Speaker biographies
External Speakers
Alexander Torres
Epidemiology Analyst
Ministry of Public Health, Dominican Republic
Dr. Alexander Torres Parra is a public health physician and epidemiologist with experience in epidemiological data modeling, health research design, and data analysis. He is currently serving as an Epidemiology Analyst at the Ministry of Public Health in the Dominican Republic. His work focuses on national health initiatives, epidemiological data modeling, and policy development. He holds a Master’s in Public Health and Epidemiology and has completed various specialized programs, including the Field Epidemiology Training Program and updates in epidemiological surveillance technologies. He also has academic experience, having taught Field Epidemiology at the university level. His research includes studying the sociodemographic determinants of COVID-19 and developing predictive mortality models in the Dominican Republic.
Álvaro Ítalo de Sousa Dias
Technical Consultant
Ministry of Health, Brazil
Álvaro Ítalo de Sousa Dias is a technical consultant for Brazil’s National Network of Strategic Information Centers in Health Surveillance (Rede CIEVS) at the Ministry of Health. He has extensive experience in event-based surveillance, using platforms like EIOS to detect public health threats. Álvaro has a degree in Public Health from the University of Brasília and completed the Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) Fundamental and has served as a tutor, contributing to the development of epidemiological capacity. In 2023, he enhanced his expertise in epidemic intelligence strategies during the EIOS Training of Trainers (ToT) in Berlin and supported WHO AFRO with training activities in Cape Verde and Mozambique. His work focuses on strengthening health surveillance systems and fostering international collaboration for epidemic preparedness.
Ana Tatulashvili
Head, Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Division
National Center for Disease Control and Public Health, Georgia
Ana Tatulashvili is the lead of the Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Division, which she helped to establish, at Georgia’s National Center for Disease Control and Public Health. Since she started this role in 2023, she has focused on the implementation of International Health Regulations (IHR 2005), Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) principles, and managing the Public Health Emergency Operations Center (PHEOC). Ana serves as Georgia’s IHR National Focal Point. She has her Master’s of Public Health and completed the New York State International Training and Research Program at the State University of New York at Albany School of Public Health and a four-month Public Health Emergency Management training with the U.S. CDC.
Carl Reddy
Director
Training Programs in Epidemiology and Public Health Interventions (TEPHINET)
Dr. Carl Reddy is the Director of the Training Programs in Epidemiology and Public Health Interventions Network (TEPHINET) at the Task Force for Global Health. In this role, he provides strategic, technical, and operational leadership to a global network of 81 Field Epidemiology Training Programs (FETPs), regional networks, and numerous partners, ensuring they contribute effectively to global public health goals. Before joining TEPHINET, Dr. Reddy served as the Director of the South African Field Epidemiology Training Programme (SAFETP), leading its transition to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD). Dr. Reddy’s diverse and extensive career includes serving on the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) board and holding senior roles with WHO, UNAIDS, and the Global Fund. A medical graduate of the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, he pursued advanced training in public health, earning an MSc in Epidemiology and a Fellowship of the College of Public Health Medicine (FCPHM). His experience spans clinical practice in pediatrics, emergency medicine, public health, and research globally.
Daniela Paolotti
Senior Research Director
Institute for Scientific Interchange Foundation (ISI)
Dr. Daniela Paolotti is a Senior Research Scientist at the ISI Foundation in Turin, Italy, specializing in digital and computational epidemiology. She has been working on applying complex systems and network science to study disease spread from both epidemiological and social perspectives. Since 2008, Dr. Paolotti has been coordinating Influenzanet, a Europe-wide network of web-based platforms for participatory surveillance of influenza-like illnesses. Her interdisciplinary work integrates data science, behavioral sciences, and public health to enhance disease monitoring and response strategies.
Davie Simwaba
Medical Public Health Specialist-Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response
Zambia National Public Health Institute
Dr. Davie Simwaba is a medical doctor with specialized expertise in health systems strengthening, public health, epidemiology, and project management. He currently serves as the Public Health Specialist for Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response and the National Event-Based Surveillance Coordinator under the World Bank-Africa CDC Regional Financing Project Implementation Unit. Seconded to the Surveillance and Disease Intelligence Cluster at the Zambia National Public Health Institute (ZNPHI), Dr. Simwaba plays a critical role in enhancing Zambia's disease surveillance systems and response strategies. His work focuses on integrating health systems to improve disease detection and management while fostering resilience against public health threats. He currently serves as the current Chairperson for the Southern Africa Regional Event-based Surveillance Community of Practice under the Southern Africa CDC. Dr. Simwaba’s multidisciplinary approach, combining clinical expertise with public health and project management skills, underpins his contributions to strengthening public health systems at both national and regional levels.
Derguene Mbaye
General Manager, AI & NLP Resesarch
Galsen AI
Derguene Mbaye is a Research Scientist in Artificial Intelligence (AI) specializing in Natural Language Processing (NLP) for African languages. He is currently pursuing a doctoral thesis on Dialogue Systems and is a Google PhD Fellow Alumni. As co-founder and general manager of Senegal's leading AI community, he has played a pivotal role in supporting the Senegalese government in implementing its national AI strategy.
Endah Kusumowardani
Epidemiologist, Directorate of Health Surveillance and Quarantine
Ministry of Health, Indonesia
Endah Kusumowardani is a health administrator and associate expert at the Ministry of Health, Directorate General Prevention and Disease Control of the Republic of Indonesia. She works in the Directorate of Surveillance and Health Quarantine, focusing on developing lab-based surveillance systems for early detection and response to potential outbreaks, including sentinel surveillance. With nearly 20 years of experience in surveillance epidemiology, public health intelligence, outbreak investigation, and laboratory surveillance, Endah has contributed significantly to Indonesia’s public health system. A graduate of the University of Indonesia with a Master’s in Epidemiology, she continues to advance her expertise through training and workshops, including the EIOS Training of Trainers at the WHO Hub in Berlin in September 2024.
Flavia Riccardo
Research Director
Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS),
Flavia Riccardo is a Research Manager at the Italian Institute of Health (Istituto Superiore di Sanità) and a medical epidemiologist specializing in emerging infectious diseases and pandemic preparedness. With 15 years of experience in event-based surveillance using OSINT, Flavia has contributed to global, regional, and national efforts to strengthen epidemic intelligence systems.
Freda Loy Aceng
Senior Epidemiologist
Ministry of Health, Uganda
Dr. Freda Loy Aceng is a Senior Epidemiologist at Uganda’s Ministry of Health, working in the Department of Integrated Epidemiology, Surveillance, and Public Health Emergencies. She coordinates preparedness, detection, and response to public health emergencies and oversees the publication of weekly epidemiological bulletins. Dr. Aceng holds a Bachelor’s in Veterinary Medicine from Makerere University and a Master’s in International Infectious Disease Management from Makerere University and North Dakota State University. A graduate of the Uganda Advanced Public Health Fellowship Program, she has expertise in One Health approaches, infectious diseases, and outbreak investigations. She also organized Uganda’s first multi-stakeholder EIOS training, supported by WHO, to strengthen epidemic preparedness.
Guanhao Chan
Assistant Director, Public Health Intelligence
Ministry of Health, Singapore
Guanhao Chan currently leads the public health intelligence team in the Singapore Ministry of Health. His work is centered around public health intelligence activities including event-based surveillance, conducting risk assessments for human health threats, and communicating public health risks to stakeholders. He has previously worked in infectious disease surveillance, communicable diseases policy, and outbreak response.
Hon. Ibrahima Sy
Minister of Health
Ministry of Health and Social Action, Senegal
Dr. Ibrahima Sy is currently serving as the Minister of Health and Social Action of Senegal and is also an Associate Professor and former Senior Lecturer in the Department of Health Geography at Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD). Additionally, he is a research associate in the Developmental Research Department of the Centre de Suivi Écologique (CSE). After completing his doctorate in Health Geography at the Louis Pasteur University (ULP), he successfully worked in various roles at the University of Strasbourg (UDS), the National Institute for Public Health Research (INRSP) in Mauritania, the Swiss Center of Scientific Research in Côte D'ivoire (CSRS), the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) in Switzerland and the Centre de Suivi Écologique (CSE) in Senegal. He subsequently joined UCAD's Geography Department in February 2017. His scientific and research interests lie in the environment, climate change, spatial epidemiology, public health and urban health. Dr. Sy is also the author and co-author of numerous publications in the fields of environment, climate change, spatial epidemiology and public health, a member of the International Association of Ecology and Health (IAEH) and a reviewer for numerous peer-reviewed scientific journals. Dr. Ibrahima Sy has also worked for over 13 years as an international expert in the fields of environment, climate, and health with WHO, the Global Fund, UNICEF, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), French Development Agency (AFD), Save The Children International (SCI), among others.
Jaikumar Sabanayagam
Information System Officer
UN Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT)
Jaikumar Sabanayagam is a seasoned technology leader with over 20 years of IT expertise, including more than 14 years with the United Nations. Currently, he spearheads innovative projects leveraging Blockchain, AI, IoT, and Knowledge Graph technologies to advance the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across various funds and programs. A machine learning practitioner, Jaikumar has contributed to developing Natural Language Processing (NLP) and document analysis models, incorporating Graph Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) for advanced analytical capabilities. As a pioneer in Blockchain and AI-driven solutions, he combines technical expertise with strategic vision to drive digital transformation and innovation globally.
Jon Anthony
Founder
Adappt
Jon Anthony is the founder and CEO of Adappt.ai, a pioneering software development company specializing in applied AI solutions. His work has supported WHO since 2011, including platforms for malaria, cholera, and tuberculosis. Jon has also developed cutting-edge tools for EIOS, introducing AI-powered features like multilingual semantic search and anomaly detection. Recognized by the UK Home Office for his innovations in AI, Jon continues to advance public health intelligence through technology. His focus is now is on bringing new features to EIOS, such as the introduction of an auto configuring scraping engine, as well as taking advantage of the latest language models (small and large) to power Multilingual Sematic Search, LLM powered Graph Based Ontology management and LLM ranked anomaly detection.
Justice Agbadu
Data Scientist
Robert Koch Institute (RKI)
Justice Agbadu is a data scientist with expertise in mathematical sciences and health system interventions. At the Robert Koch Institute, he is working on the Public Health Intelligence Capacity Building and Innovation project, focusing on developments like a noise reduction module for the EIOS portal. Justice previously led the data science and analytics team in the Global Health Informatics department at eHealth Africa where he supported public health projects like the eHA data portal and vaccinator tracking system (VTS). He also worked as Senior Data Analyst at Marie Stopes International, and has presented and moderated at various international meetings and workshops, including at the Blossom Academy in Ghana the Festival de Datos in Uruguay.
Katherine Hoffmann Pham
AI Advisor, Office of Innovation
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
Katherine Hoffmann Pham is an AI advisor on the Frontier Technology team at UNICEF's Office of Innovation. In her current role, she provides technical assistance on the use of AI to advance UNICEF programming. Previously, she was an AI researcher at UN Global Pulse and worked at Innovations for Poverty Action. Her primary interest is in applications of big data, artificial intelligence, and technology in the humanitarian and development sectors. She has worked on AI and data science applications across a broad range of thematic areas, including analyzing the movements of migrants and refugees in the Central Mediterranean using shipping data; radio and social media monitoring during the COVID-19 pandemic; and exploring the use of alternative data sources to study populations that are underrepresented in traditional datasets. She completed her PhD in Information Systems at NYU Stern. She is currently based in Brussels, Belgium.
Nomita Divi
Executive Director
Ending Pandemics
Nomita Divi brings 20 years of expertise in stakeholder engagement, management, needs assessment, and program planning. As Executive Director at Ending Pandemics, she leads the implementation of a dynamic and evolving work plan. Nomita has developed a portfolio of projects focused on innovations in disease surveillance, including building networks in South Asia, crowdsourcing epidemic intelligence for outbreak verification through EpiCore, and creating opportunities to collaborate with technologists. She previously spent eight years at Stanford University managing health policy programs and running a student fellowship to document and address health-seeking behaviors in rural India. Before that, she worked at Massachusetts General Hospital, managing the application of a global HIV simulation model in India, South Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, and the Caribbean. Nomita holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Ottawa and a Master of Science in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health.
PHI Working Group
The EIOS Working Group on Public Health Intelligence (PHI) training was established by the EIOS Core Team (ECT) at the EIOS Coordination Group (CG) Meeting in March 2023, and it is currently made up of members from WHO, US CDC, Brazil MoH, Robert Koch Institute, Africa CDC, ECDC, and FAO. Its purpose is to support the building and strengthening of PHI competencies and training, provide strategic recommendations to the CG, the ECT, and other relevant stakeholders and advise on PHI training activities and priorities. Key activities include supporting the ongoing review and revision of an environmental scan of PHI activities and existing training to identify country training needs, supporting the development and evaluation of PHI training materials, recommending approaches, and sharing lessons learned as appropriate to ensure the ongoing success of the initiative, and fostering collaboration and promoting the initiative to grow the network of stakeholders and support the vision of the initiative.
Pornpitak Panlar
Director, Division of Disease Control in Emergencies
Ministry of Public Health, Thailand
Dr. Pornpitak Panlar is the Director of the Division of Diseases Control in Emergencies at the Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand. He holds a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Kasetsart University and a Master of Public Health from Mahidol University. He has received specialized training in public health emergency response from organizations such as the US CDC, Public Health England, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Dr. Panlar has extensive experience in disease control, including roles as Spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Health and Director of the Public Sector Development Division. His previous positions include serving as Chief of the Zoonosis Control Section and Director of the Information Technology Center. His academic contributions include research on acute febrile illness, hantavirus in leptospirosis patients, and rabies in Thailand.
Priyank Hirani
Director, Capacity Building
data.org
Priyank Hirani is the Director of Capacity Building at data.org, where he leads the Capacity Accelerator Network (CAN) initiative, and has to helped launch local hubs in the US, Africa, India, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific to train one million purpose-driven data professionals by 2032. He specializes in democratizing data and AI skills to support Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across sectors like climate, health, gender, and financial inclusion. His work focuses on curriculum design, adult learning strategies, and skill-building to enhance learning outcomes and create career pathways for data and AI professionals in these key areas. Previously, he worked with The Rockefeller Foundation, World Bank, University of Chicago, and University College London. Priyank holds a Bachelor’s degree from BITS Pilani, a Master’s in Electronics Engineering from Imperial College London, and is a Young India Fellow from Ashoka University.
Rassidatou Natchaba
Focal Point, Measles and Yellow Fever
Ministry of Health, Togo
Rassidatou Natchaba is the lead for measles and yellow fever surveillance at the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene of Togo. A registered nurse with expertise in public health and field epidemiology, she also serves as the EIOS focal point for Togo, actively contributing to health emergency detection and response. Her work focuses on strengthening surveillance systems to address public health challenges effectively.
Rebeca Cristine Campos Martins
Focal Point National Network of Strategic Information Centers in Health Surveillance
Ministry of Health, Brazil
Rebeca Cristine Campos Martins is the Focal Point for Brazil’s National Network of Strategic Health Surveillance Information Centers (Rede CIEVS) at the Ministry of Health. She coordinates the work of 190 public health emergency surveillance units across the country, focusing on effective responses to outbreaks and environmental emergencies. Rebeca holds a degree in Public Health from the University of Brasília, an intermediate-level specialization in Epidemiology through FETP-Brazil, and is pursuing a Master’s in Society, Development, and International Cooperation. With a strong foundation in epidemiology, health systems, and international cooperation, she is committed to enhancing health security and contributing to sustainable public health development.
Tomoe Shimada
Chief, Center for Field Epidemic Intelligence, Research and Professional Development
National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japan
Dr. Tomoe Shimada serves as the Chief of the Division for Epidemic Intelligence Training and Practice at the Center for Field Epidemic Intelligence, Research, and Professional Development, part of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Japan. As a medical epidemiologist, she is dedicated to the study of infectious diseases. One of her key responsibilities is supervising fellows in the Field Epidemiology Training Program Japan.
WHO Speakers
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Koua
Programme Area Manager, Health Emergency Information Management & Risk Assessment
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