonstrating expertise in program-based operational research and the implementation of evidence-based best practices. Dr. Baral holds a PhD in International Public Health, with a focus on understanding tuberculosis treatment from patient perspectives. His cross-cutting experiences extend to education, violence against women, local governance, gender and inclusion, nutrition, migration, urban poor, humanitarian response, and social development. With a commitment to health system strengthening, Dr. Baral has been actively involved in major projects, including Rebuild for Resilience (R4R) and Strengthening Urban Health System – CHORUS, among others. Dr. Baral’s dedication to public health is evident in his roles as a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health, UK, and as a Member of the Nepal Paramedic Association. His significant contributions have been recognized with a Special Contribution Award in COVID-19 Policy and Programmes by the Barbara Foundation. Through his extensive career, Dr. Baral has demonstrated a profound capability to handle diverse and complex tasks in the realm of health system research and development.
Abriti Arjyal
Ms. Abriti Arjyal works as a research manager at HERD International with over a decade of experience in health systems and social research. With extensive experience in implementation and applied research, she has served as a co-investigator and thematic lead on multiple projects, building a strong network of national and international research experts. She is skilled in various research methods, including qualitative techniques, ethnographic approaches, participatory action research, and community engagement applying gender and intersectional analysis in multiple areas including antimicrobial resistance (AMR), gender and equity, health system strengthening, urban health, non-communicable disease, and maternal health.
Ayuska Parajuli
Ayuska is a Public Health Researcher and a Former Nurse serving as Senior Research Officer at HERD International. She has more than five years of experience with a particular focus on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), gender equity and social inclusion (GESI), application of intersectional gender lens in research projects, infectious disease of poverty and community health workforce research. She is competent in various research methodologies such as qualitative and quantitative methods using intersectional gender lens, systematic scoping review, participatory action research, community engagement and other participatory approaches namely, community dialogue approach, participatory videos and stakeholder engagement.
BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Bangladesh
Prof. Sabina Rashid
Sabina Faiz Rashid is the Dean and Professor at the BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University. She is also leading two Centre of Excellences at the school – the Centre for Gender, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (GSRHR) and the Centre for Urban Equity and Health (CUEH). Sabina is a social science researcher specialising in ethnographic and qualitative research. Her research interests are gender, SRHR, sexuality and the well-being of adolescents, young women and men, use of social media/digital technology, changing gender relationships, power dynamics, urban poverty, governance, and health services in urban informal settlements. Sabina is a member of several international and national organisations including the Coalition for Bodily and Sexual Rights, the Academic Advisory Group of Sexuality and Development of Institute of Development Studies of University of Sussex, WHO Secretariat – Health Systems and Policy Analysis, the annual Abortion Panels – IUSSP organized by the Guttmacher Institute, Global group – Learning Collaborative: Measurement Community on Adolescents, Institute for Reproductive Health of Georgetown University and to the South Asia Regional Community of Practice: Strengthening Regional Work on Normative Change for Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health, and the National Working Group – Bangladesh Health Watch are some of them. Sabina did her PhD in Medical Anthropology and Public Health from The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
Prof. Syed Masud Ahmed
Prof. Syed Masud Ahmed, Professor and Director, Centre of Excellence for Health Systems and Universal Health Coverage (CoE-HS&UHC), is a graduate of Dhaka Medical College (1978), a David E. Fellow from Harvard Centre for Population and Development Studies (1997), and recipient of PhD in health systems from the Karolinska Institutet Medical University, Stockholm, Sweden (2005). He was a member of the Global Health Policy and Health Systems Research Committee of the NOW/WOTRO, Netherlands (2009 – ’13), Health Workforce Advocacy Initiative (HWAI) Steering Committee, WHO (2014) and Health Systems Research Committee of the Welcome Trust (2013 – ’16). He was ranked among the top 2% scientists in the ‘Stanford World Ranking of Scientists 2020’ [https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/btchxktzyw/2 (Sl No. 142113/ subfield: Tropical Medicine)]. Recently, Prof. Ahmed has been ranked #2 among Bangladeshi top Scientists in the area of Social Sciences and Humanities, according to Research.com, an academic platform for scientists. He also ranked #4446 in the world ranking [https://research.com/scientists-rankings/social-sciences-and-humanities/bd ]. He has published extensively in peer reviewed journals and authored book chapters, monographs and working papers. He has been also a peer reviewer in reputed journals such as Bulleting of WHO, Social Science and Medicine, Health Policy and Planning, BMC Public Health and Health Services Research, World Development etc. Currently, under the Centre, he is leading research, advocacy and capacity-building activities relevant to improvement of the health systems and advance UHC in Bangladesh. His research interests include development interventions’ impact on the lives of the poor and its mechanism; health and well-being of the marginalized population; social determinants of health and health/gender equity; health workforce and UHC; pharmaceutical sector and drug shops; health sector corruption; road-traffic injuries and trauma registry; AMR and epidemic/pandemic preparedness.
Bachera Aktar
Bachera Aktar is a health systems researcher with over 15 years of experience in implementing community-based public health interventions and conducting health systems research in rural, urban, and humanitarian contexts in Bangladesh. Currently, she serves as the Deputy Director of the Center of Excellence for Gender, Sexual, and Reproductive Health and Rights (CGSRHR) at the BRAC James P. Grant School of Public Health (JPGSPH), BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. She is also a faculty member in the Master of Public Health (MPH) program at BRAC JPGSPH and is pursuing her doctoral degree in the International Public Health Department at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the UK. In 2022, she was selected as an Emerging Voice for the Global Health (EV4GH) program and has been serving as a Co-Chair, representing the Southeast Asia region on the EV4GH Governance Board since 2023. Her areas of expertise include health systems research, urban and humanitarian health, maternal and child health and nutrition, implementation research, community-based participatory research, participatory action research, and community-centric public health interventions. Before joining JPGSPH, she worked with the BRAC Health Programme, which is the largest NGO in Bangladesh, for eight years, where she managed its largest maternal, neonatal, and child health program.
Syeda Tahmina Ahmed
Syeda Tahmina Ahmed is a Senior Research Associate at BRAC JPGSPH, BRAC University, with a background in Architecture and Public Health; and 7 years of research experience at the Center of Science of Implementation and Scale-Up (CoE-SISU), Urban Equity and Health (CoE-UE&H) and currently, Gender, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (CGSRHR) at the school. Her expertise lies in designing, conducting, and mentoring Qualitative research methods and Scoping reviews. She participated in a myriad of Implementation, Health Systems and Policy, and Environmental Health related topics through Qualitative, Mixed-methods research and review projects. Her interest areas range from Health systems integration, strengthening and resilience to where housing and environmental determinants of health converge with mainstream public health research, particularly through policy analysis and systems research.
She has published journal articles in The Lancet Regional Health- Southeast Asia and Health Policy planning on Integrated Health Campaigns in Immunization, Synergies and fragmentations among Health Promotion, Universal Health Coverage and Global Health Security; and a book chapter on Health System Resilience. She has taught in a variety of Master’s level courses, facilitated short courses, tutored in lab classes, and mentored students with their thesis in the flagship MPH program at the school. She received the ‘Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’ Award for outstanding performance in teaching Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases in 2023, and graduated from same program of the school in 2021 with “Amena Azfar and Hurmatunnessa Rob” scholarship for meritorious women pursuing Public Health education.
Sneha Paul
Sneha Paul is a Research Associate at the Centre of Excellence for Gender, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (CGSRHR) at BRAC JPGSPH, BRAC University. She is a recent graduate of Master of Public Health (MPH) from BRAC JPGSPH and has a Bachelor of Dental Surgeon (BDS) degree. Her MPH thesis was a Scoping review on “Impact of Climate Change on Aedes Mosquito’s Breeding Patterns and Biting Habits”. After graduating, she worked as a Research Assistant on “ORS Project”; under the Nutrition Research Division (NRD) at lnternational Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b). She is currently studying Gender and Equity aspects within Antimicrobial Resistance (GEAR-UP) in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. She holds an interest in Scoping reviews, Qualitative, and Quantitative research. She received the ‘Richard Cash Award for Best SLP Poster’ for the poster titled: Impact of Climate Change on Aedes Mosquito Breeding Patterns and Biting Habits: A Scoping Review Summarizing the Evidence from Southeast Asia and Exploring the Research Gap in the Region Comparing to that Globally under the “Summative Learning Project” in 2024 for the Master of Public Health (MPH) programme at BRAC JPGSPH, BRAC University.
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), UK
Prof. Sally Theobald
Sally is a Professor in Social Science and International Health at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine UKRI/FCDO senior research fellow in gender. Sally provides an oversight leadership role in GEAR UP. Sally has over 25 years’ experience of applied global health research, training and partnership on gender equity and health systems strengthening in partnership with ministries, research institutions and civil society in Africa and Asia.
Faye Moody
Faye is a Programme Manager with over 17 years experience working on international projects on health systems in LMIC’s. Faye has supported the Gender and Health Group since 2007 and more recently has been supporting AMR projects such as ‘Drivers of resistance in Uganda and Malawi’ (DRUM) and ‘Tracking Antimicrobial Resistance Across Care Settings in Liverpool’ (TRACS-Liverpool).
Beth Hollihead
Beth works as Senior Programme Manager, leading the ADAPT programme management team, based in the department of International Public Health and delivering programmes across three of LSTM’s four departments. Beth manages a research portfolio with a value of over £35m, within disciplines of urban health; gender and intersectional equity; anti-microbial resistance (AMR) and transmission and climate change. ADAPT responsibilities include the legal, contractual, financial and administrative management of research partnerships; developing the appropriate processes and procedures for managing projects; providing smooth financial control and ensuring clear and accurate communications both within research consortia and with funders.
Rosie Steege
Rosie is the gender equity lead for GEAR up; she is a social scientist and health systems researcher. Rosie leads and contributes to the design, development and delivery of social science themes within large multi-partner, multi-disciplinary research consortia. Rosie’s research interests focus on supporting inclusive health systems through intersectional analyses, in the face of intractable challenges, including AMR. Rosie is passionate about nurturing equitable partnerships for community led development.
Laura Dean
Laura Dean is a social scientist with ten years’ experience of research, capacity strengthening, and partnerships for community-led development and health systems strengthening in Africa and Asia. Laura’s research uses qualitative and participatory research methods and focuses in the areas of health systems, intersectionality, gender, equity, chronic disease and disability. Most of her work has been on Zambia, India, Malawi, Sudan, Nigeria, Liberia, and the UK (Liverpool). Laura has conducted work in informal settlements in Gujarat, India, in collaboration with women living with disability and local organisations, to co-create strategies that may support women living with disability in attaining their sexual and reproductive rights. In Zambia, Laura utilised participatory methodologies to co-develop home-based care packages that could be delivered by community health workers to communities living in peri-urban environments and informal dwellings. Laura’s current work focuses on the use of intersectional approaches to explore chronic disease experience including impacts on mental ill-health and health systems responses in Liberia; as well as understanding how routine health interventions can adapt to ensure equity in programme delivery in urban and emerging contexts across Liberia and Nigeria. Laura has been involved in the leadership, design, development and delivery of social science themes within several large multi-partner, multi-disciplinary research consortiums.
Rachel Tolhurst
Rachel Tolhurst is a social scientist with a background in gender, development and health. Her research interests and experience centre on qualitative research on gender and equity in health systems strengthening and the social determinants of health. Her research has included a focus on a range of health areas including maternal and child health, sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender-based violence, antimicrobial resistance and communicable and chronic disease (including malaria, tuberculosis, lung disease and HIV). Her research currently focuses particularly on urban informal settings. Rachel was the Research Director for the ARISE Hub. She was also Social Sciences lead for the NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Lung Health and Tuberculosis in Africa at LSTM (IMPALA) (2017-2021), and for the Drivers of Antimicrobial Resistance (DRUM) consortium (GCRF) (2018-2021). This work focuses respectively on strengthening health systems to promote equity and patient centredness in chronic lung disease management in Uganda, Tanzania and Sudan, and analysing the structural drivers of antibiotic use in the context of antimicrobial resistance in Malawi and Uganda. Rachel also led the gender equitable careers theme of the DELTAS Learning research programme (2016 – 2020).
Russell Dacombe
Russell Dacombe is a senior research associate at LSTM. Russell has a background in microbiology and holds an MSC in Medical Microbiology. He worked in the NHS for many years and then went on to manage research laboratories in Africa. He joined LSTM in 2005 and his research interests include laboratory capacity strengthening, in-vitro diagnostic evaluation and policy and regulatory analysis, development and implementation. He also coordinates the medical bacteriology module as part of the LSTM Master programme and lectures on a number of other courses.
Katy Davis
Katy is a Post-Doctoral Research Associate and social scientist. Her work takes an intersectional approach to issues of gender, inequity and power in relation to health and the environment, with a specific focus on disasters and conflict. She has worked in research partnerships of various scales and has experience using mixed methods and participatory research approaches.
Siobhan Sutherland
Siobhan Sutherland is a Project Administrator based in the ADAPT programme management team in the Department of International Public Health at LSTM. With previous experience working in higher education institutions in Sydney, Australia, Siobhan now brings her expertise to programme management, supporting the financial and administrative management of the Gear up project and partnership. She has particular responsibility for reporting and evidencing progress towards project goals.
Joe Lewis
Joe is an infectious diseases clinician and Wellcome Trust Clinical PhD fellow from the UK. After undergraduate training and junior doctor rotations in London, he worked as a medical officer in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa before postgraduate training in infectious diseases in Liverpool, UK. He is currently based at the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme in Blantyre, Malawi. His ongoing PhD aims to define the aetiology of sepsis in Blantyre and understand how the widespread use of empiric broad spectrum antimicrobials in the condition is contributing to the emerging problem of antimicrobial resistance, using both genomics and modelling techniques.
Adam Roberts
Adam Roberts graduated in Applied Biology from Coventry University in 1995 and with a PhD in molecular microbiology from the University of London in 2002. Worked as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Lecturer and Senior Lecturer at University College London until joining LSTM in February 2017.
His research activities focus on the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance amongst bacteria and the development of new drugs in order to treat infections. He is an advisor to the Longitude Prize and the Royal Society of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, runs The Transposon Registry and co-ordinates the JPIAMR funded Network of European and African Researchers on AMR (NEAR-AMR).
Rhona Mijumbi
Dr. Rhona Mijumbi is the Head of the Policy Unit at the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Programme (MLW). A seasoned research scientist and health policy analyst, she is also a senior lecturer of public policy at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM).
Rhona is also a Senior Research Fellow with the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), USA, a Research Fellow of the University of Johannesburg’s Africa Center for Evidence (ACE), South Africa, and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Medicine and the Clinical Epidemiology Unit at Makerere University, Uganda. She is the incoming chair of the Africa Evidence Network, a prestigious network that brings together practitioners at the science-to-policy nexus in Africa. Before joining LSTM and MLW, Rhona headed the Centre for Rapid Evidence Synthesis (ACRES) as its founding director, and worked for over a decade championing the evidence-to-policy field in Africa. Working with the World Health Organization and other partners, she is behind the pilot and scale-up of several science-to-policy units in government departments in Africa, the Americas including Canada and Brazil, Asia, and Eastern Europe.
Rhona holds a Doctorate in Health Policy (McMaster University, Canada and Makerere University, Uganda), a Master of Science in Epidemiology and Biostatistics (Makerere University, Uganda), a Masters in International Public Health (University of Queensland, Australia), and a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Uganda). Rhona’s work and research interests include understanding, developing and evaluating pathways at the science-policy nexus in complex policy and decision-making processes. This is especially in the context of urgent/emergency situations, health security, and health diplomacy.
Ralalicia Limato
Ralalicia Limato is a medical doctor and public health scientist with a PhD in clinical medicine from the University of Oxford. Her doctoral research utilised a mixed-methods approach to investigate antibiotic use and prescribing practices in healthcare facilities, highlighting the implications for antimicrobial stewardship in addressing AMR. In GEAR up, Ralalicia’s responsibilities include assisting country grantees’ gender and equity priorities and strategies within AMR, as well as contributing to the writing of literature reviews, reports, and publications. Ralalicia has participated in global collaborative AMR research and implementation projects, focusing on Indonesia and Southeast Asia.
Andy Ramsay
‘Andy Ramsay is a freelance public health consultant and Honorary Professor in Infection and Global Health at St Andrews University Medical School, Scotland. He has a background in veterinary and medical microbiology, infectious disease control and response to health emergencies, including antimicrobial resistance. He has previously worked for both the Liverpool and London Schools of Tropical Medicine as well as 12 years as a Senior Scientist in the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) at WHO Headquarters in Geneva. He has lived and worked in a number of different countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and published over 100 articles in international peer-reviewed journals. Ramsay, Andrew C. – Author details – Scopus Preview https://orcid.org/0009-0007-7748-820X
LVCT Health, Kenya
Ann S. Wangui Ngunjiri
Anne is a public health expert with extensive experience managing and executing research projects aimed at violence prevention and response to Violence against Children (VAC) and Violence against Women and Girls (VAW/G). Currently, she is the Senior Technical Advisor – Gender Based Violence (GBV) at LVCT Health, where she has been instrumental in developing national and county policies, training curricula, and service delivery standards. Anne holds a master’s degree in public health and a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from the University of Warwick in the UK. Within the GEAR up project, Anne will focus on conducting gender-related research, developing and executing research plans, and designing methodologies that ensure rigour and relevance.
Dr Lilian Otiso
Lilian Otiso is the Executive Director at LVCT Health, a large Kenyan NGO that carries out research and implements HIV, reproductive health, gender-based violence (GBV) and community health programs reaching over 1 million individuals across Kenya annually. She has managed grants from various donors including USAID, CDC, UK government, UN agencies and various foundations. She is a Medical Doctor with an MBA in Health Care Management with over 15 years’ program management and research experience in government and NGO sectors. She is currently pursuing a Phd in Global Health at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. She is a fellow of the inaugural Obama Foundation Leaders: Africa 2018 program and winner of the Trocaire Oscar Romero award 2021 for protecting vulnerable communities during COVID-19. She is a member of various national and international technical working groups, has contributed to Kenyan and global WHO guidelines and provided technical support for policy development. She has published several peer reviewed articles and documents.
Pacific Akinyi Owuondo
Pacific is a seasoned healthcare provider and research officer with over 13 years of experience in research planning, coordination, project management, and data management. She holds a master’s degree in health systems management from Kenya Methodist University and a bachelor’s degree in nursing (child health) from Manchester University, UK. Deeply committed to gender equality and social justice, particularly in women’s and children’s health, Pacific has expertly coordinated national research projects in collaboration with ministries, global donors, and educational institutions. Her leadership and strategic advisory roles have significantly advanced public health initiatives. An active volunteer, she also serves as a board advisor and mentor, focusing on adolescent and young people’s sexual and reproductive health. Pacific will manage the GEAR up project for LVCT Health, integrating gender and equity in Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) programming for Kenya and Uganda.
Jane Karonge Thiomi
Jane Thiomi has been the GBV and Prevention Manager in LVCT Health’s for the last seven years. She previously served as the Western and Eastern regional manager. She has worked at LVCT Health since 2001 rising through the ranks from a VCT counsellor to a senior manager. She has over 15 years’ work experience in counselling and training in various HIV and Aids related fields. Jane holds a master’s degree in counselling studies from Durham University in the UK. She has provided capacity building consultancies in HIV care and treatment in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Uganda and South Sudan. She has been extensively involved in developing curriculums for counsellor supervisors for the Ministry of Health in Kenya through the National Aids and STI Control Programme (NASCOP) and the development of HIV counselling and testing manual in South Sudan. A trained nurse by profession with many years of experience, Jane provides leadership for various LVCT Health’s projects and manages the implementation of these projects in Nairobi with special focus on HIV testing and counselling, gender-based violence prevention and post rape care. She is passionate about working with the most at risk populations. She was involved in developing the World Health Organisation (WHO) repeat and retesting guidelines and was part of the HIV Testing and Counselling (HTC) Report writing team which was the first in the country since the start of HTC. She has also participated and overseen the development of groundbreaking innovations like the Partner Notification Service (PNS). Jane takes pride in being a pre- exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) champion and the DREAMS technical lead.
Susan Okioma
Susan Okioma is an accomplished gender specialist with more than a decade of experience in advancing women’s and children’s rights, more than a decade in advocacy, policy development, and program implementation. Susan holds a master’s degree in gender and development and a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics and resource management. Susan is renowned for her expertise in mainstreaming gender and equity in diverse projects, programs and institutions. She has spearheaded significant initiatives addressing sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), including the development of SGBV training manuals and training sessions for key populations. Susan’s contributions extend internationally, having presented innovative strategies against female genital mutilation (FGM) at the Inter African Committee Against African Traditional Practices Conference in Burkina Faso. With a robust background in gender analysis, research, and program design, Susan excels in designing and implementing gender-responsive projects and has conducted gender audits for organisations. She is adept at policy development and strategic planning, leveraging a deep understanding of local legislation and international covenants advocating for women and children’s rights. Susan is currently the Lead Gender Technical Advisor at LCVT Health Kenya, working on the GEAR up project to integrate gender and equity in Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) programming initiatives for Kenya and Uganda. She will be responsible for capacity building by developing resources and training to increase staff and partner knowledge on gender. She will coordinate project teams, ensuring gender analysis informs program at national and sub-national levels. She will monitor and evaluate project implementation, providing technical support for gender evaluation.
University of Health and Allied Science, Ghana
Professor Margaret Gyapong
A medical anthropologist by training, Professor Gyapong is Director of the Institute of Health Research (IHR) at the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Ghana. Prior to joining the university in 2017, she spent several years as a researcher in the Ghana Health Service and was foundation Director of the Dodowa Health Research Centre. Prof. Gyapong’s interests are in the socio-cultural aspects of the infectious diseases of poverty, implementation research, women’s health and capacity building. She is interested in research impact and has been leading work in this area that brings together the experiences of disease control programs and research institutions in Africa, Asia, and Europe. She was instrumental in the development of the TDR implementation research toolkit. Her research has impacted program implementation and policies in health systems, malaria, maternal and child health and neglected tropical diseases. Professor Gyapong is a mentor to several young African scientists, and has over 120 publications and book chapters to her credit.
Dr. Mustapha Immurana
Dr. Mustapha Immurana is a health and development economist. Currently, he is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Health Research (IHR), University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) in Ghana. He is the Director of the Centre for Health Policy and Implementation Research, IHR, UHAS. Dr. Immurana has certificates in Implementation Research with a Focus on Infectious Diseases of Poverty; Policy Development and Advocacy for Global Health; Economic Evaluation in Global Health; Project Management in Global Health; Leadership and Management in Health; and Monitoring and Evaluation in Global Health among others. Dr. Immurana is an academic editor of PLOS ONE (Health Economics Section), an editorial board member of BMC Public Health (Health Economics and Outcomes Research Section) and a collaborator of the Global Burden of Diseases Study (GBD). Dr. Immurana has over 80 peer reviewed publications and book chapters.
Evelyn Acquah
Evelyn Acquah is a social scientist with a background in population and health. She is also a trained implementation research scientist with diverse community experience and a particular focus on gender equity in health, diversity, and inclusivity. She is currently a Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Policy and Implementation Research, Institute of Health Research, University of Health and Allied Sciences where she has worked for the over seven years. Ms. Acquah has gained valuable multidisciplinary and multinational research experience through her previous roles in projects funded by the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP), PATH, and the World Health Organisation (WHO). Additionally, she is an active member of the steering committee for iCHORDS (Improving Community Health Outcomes through Research, Dialogue, and Systems Strengthening), a collaborative platform that facilitates the exchange of expertise within social and behavioural disciplines to address implementation challenges and contemporary issues confronting neglected tropical disease (NTD) programs. She is also a member of the iCHORDS mentorship committee. Ms. Acquah has over 20 scientific publications to her credit.
Dr. Mavis Pearl Kwabla
Dr. Mavis Pearl Kwabla is a senior lecturer with the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, F.N. Binka School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ghana. She holds a PhD in Epidemiology from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and the Hanover Medical School in Germany. Pearl received both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Public Health at the University of Ghana. Prior to her appointment with the University in 2014, Pearl worked as a disease control officer with the Ghana Health Service in Koforidua and as a teaching assistant with UHAS on secondment from the Ghana Health Service. In addition to teaching and supervising undergraduate students’ dissertations, she once served as coordinator for the vocational training programme at the School of Public Health (2015-2016) and also coordinated the curriculum development of the Master of Public Health (MPH) program which received accreditation from both the National Accreditation Board and the National Council for Tertiary Education. Pearl served as community entry officer for the proposed Ebola phase 1 trial and a member of the cholera outbreak investigation team that assisted in curbing the spread of the 2014 Cholera outbreak in Hohoe. Currently, Pearl is serving as a member of the teaching and learning committee involved in reviewing the BPH curriculum, a co-chair of the FNBSPH Community, Alumni and Allied Health Council Relations Implementation Committee and a mentor of the Ghana Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme (GFELTP). She is a mentor to several students. Her research interests include tuberculosis surveillance system evaluation using the capture-recapture method, assessing tuberculosis case detection strategies, surveillance system evaluation of infectious diseases, outbreak investigation of communicable diseases and assessment of immunization and cold chain management. Pearl won the Ghanaian German Postgraduate scholarship grant (DAAD) for her PhD studies.
Fidelis Edem Yao Anumu
Fidelis Edem Yao Anumu is a research management professional with twelve years’ experience working in both research and higher education institutions. He is currently the Head of the Research Operations Office at the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Ghana where he led the establishment of a functional research operations office providing research management services including pre and post grant award services, research ethics administration, capacity building and research dissemination. Prior to joining the University of Health and Allied Sciences in 2016, he was a Programmes Manager at Hope for Future Generations, a local non-governmental organisation and then a Research Development Officer at the Office of Research Innovation and Development, University of Ghana. Fidelis has been an integral part of all research grant writing and has been actively involved in research project implementation at all levels since joining the team at the UHAS. He has gained an invaluable experience in multidisciplinary and multinational research implementation and coordination. He currently has five scientific publications to his credit. His research interests are in research governance, health systems and the economic burden of diseases.
