Strategic Advisory Board

Chair

One of Asia’s most respected higher education, health and philanthropic leaders, Gabriel Leung is known for his commitment to improving human capabilities, nurturing impactful innovation and building strong institutions. He is Executive Director (Charities and Community) of The Hong Kong Jockey Club overseeing its Charities Trust, while serving as a governor of The Wellcome Trust. Gabriel’s career has straddled academe, public service and philanthropy. From 2013 to 2022, he was the longest-serving Dean of Medicine and inaugural Helen and Francis Zimmern Professor in Population Health at the University of Hong Kong. Formerly, he was Hong Kong's first Under Secretary for Food and Health and fifth Director of the Chief Executive's Office in government. Gabriel’s research defined the epidemiology of three novel viral epidemics, namely SARS in 2003, H7N9 influenza in 2013 and most recently COVID-19. In government, he led Hong Kong's response against the 2009 influenza pandemic. He was founding co-director of HKU's World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control and established the Laboratory of Data Discovery for Health (D 2 4H) at the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park.  

Observer

Dr Claire De-May is an MRC Programme Manager, where she overseas a research portfolio within the Infections and Immunity Team at MRC (UKRI).  

Member

Dr. Amuasi heads the Global Health Department at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. He holds a W2 Professorship and is Group Leader of the Global One Health Research Group at the Bernhard Nocht Institute of Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, Germany and at Kumasi Center for Collaborative Research in Topical Medicine in Ghana. Dr. Amuasi’s research involves both field epidemiologic and clinical studies (including trials) across Africa on emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, neglected tropical diseases, and antimicrobial resistance. Dr. Amuasi also co-chairs the Lancet One Health Commission and is an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow at the Nuffield Department of Medicine of the Oxford University.  

Member

Christine Carrington is Professor of Molecular Genetics and Virology in the Department of Preclinical Sciences of the Faculty of Medical Sciences at The University of the West Indies (UWI) in Trinidad & Tobago. She earned her BSc (Hons) Biotechnology at King’s College (Lond.) and PhD Molecular Virology from the Institute of Cancer Research (Lond.). She has over thirty years’ experience in infectious disease research (esp. virus evolution, molecular epidemiology, genomic surveillance and phylogenetics). Her research focusses on understanding factors underlying the emergence, epidemic behaviour and maintenance of viruses, especially vector-borne and zoonotic RNA viruses. Work to date includes studies on a range of arboviruses, rabies virus and coronaviruses. She is the Coordinator of the WHO/PAHO reference sequencing laboratory at the UWI and of the Global Virus Network Affiliated Centre of Excellence at the Faculty of Medical Sciences. She serves on the Board of Governors of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, and was a member of the UWI COVID-19 Task Force and the Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation to the Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Health. Christine is the Anthony N. Sabga Awards - Caribbean Excellence, 2022 Laureate in Science & Technology and recipient of a  Trinidad & Tobago National Award (Chaconia Medal Gold) for her service and contributions as a virologist.  

Member

Dr. Juliet Pulliam is the Chief of the Real-Time Monitoring Branch within the Predict Division of the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. From 2016-2023, she served as the Director of the South African DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (SACEMA,  www.sacema.org  ) and Professor of Applied Mathematics at Stellenbosch University. Prior to that, she spent five years as a faculty member in the Department of Biology and the Emerging Pathogens Institute (EPI) at the University of Florida, where she was also the inaugural director of the International Clinics on Infectious Disease Dynamics and Data (ICI3D,  www.ici3d.org  ) Program. Juliet received a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University in 2007 and spent three years as a Research and Policy for Infectious Disease Dynamics (RAPIDD) Program Fellow at the US National Institute of Health’s Fogarty International Center. Her research focuses on applications of mathematical modelling to epidemiology and control of emerging, zoonotic, and vector-borne infections. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she has served as a member of both the South African National Department of Health’s Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) on COVID-19 and the core modelling team for the South African COVID-19 Modelling Consortium (SACMC). Dr Pulliam serves on the GIDA SAB in her personal capacity and not as a representative of the US CDC.

Member

Professor Simon Cauchemez is the Director of the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases Unit that he created in 2013 at Institut Pasteur in Paris . His main research interest is to develop statistical and mathematical methods to increase our understanding of how pathogens spread in populations, assess the impact of interventions, support policy making and optimize control strategies. His approach is multidisciplinary, looking at infectious diseases through multiple perspectives, multiple scales and multiple data streams . He was a member of the Scientific Committee advising the French government during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been nominated Knight of the French National Order of the Legion of Honor in 2022 for his contribution to pandemic research and response.  

Member

Alex Schmidt is the Head of Vaccine Development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute.  He joined Gates MRI in 2018, after 7 years with GSK Vaccines, where he led clinical vaccine development programs for dengue, RSV, and influenza virus vaccines. Prior to joining industry, he spent ten years in the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, NIAID, U.S. National Institutes of Health, and five years in academic medicine in Berlin, Germany.

Alex received his M.D. from Freie Universität Berlin, trained in pediatrics at Charité and at The German Heart Center in Berlin, and held a faculty position in pediatrics at Charité. He is a member of the American Society for Microbiology, the American Society of Virology and the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. He is a recipient of the NIH Director’s Award and several NIAID awards.  

Alex’s main interests are vaccine development and global health. He started his research career in lab-based research on host-pathogen interactions for negative strand RNA viruses, and then focused on preclinical, translational, and clinical vaccine development. At the Gates Medical Research Institute , Alex leads vaccine development efforts for tuberculosis, malaria, and diarrheal diseases.  

Member

Soumya Swaminathan was most recently WHO's Chief Scientist and before that, Deputy Director-General for Programmes. A pediatrician from India and a globally recognized researcher on tuberculosis and HIV, she brings with her 30 years of experience in clinical care and research and has worked throughout her career to translate research into impactful programmes. Dr Swaminathan was Secretary to the Government of India for Health Research and Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research from 2015 to 2017. In that position, she focused on bringing science and evidence into health policy-making, building research capacity in Indian medical schools, and forging south-south partnerships in health sciences. From 2009 to 2011, she also served as Coordinator of the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases in Geneva. 

She received her academic training in India, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, and has published more than 480 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters. She is a Fellow of the US National Academy of Medicine, the Academy of Medical Sciences of the UK and a Fellow of all the science academies in India. She has received several honorary doctorates, including from Karolinska institute, EPFL, Lausanne and the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. She serves on several national and global advisory bodies and committees. She is an adjunct Professor at Karolinska university in Sweden and Tufts university in Boston, USA.