Meet the GHHM Team
Dr. Roger Teck – GHHM Course Director
Dr. Roger Teck has been working with MSF since many years in various field programs as well as in Headquarters. He did his medical training at the University of Leuven in Belgium, obtained a diploma in Tropical Medicine at the Tropical Institute of Antwerp and did a Postgraduate Masters Degree in “Public Health in Developing Countries” at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. In the late eighties and throughout the nineties, he worked as medical doctor and as coordinator in various humanitarian medical programs and interventions (Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South and North Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi); was district medical officer in Chad and coordinated on promotion of adolescent health care in the poor urban settings of Lima in Peru. As of 2001 he coordinated the MSF support to HIV programs in Malawi, Cameroon and Swaziland. He was Director of Operations for the MSF Operational Centre Barcelona-Athens (OCBA) from 2007 till 2009. Afterwards he has worked as Operational Regional Adviser for HIV in Southern Africa on behalf of the MSF Operational Centre Geneva (OCG) and as member of the MSF Southern African Medical Unit. Through the MSF UK Manson Unit he leads since end of 2017 the “Global Health and Humanitarian Medicine” (GHHM) Course and supports as content adviser the MSF UK Leadership Education Academic Partnership (LEAP) program in humanitarian practice, delivered through the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and the Manchester University.
Dr. Ian Cropley – GHHM Content Advisor / Consultant in Infectious Diseases and HIV / Honorary Associate Professor, University College London
Ian Cropley is a consultant in Infectious Diseases and HIV at the Royal Free London. He studied medicine at Cambridge and London Universities. He became interested in infectious diseases during his medical school elective to the highlands of Papua New Guinea. He has subsequently trained in infectious diseases and HIV at hospitals in London. He has been closely involved in the design of teaching and training programmes for medical students and trainees in infectious diseases. His main interests are tuberculosis, HIV/TB coinfection and HIV in the UK and LMIC settings.
Dr. Philipp du Cross – Co-Head of the TB Elimination and Implementation Science Working Group and Infectious Diseases Specialist at the Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Australia
Philipp is an infectious diseases specialist with with a Masters in Clinical Epidemiology with more than 15 years of clinical and public health experience in the management of TB/HIV programs. He currently works at the Burnet Institute where he is the co-Head of the Tuberculosis Elimination and Implementation Science working group, and leads grants supporting field testing of novel TB diagnostic tests, improved models of care for active case finding. He is a member of the Zero TB Initiative Yogyakarta which is scaling up an effective Search-Treat-Prevent model of care in 2 districts in Indonesia. He has supported program implementation and research in a range of settings in Africa, Central Asia, South East Asia and the Pacific. He was previously the head of the Manson Unit, a specialist medical unit with MSF based in London, providing program and research support for outbreaks, HIV, TB malaria, non-communicable disease programs, epidemiology and health information systems. He was co-founder of the Royal College of Physicians DTM&H accredited MSF Global Health and Humanitarian Medicine course.
Philipp’s work has a strong focus on research, in improving diagnosis and treatment of drug resistant TB including supporting setting up a trial site in Port Moresby as part of the Truenat diagnostic validation study, being a member of the Steering committee for the MSF sponsored PRACTECAL MDR-TB randomised controlled trial, and leading a study into extrapulmonary and potential bovine TB. Philipp is a member of the World Health Organisation rGLC for the Programmatic Management of Drug Resistant TB (WPRO region).
Bhargavi Rao – Team lead , Emerging and Infectious Diseases, COVID 19 Clinical Focal Point, Malaria & Infectious Diseases Specialist
Bhargavi is the lead for the Emerging and Infectious Diseases Team at MSF Operational Centre Amsterdam (MSF-OCA). She currently divides her time between working as the clinical focal point for the COVID-19 response and as the Malaria and Infectious Diseases Specialist Advisor. Bhargavi joined MSF in 2013 and is now based at the Manson Unit (London), but has worked in humanitarian infectious diseases programming across varied contexts including South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, India, Peru, South Africa and Venezuela. She is a clinician with a PhD in infectious disease epidemiology.
Bhargavi was one of the original small team that developed the Global Health and Humanitarian Medicine course, and now serves both on the Steering Committee and as the MSF representative to the DTM&H examination committee at the Royal College of Physicians.
Dr Chiara Morrison – GHHM Site Content Developer, Student Engagement & Liaison for UK
Chiara is a medical doctor with a speciality in infectious diseases and public health. She graduated in 2010 from St George’s Hospital Medical School London and completed her MRCP in 2015. Her practical experience ranges from working in General medicine, Infectious diseases and Sexual health in London, developing and running a HIV programme at a clinic in Swaziland, managing a TB clinic in rural South Africa and working in a remote hospital at the foot of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Chiara’s research work includes investigating Podoconiosis in Ethiopia, as well as developing outbreak evaluation tool for MSF. She was a participant in the augural MSF Global Health and Humanitarian Medicine course, gaining a Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Health in 2016. She gained her MSc Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2017 and continues to pursue interests in Global health and Infectious diseases
Bonnie Darroch – Content Developer and Student Liaison for UK
Dr Bonnie Darroch is a medical doctor who graduated from St George's Hospital Medical School London in 2010. Her clinical practice has been varied, having worked as a Medical Officer in a rural hospital in South Africa, as a GP in Jakarta, Indonesia as well as gaining extensive experience in General Medicine, Sexual Health / HIV and latterly Critical Care in London. Bonnie was a student on the inaugural MSF Global Health and Humanitarian Medicine course, gaining a Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Health in 2016. She is currently studying for a Masters in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
James Stickley – GHHM Project Manager
MSF is the world’s leading humanitarian medical organisation and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize. Where better to learn about global health and humanitarian medicine?
James is the GHHM Project Manager. He first joined MSF in 2012 and until 2021 has worked in the MSF UK Fundraising Department leading the Face-To-Face and Payroll Giving campaigns. James has also managed touring partnerships between MSF and Ed Sheeran and Florence and The Machine. James comes from a music industry background and is a keen composer in his spare time.
Jess Richards – Versefilm Projects
Jess is a film and media producer. She is the director of the production company Versefilm Projects, which develops video and digital media for the non-profit, higher education, and arts sectors. She and her team ensure that the GHHM online platform, learning resources, and webinars are engaging and accessible wherever you are in the world.
Dr. Farhat Mantoo – General Director MSF India
Farhat Mantoo joined Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in 2003 as a field staff and since then has been working in different capacities nationally as well as internationally with various establishments. During these last 17 years her work has been in Asia (India, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh) Europe and East Africa( South Sudan, Somalia, Kenya) with MSF and other organisations in management and leadership roles. She has a specialisation in medical anthropology, communication, hospital management and human resources apart from being trained in humanitarian assistance linked to international humanitarian affairs. She serves on various international committees both MSF and external and has co-authored publications under her title.
She is currently the General Director of MSF India since March 2019. Her primary research interests are in the application and relevance of low-cost quality medical innovations and implementation of them in humanitarian medicine. This includes technologies for measuring and motivating health-related behaviours to have larger impact.
Helen O Neill - Member of the GHHM Steering Committee
Neill has worked with MSF in different MSF projects in the field and in different MSF offices in a variety of roles starting as a medical officer in Bosnia in 1996. She has a Masters in International Relations from UNSW. Since 2019, Helen has worked for MSF India as strategic advisor to the management team and recently stepped into the GHHM South Asia Coordinator role.
Dr. Parvati Nair - GHHM Course Coordinator for South Asia
Parvati is a medical doctor with ten years of experience in the field of tropical medicine. She has been working for MSF since 2014 initially in Mumbai and then in Central Asia, and Eastern Europe in the field of infectious diseases (including operational research) primarily TB, HIV and Hepatitis. Her research experience has been primarily in drug-resistant TB, mostly focused on the new drugs, bedaquiline and delamanid. She has completed the Global Health and Humanitarian Medicine course at the South Asia site, gaining a Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Health in 2019, and was subsequnetly associated with it as a student moderator who mentored students throughout the learning process. She has also completed her Masters in Tropical Medicine from the Institute of Tropical Medicine. Her areas of interest lie in the fields of tuberculosis, HIV and viral hepatitis.
Dr Priscilla Rupali - MBBS, MD, DTMH, Professor and Deputy Chair, Department of Infectious Diseases
Dr Priscilla Rupali completed her under graduation and post-graduation from Christian Medical College Vellore. She also did a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene jointly held by University of Alabama Birmingham and Universidad Cayetano Heredia in Peru. Subsequently she pursued a Fellowship in Transplant Infectious Diseases from Henry Ford Health System, MI. She is currently a Professor at the Dept. of Infectious Diseases and Deputy Chair, Hospital Infection Control Christian Medical College Vellore, Tamil Nadu India. Training has been her passion and she runs various courses. She is the Course Director of the Short Course in Clinical Tropical Medicine, Fellowship in General ID (FGID) and Fellowship in AMSP for clinical Pharmacist and is also the Convener for the Global Health and Humanitarian Medicine (GHHM) and was the founder of the Transplant Infectious Diseases conference. Her field of work involves Infectious Diseases, Transplant Infections, Tropical Diseases, Antimicrobial Stewardship. She has wide and varied research interests, commonly centered around vexing clinical problems including Infectious Diseases, Transplant ID, Tropical Diseases, Antimicrobial Stewardship. She has more than 75 publications.
Dr. Sitara SR Ajjampur - MD, PhD, Professor, The Wellcome Trust Research Laboratory, Division of GI Sciences CMC Vellore
Sitara Swarna Rao Ajjampur is Professor of Microbiology at The Wellcome Trust Research Laboratory, Division of Gastrointestinal Sciences, Christian Medical College, Vellore in southern India. Her training background includes medicine (MBBS) and clinical microbiology (MD). In 2005 she joined WTRL, as faculty and completed her PhD on the molecular epidemiology of cryptosporidiosis. After training at the Tufts Medical Center, Boston she oversaw the laboratory aspects of three NIH-funded cohort studies on cryptosporidiosis in Vellore. Following post-doctoral work at NUS, Singapore, her research focus currently includes field based epidemiological studies and interventions in bacterial and protozoan diarrhea and intestinal helminth infections with funding from the NIH (K43 Emerging Global Leader award), BMGF, CIFF, DFID and GCRF. She has over 50 publications and numerous presentations at the national and international level including the ASTMH and COR-NTD annual meetings. She serves as an associate editor for PloS Neglected Tropical Disease and BMC Infectious Diseases. She is a council member of the International Society of Infectious Diseases and a member of the UKRI International Development Peer Review College reviewing grants. She also oversees parasitology diagnostics for CMC hospital with an interest in invasive infections including amebiasis and leishmaniasis. She is involved in teaching parasitology and tropical medicine as well as supporting parasitology EQA and research needs in other institutions in the country.
Dr. Rajiv Karthik - Department of Infectious Disease
Dr. Rajiv Karthik completed his undergraduate, postgraduate and higher specialty training at the Christian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore. He subsequently completed his Infectious diseases fellowship from Tufts Medical center in Boston and also a Master's in Public health (MPH) from Tufts University, School of medicine, Boston. He is one of the first DM (Infectious diseases) from the country.
He is currently working in the Department of Infectious Diseases with a special interest in HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis and Infection Control.
He is a faculty member on the ‘Short Course in Tropical Medicine’ which is a yearly course conducted by CMC Vellore and also part of the Global health and Humanitarian Medicine (GHHM) course that is run by MSF.
Dr. Arathi P Rao - MPH Program Coordinator, PSPH, MAHE
Dr P Arathi Rao is a gynaecologist by qualification and a Public Health professional by practice. Her area of expertise is Maternal and child health with a special interest in adolescent health. She is a medical doctor with her degrees in Obstetrics and Gynecology following which she completed Masters in Public Health- Epidemiology specialisation at Manipal Academy of Higher Education. She is pursuing her Doctoral study at MAHE on gynaecological issues among adolescent girls with cerebral palsy. Currently she is heading the MPH Program as the Coordinator at Prasanna School of Public Health at Manipal. The program has close to 100 students offering 5 specialisations. She has also been WHO external monitor for the Pulse Polio programme. She was also selected as an external monitor for Special Newborn Care Unit at District hospitals all over Karnataka. Her passion is academics and she has several publications in public health journals. She has given guest talks in several schools on menstrual hygiene and its practices among adolescent girls, addressing women self help groups on relevance for cancer screening along with the intiatives available in the local area. She has conducted health education workshops on women’s health issues for women employees of academic institutions. She is an active member of Team Women, MAHE.
Dr. Navya Vyas - Assistant Professor, PSPH, MAHE
Dr. Navya Vyas works as an assistant professor at the Prasanna School of Public Health at MAHE. She has been the focal point for GHHM at Manipal and has been pivotal in the launch and continuation of the GHHM course from MAHE. She is currently pursuing a PhD in “Global health security” and her areas of interest includes infectious diseases and surveillance.
Dr. Kirthinath Ballal - Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, MAHE
Associate Professor, Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, MAHE Manipal, Dr. Kirthinath Ballal is an Associate professor in the department of community medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, Manipal. He completed his MBBS and MD (Community Medicine) from Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University in the year 2008 and 2012 respectively. He has been extensively involved in teaching graduate and post graduate medical students and his area of interest is infectious disease epidemiology.
Dr. Sujatha Sistla - Professor, Department of Microbiology
Dr. Sujatha Sistla is a professor in the department of Microbiology in JIPMER, Puducherry. Her current areas of interest are antimicrobial resistance and molecular epidemiology of Gram positive cocci, respiratory infections, melioidosis. She also recently investigated the prevalence of hVISA among clinical isolates of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus and has successfully acquired ICMR grants for research on Comparative whole genome sequencing and transcriptome analysis of VSSA, VISA and hVISA as well as a study on global pneumococcal sequence clusters. She has authored more than 120 papers and co- authored a chapter on HIV diagnosis in the textbook on “Sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS”. She also contributed to a number of SOPs of the department of Microbiology and a handbook on antimicrobial use at JIPMER. Furthermore, she has been Section editor for IJAMHR, published from JIPMER, assistant editor of IJMM which is the official journal of Indian association of Medical Microbiologists, peer reviewer for many journals, a recognized PhD guide. She is a member of various academic, research and administrative committees of JIPMER and other universities.
Dr. Jharna Mandal - Head, Department of Microbiology
Dr. Jharna Mandal heads the Department of Microbiology at the Jawahal Lal Institute of Post Graduate Education & Research. She is also the in-charge of Stool & Urine Laboratory. Some of her prominent current projects are ‘Molecular typing of diarrhoeagenic E.coli’, ‘Genetic profile of Shigella with reference to its virulence,’ ‘Bacterial stress response in Vibrio cholerae’, ‘Bacterial biofilms and antibiotic resistance’, ‘LAMPCR for diarrhoeal pathogens’, ‘AMR in diarrhoeal pathogens’, ‘Role of fosfomycin against MDROs’. A microbiology veteran, Dr. Jharna is the recipient of numerous rewards and grants, and has more than 70 peer-reviewed publications and also has written chapters in several books, including ‘Handbook on antibiotics use in JIPMER’. She is also the Managing Editor of Tropical Parasitology-official journal of the Indian Academy of Tropical Parasitology. She is designated as Nodal officer for the Establishment of COVID 19 testing centres in Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh for the ICMR, India since April 2020 onwards.
Dr. Nonika Rajkumari - Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology
Dr. Nonika Rajkumari is currently working as an Associate Professor and is responsible for the entire diagnostic and research work pertaining to Parasitology in the Department of Microbiology, JIPMER, Puducherry. She completed her MD Microbiology from PGIMER, Chandigarh and senior residency from AIIMS, New Delhi. She teaches undergraduates and postgraduates in Microbiology, co-ordinates undergraduate teaching course and also serves as research mentor. The diagnosis of parasitic diseases and its challenge is the main field of interest and research and she has both ongoing national and internationally funded extramural research grants. She is working on intestinal parasites esp soil transmitted helminths, its problems in maternal and child health and its drug resistance in south India. She is also working on vector borne infections esp malaria in relation to its drug resistance, gene deletions and efficacy of the RDTs used in its diagnosis. She has experience working on Cryptosporidium spp related diarrhea and its transmission dynamics in outbreak situations. Besides these, she has worked on STHs and Strongyloides stercoralis infections in immunocompromised populations and its role in transmission in patients with hyperinfection, role of Entamoeba histolytica and bacteria agents in the pathogenesis of liver abscesses etc.
Dr Rajkumari has a keen interest in improving the available methods of diagnosis for parasitic infections and has done much work in modifying them and analysing its usefulness. She has worked on various stool preservatives to see its usefulness in terms of microcopy as well as molecular effectiveness when stored for a long time. She has also received a Diploma in Hospital Management from National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, New Delhi which has enhanced her ability to perform management of hospital-related activities and has also experience working with the hospital infection control and outbreak management. She takes the Parasitology sessions in the “National workshop on Diagnostic methods in Clinical Microbiology” conducted in JIPMER, every year and also conducted many workshops and lectures in many national conferences. She has over 39 articles in national and international journals of repute.