Health Programs

International Task Force for Disease Eradication Overview

Who are the members of the task force?

What determines whether a disease can be eradicated?

What is the difference between eradication and control?

How is the Carter Center involved?

International Task Force for Disease
Eradication - Current Members

Olusoji Adeyi, MD, MPH, DrPH   (2005-Present)
Coordinator
Global Partnerships for Communicable Diseases
The World Bank
Washington, D.C., USA

Former Senior Advisor United Nations AIDS Secretariat; former Associate Technical Director AIDS Prevention Initiative (Nigeria); holds a Master of Public Health (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine); Medical Degree (Univeristy of Ife/Nigeria); Adjunct Assistant Professor Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Sir George Alleyne, M.D., F.R.C.P.    (2001-Present)
Director Emeritus
Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO)

Former Director Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO); Former Chairman of the Department of Medicine (University of the West Indies); former Member/Chairman of the PAHO/WHO Advisory Committee for Medical Research; christened Knight Bachelor by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for his services to medicine (1990).

Julie Gerberding, M.D., M.P.H.   (2002-Present)
Director
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Former Director of the Prevention Epicenter at the University of California, San Francisco; former Director of the Healthcare Quality Promotion Division (CDC); led the national response to bioterrorism after the September 11th events as Acting Director of the CDC National Center for Infectious Diseases; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) at Emory University; CDC Director since July 2002.

Donald R. Hopkins, M.D., M.P.H.   (Chair, 2001-Present)
Vice President for Health Programs
The Carter Center

Participated in the Smallpox Eradication Program (Sierra Leone, India, Ethiopia); co-chaired the 1997 Dahlem Conference (Berlin); Project Director for the first International Task Force for Disease Eradication; former CDC Deputy Director.

Adetokunbo Lucas, M.D.   (2001-Present)
Professor of International Health
University of Ibadan and Harvard University

Former Chairman of the Department of Community Medicine/University of Ibadan (Nigeria); served as Chair of the Carnegie Corporation's Grant Programme for Strengthening Human Resources in Developing Countries; former Director of WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases; member of the first International Task Force for Disease Eradication.

David Molyneux, Ph.D., D.Sc., Hon.FRCP (Rtd.)   (2001-Present)
Professor of Tropical Health Sciences
Lymphatic Filariasis Support Centre
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Former Director of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (United Kingdom); member of the WHO Expert Panel on Parasitic Diseases; former President of the British Society of Parasitology; member of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee of the World Bank/UNDP/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases; member of the International Commission for the Certification of Dracunculiasis Eradication.

Mark L. Rosenberg, M.D., M.P.H.   (2001-Present)
Executive Director
Task Force for Child Survival and Development

Completed his residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital; served in enteric diseases, HIV/AIDS and injury control with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; founding Director of CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

Peter Salama, M.D., M.P.H.    (2007-Present)
Chief of Health
UNICEF

Worked in major emergencies in Africa, Eastern Europe and Afghanistan; Research interests include treatment of malnutrition, measles, and pediatric HIV; previously a visiting professor at Tufts University; a Fulbright Scholar and Harkness Fellow in Public Policy at Harvard University; Received his M.D. in Melbourne, Australia, M.P.H from Harvard University, and his epidemiology training as an EIS officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Lorenzo Savioli, M.D.  (2008-Present)
Director
Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases
World Health Organization

Served as a Clinician in Zanzibar (United Republic of Tanzania) from 1979 up to 1982. Worked as a clinician from 1982 to 1986 in Rome at the Hospital for Infectious Diseases. Headed the schistosomiasis control programme of Zanzibar from 1986 to 1991 when he joined the World Health Organization to lead the Programme for Intestinal parasitic Infections and later the schistosomiasis and intestinal parasitic infections programme.

Harrison Spencer, M.D., M.P.H., D.T.M.&H.  (2001-Present)
President and CEO
Association of Schools of Public Health

Directed the CDC research station in Nairobi, Kenya; served as Senior Medical Officer of the WHO Malaria Action Program; former Chief of CDC Parasitic Diseases Branch; former Dean of the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine; former Dean of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Dyann Wirth, Ph.D., M.A.  (2001-Present)
Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases
Harvard School of Public Health
Director of Harvard Malaria Initiative

Former Chair of the WHO/UNDP/World Bank Tropical Disease Research Steering Committee on Drugs for Malaria; recipient of the Burroughs Wellcome Award in Molecular Parasitology; Immediate Past President of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene; present Chair of the Harvard's Division of Biological Sciences.

Yoichi Yamagata, Ph.D., M.Sc. (2001-Present)
Project Manager
Mp-Reproductive Health Project
Institute of International Cooperation
Japan International Cooperation AgencyBhopal, India

Worked as a Field Entomology Researcher for the WHO Onchocerciasis Control Programme (Burkina Faso); managed the JICA Malaria Control Project (Tanzania); serves as an Expert in Medical Zoology for the Onchocerciasis Research and Control Project (Guatemala); member of the WHO Onchocerciasis Control Programme Expert Advisory Committee.

Former Members:

Yves Bergevin (2001 - 2004)
Chief of Health - Programme Division
UNICEF
New York, N.Y., USA


Dr. Mariam Claeson (2002 - 2004)
Lead Public Health Specialist
Health, Nutrition and Population
The World Bank
Washington, D.C., USA

David L. Heymann, M.D. (2001 - 2008)
Executive Director
Representative of the Director-General for Polio Eradication
World Health Organization
Geneva, Switzerland

Jeff Koplan, M.D., M.P.H. (2001 - 2002)
Former Director
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, Ga., USA

James Lovelace (2001 - 2002)
Former Director
Health, Nutrition and Population
Human Development Network
The World Bank
Washington, D.C., USA

Pascal Villeneuve, M.D., M.Sc. (2003 - 2008)
Chief of Health
UNICEF
New York, N.Y., USA

 

 

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