Leadership & senior management

Dr Catharina Boehme has been CEO of FIND since 2013, previously holding positions as Chief Medical Officer and head of the organization’s tuberculosis (TB) programme. She has been responsible for the clinical evaluation of new tools for the diagnosis of TB, malaria and neglected diseases, as well as activities to enhance access to critical diagnostics, including laboratory strengthening, in-country validation, and implementation.Catharina has managed R&D projects for several new point-of-care technologies and molecular diagnostic approaches. She is a member of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on In Vitro Diagnostics (SAGE IVD), as well as sitting on several other WHO/UN boards. She is also a Lancet Commissioner for TB and Precision Global Health, and Co-chair of the New Diagnostics Working Group of the Stop TB Partnership.

Prior to joining FIND, Catharina worked as programme coordinator for the Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases in Munich, Germany, and established a TB research unit at Mbeya Medical Research Program in Tanzania. She holds a Doctor of Medicine degree in Internal Medicine (Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, Germany) and diplomas in Public Health (Charite, Berlin, Germany) and in Management & Leadership (University of Heidelberg, Germany).

Contact: Catharina.Boehme@finddx.org

Dr Sergio Carmona joined FIND in 2019 as Director for the TB, HIV and HCV programmes. In April 2020, he took on the role of Chief Access Officer for the organization. He comes from the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) in South Africa, bringing extensive experience from that country, particularly in the areas of molecular diagnostics and treatment monitoring for early infant diagnosis, HIV drug resistance and associated co-infections. Most recently, he has used matching algorithms to generate virtual patient cohorts from large laboratory datasets to monitor the South African HIV treatment programme, one of the largest in the world, with the intent to inform guidelines and health policies. He has also been responsible for the evaluation of several high-throughput molecular technologies, point-of-care solutions and assays for NHLS in partnership with the US CDC and WHO.

Sergio will remain affiliated to his alma mater, University of Witwatersrand, and will support the conclusion of the PEPFAR–CDC collaborative agreement with the NHLS, for which he is Principal Investigator.

Contact: Sergio.Carmona@finddx.org

Louisa Chaubert joined FIND in July 2007 and is responsible for accounting, reporting, budgeting, financial planning, treasury, financial risk and IT management at FIND.

Louisa qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1991 after training in audit in the UK. She then worked in the tax department specializing in tax investigations and company taxation. In Switzerland, she set up an offshore audit practice before moving to the not for profit sector where she worked as Manager Controls and Procedures at WWF International developing and implementing financial systems.

She holds a UK Chartered Accountant qualification and a diploma in computer science.

Contact: Louisa.Chaubert@finddx.org

Dr Sabine Dittrich joined FIND in December 2015 to lead the work on non-malarial fevers and has been Head of the Malaria & Fever programme since January 2018. Combining the malaria and fever portfolios reflects Sabine’s passion for addressing holistically the burden of fever in tropical settings. She has a strong background in malaria and non-malarial research and has spent five years in the Lao PDR as a principle investigator with the University of Oxford studying non-malarial fevers, particularly bacterial vector-borne infections, and evaluating and developing innovative diagnostic tools in a hospital setting in South East Asia.

Sabine completed a PhD at the University of Manchester (UK) studying the folate pathway of the malaria parasite and subsequently completed a fellowship with the European CDC on public health microbiology (EPIET/EUPHEM), based at the Dutch National Institute of Public Health. She has published extensively in the field of malaria and non-malarial fevers with NEJM, Lancet GH, EID, Malaria Journal and other relevant journals.

Contact: Sabine.Dittrich@finddx.org

Dr Cassandra Kelly-Cirino joined FIND in May 2017 and is currently Director of Emerging Threats. She has over 20 years of experience working in Canadian and US public health and private sector settings. Cassandra began her career at the Canadian National Microbiology Laboratory working on emerging infectious diseases, including bacteria, viruses and prions.

In her 10-year tenure at the Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Cassandra served as the Deputy Director of the Biodefense Laboratory, a heavily regulated and accredited laboratory. During this time Cassandra also completed a PhD in Immunology and Infectious Diseases and developed vaccine and passive immunotherapeutic candidates for anthrax infections. She engaged national and international stakeholders in the development of public health policy for infectious diseases with a focus on emergency response and preparedness, developed novel diagnostic assays for multiple pathogens, and served as a development partner for commercial companies developing novel tools to combat infectious diseases.

Most recently, Cassandra served as Vice President, Infectious Diseases with DNA Genotek, a Canadian company known for its sample stabilization and collection technologies. In this role Cassandra was responsible for multiple initiatives to bring simple collection and stabilization solutions to the global public health and outbreak response fields, including a Tuberculosis product designed specifically for low and middle income countries.

Contact: Cassandra.Kelly@finddx.org

Sarah-Jane Loveday leads the communications team at FIND. She has over 16 years of experience in healthcare communications, including positions in the private sector and journal publishing. Prior to joining FIND in October 2017, she co-led the healthcare team at Weber Shandwick Geneva, a leading global public relations agency.

Sarah-Jane’s private sector experience spans various communications disciplines including Public Relations, External Scientific Affairs, Global Strategic Marketing and Medical Communications. As well as working in-house at Merck focusing on their neurology portfolio, she has worked as a consultant across a diverse range of disease areas and led account teams for numerous clients including WHO, Celgene, Novartis, GSK Bio, Ipsen and Abbott Diabetes Care.

Prior to working in the pharmaceutical industry, Sarah-Jane began her career in journal publishing, and trained as a medical editor. She has extensive experience in all aspects of communications strategy and planning, including public relations, digital engagement, data visualization, medical education and scientific event management.

Sarah-Jane is a Certified Medical Publications Professional. She holds a BSc(Hons) from City University, London (UK) and a master’s degree from Royal Holloway, University of London (UK).

Contact: Sarah-Jane.Loveday@finddx.org

Bilingual French and English, Béatrice has been working with NGOs for over 20 years in Human Resources, Finance and Administration at both office headquarters and in the field.

After earning a BA in International Relations, followed by a Master’s degree in Development and Cooperation from the Sorbonne in Paris, she joined CEVEO, a start-up supported by “Vets without frontiers”, as Administrative Officer. Béatrice set up all administration for the new entity and wrote a business plan to raise funds before being promoted as Human Resources and Finance Officer to set up liaison offices in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Vietnam, in addition to re-defining their policies.

In August 2001, Béatrice joined Médecins Sans Frontières, first as an expatriate in Dagestan and Russia as HR Manager and Administration, and then as Finance Controller with the Geneva-based Access Campaign.

With MSF Geneva, she was part of the creation of DNDi in May 2003 as Head of Human Resources for their Swiss headquarters and regional offices.

From 2003 to 2016, Béatrice developed and implemented the Human Resources strategy linked to DNDi’s strategic plan, rolled out a performance and career management system, and provided coaching to high-level staff on key HR issues.

In 2009, Béatrice received a Master degree in Human Resources from the University of Geneva. She joined FIND in June 2016.

Contact: Beatrice.Mouton@finddx.org

Professor Joseph Ndung’u joined FIND in May 2006 to establish the human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) programme. In April 2011, it was renamed Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD). In addition to HAT, the other diseases in the NTD portfolio include Leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, Buruli ulcer, Schistosomiasis, and Soil-Transmitted Helminthiases (STH). He is also chairman of the board of FIND DX Kenya.

Joseph has a degree in veterinary medicine and surgery (BVM) from the University of Nairobi, and a PhD in the immunopathology of HAT or sleeping sickness from the University of Glasgow’s Veterinary School in Scotland. He became a Visiting Professor of the University in 2001, and has held a similar position at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA. In 2013, he became a Corresponding Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (CorrFRSE), and in 2019, Chancellor of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).

Joseph started his professional career in 1985 at the Kenya Trypanosomiasis Research Institute (KETRI). In 1992 he became Deputy Director in charge of research, and in 1995, Director of KETRI. After 9 years in this position, he was transferred to KARI as Chief Research Officer.

Contact: Joseph.Ndungu@finddx.org

Piero Olliaro joined FIND in 2018 and currently leads the Antimicrobial Resistance Diagnostics Use Accelerator, a platform combining clinical and behaviour change initiatives that will inform policy for AMR. He is also Director of Science, International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium, University of Oxford. Previously, he was head of Intervention and Implementation at the Special Programme on Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), WHO, Geneva.

Piero is an MD with post-graduate work in infectious diseases (Pavia, IT), a PhD (Pavia), an HDR-Habilitation à Diriger les Recherches (Grenoble), and an MA (Oxford). He is Membre Etranger de l’Académie de Médecine, France and has been a visiting professor with the University of Oxford since 2001. He has authored 342 peer-reviewed articles and numerous other documents.

Contact: Piero.Olliaro@finddx.org

Stefano Ongarello joined FIND in May 2015, becoming Head of Data Services & Biobanking in November 2017. He graduated in Computer Science Engineering from the University of Padova, Italy, and later obtained his PhD in Bioengineering from the same university, focusing on the development of statistical methods for the analysis of high dimensional genomic and proteomic data. Stefano was subsequently involved in European research programs aimed at improving the early detection of prostate cancer, combining the results of traditional assays with those obtained via high-throughput technologies. He worked for many years in the pharmaceutical industry, focusing on the analysis of biomarker data that contributed to drug development in diverse therapeutic areas including oncology, rheumatology and fertility.

Dr Morten Ruhwald joined FIND in 2019 as Head of the TB programme. He is a medical doctor with over 15 years of professional experience, including 4 in clinical medicine and 12 in research and development in the area of vaccines and diagnostics for TB.

Morten has been project lead on several diagnostic tests for latent M.tb infection, including specific skin tests and new simpler in-vitro diagnostics in the IGRA family. He has worked extensively with international stakeholders in translational medicine and product development for poverty-related diseases.

Prior to joining FIND, he was the Chief Medical Officer and Head of Human Immunology at the Center for Vaccine Research at Statens Serum Institute, Denmark, and before that he led the TB immunology group at the Copenhagen University Hospital. Morten obtained his Medical degree and PhD from Copenhagen University, Denmark and has published more than 80 academic papers.

Contact: Morten.Ruhwald@finddx.org

Sharon Saacks joined FIND in May 2008. She is responsible for coordinating the organization’s operations internationally. Prior to joining FIND, Sharon worked as operations manager for a group of independent consultants who worked in the not-for-profit sector on international development. Sharon holds a Master degree in Biology from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Contact: Sharon.Saacks@finddx.org

Dr Rangarajan Sampath joined FIND in September 2017. Prior to his role as Chief Scientific Officer at FIND, Ranga was the co-founder of Ibis Biosciences and a co-inventor of the IRIDICA (CE-IVD) infectious disease diagnostics platform.

Most recently, Ranga served as a Volwiler Senior Research Fellow and Senior Director of R&D for the Ibis Division of Abbott. He led Ibis’ efforts in infectious disease diagnostics, antimicrobial resistance diagnostics and surveillance and was responsible for applications development, validation, data analysis and reporting and scientific research for the Ibis PCR/ESI-MS based IRIDICA platform.

Ranga has been the lead investigator on several programs related to bioinformatics, drug discovery, and biological-warfare agent detection and treatment. He has extensive experience working with stakeholders across the healthcare continuum to being innovative technologies to scale.

With over 200 publications and presentations and over 40 patents in infectious disease diagnostics and its impact on patient management, Ranga’s research interests include antimicrobial strategy development, pathogen discovery, fevers of unknown origin, tropical diseases, epidemiological surveillance and biothreat detection.

Ranga earned a PhD in chemical engineering from Rice University in Houston, Texas in 1995 and a B. Tech in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai, India, in 1989.

Contact: Ranga.Sampath@finddx.org

Dr Sanjay Sarin joined FIND in September 2015 as Head of Country Operations for India and Head of Access Programme for Asia Pacific. He has a doctorate from PGIMER, Chandigarh, India and close to 20 years’ experience in health policy, market development, and business management with specialization in the development of strategic initiatives for driving access in emerging markets. In his current role, he is responsible for providing leadership for strategic plan development and implementation of current and planned operations in FIND India, ensuring continued engagement with partners and donors at local and international levels and leading the resource mobilization efforts in the AP region.

Dr Sarabjit S Chadha joined FIND India in September 2018 as the Regional Technical Director, FIND for the India and South-East Asia region. He is a clinician by training, with over 15 years of experience in clinical and programmatic management of Tuberculosis (TB), including drug-resistant TB. His other areas of expertise and interest are vector-borne diseases, infection control, and health system strengthening. Earlier he was Deputy Regional Director of the South-East Asia office of The Union, where he headed the TB and Communicable Diseases Unit.

In December 2018, Sarabjit was elected as the Chair of the Global Drug-resistant TB Initiative (GDI) Core Group in December 2018. From 2016-2018 he was the Chair of the WHO Regional Drug-Resistant TB Advisory Group for the South East Asian Region. He is also co-Chair of the TB and Prison sub-group of The Union. Sarabjit provides technical assistance on the management of drug-resistant TB to several countries in the region, including Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, and Timor Leste. He facilitates international courses on Clinical Management of Drug-Resistant TB; TB Prevention and Care; and TB Operational Research. He has over 40 publications in international peer-reviewed journals.

Contact: Sarabjit.Chadha@finddx.org

In April 2006, Dr C.N. Paramasivan joined FIND from his position as Head of the Bacteriology Division of the Tuberculosis Research Centre of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in Chennai, India. He earned his Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology, as well as a D.Sc. from Madras University. He is also fellow of National academy of Medical Sciences (FAMS) and fellow of National academy of Sciences (FNASc).

From 1990 to 2004, Param served as Head of the WHO Supra National Reference Laboratory for SEAR, and in 2001, WHO nominated him as Member of the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Tuberculosis. In 2004, the IUATLD elected him to the Chair of the Bacteriology and Immunology section for their Global Meetings and later as Secretary of TB section and he currently serves as its Programme Secretary.

Param’s pioneering work in the introduction of newer TB diagnostic technologies in resource poor, high endemic countries paved the way for the implementation of the UNITAID-funded EXPAND TB Project in 27 countries, including the development of 43-state level TB diagnostic laboratories in India and establishing a state of the art training facility in Bangalore, namely the International Centre for Excellence in Laboratory Training.

Contact: CN.Paramasivan@finddx.org

Dr Heidi Albert obtained a Bachelor of Pharmacy and Pharmacology Honours degree and PhD at the University of Bath, UK, before moving into a research career in diagnostics. She has more than 15 years of experience in TB diagnostics development and implementation in low resource settings. Heidi led the team responsible for the development of commercial rapid phage-based assays for diagnosis and drug susceptibility testing in a UK biotechnology company, working within the Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory at the South African Institute for Medical Research, Johannesburg, South Africa (now National Health Laboratory Service) and later in Cape Town, South Africa. She completed a Masters of Public Health, specializing in Health Economics, at the University of Cape Town.

Dr Van Anh Nguyen joined FIND part-time in June 2019, taking on the role of FIND representative in Viet Nam, while working at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE), where she is the head of Tuberculosis. She has 23 years’ research experience in the field of TB including microbiology, molecular epidemiology, molecular mechanism of drug resistance, development and evaluation of diagnostic kits.

Van Anh has led multiple projects, including a Vietnam-France project for the development of DNA chips for multi-drug resistant TB diagnosis, an international multi-centre project titled “TB Molecular Epidemiology in Southeast Asia”, and led a research network on “Biodiversity and infectious diseases in Southeast Asia” with researchers from 17 institutions of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and France.

She has extensive knowledge in epidemiologic and clinical research, teaching and research supervision. Van Anh received her BSc in Biology (National University of Vietnam), MPH in International Health (Copenhagen University) and PhD in Public Health (NIHE).

Contact: Van.Nguyen@finddx.org