Leadership & senior management

Dr Sergio Carmona joined FIND in 2019, providing leadership for the TB, HCV and access programmes, as well as playing a major role in the organization’s contribution to the COVID-19 global response. In February 2021, he was appointed Chief Medical Officer and Acting CEO. Prior to joining FIND, Sergio spent over a decade at the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) in South Africa, where he specialized in molecular diagnostics and treatment monitoring for early infant diagnosis, HIV drug resistance and associated co-infections. A haematologist by training, Sergio has been involved in technical committees and initiatives led by WHO, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the African Society of Laboratory Medicine and the South African National Department of Health. During his time in academia at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, his research outputs supported guidance in HIV diagnostics and informed guidelines for the management of patients presenting with advanced HIV disease, including participation in the WHO 2015 HIV Clinical Guidelines Development Group and in 2017 the Southern African HIV clinician society guidelines.

Sergio earned his medical degree (MBBCh) from the University of Witwatersrand before doing a Pathology Specialization (FCPath) in 2009, earning a PhD in Molecular Medicine and Haematology in 2018. A South African national with roots in Chile, Sergio is proficient in English and Spanish.

Contact: Sergio.Carmona@finddx.org

Dr Daniel Bausch, MD, MPH&TM, serves as Director of Emerging Threats & Global Health Security, leading FIND`s efforts on pandemic preparedness and response. He is trained in internal medicine, infectious diseases, tropical medicine, and public health. Daniel specializes in the research and control of emerging tropical viruses, with over 25 years’ experience in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia combating viruses such as Ebola, Lassa, hantavirus, and SARS coronaviruses. He joins FIND after serving as Director of the United Kingdom`s Public Health Rapid Support team (2017-21), a joint effort by Public Health England and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine to respond and conduct research to prevent and control outbreaks of dangerous infectious diseases around the world.

Previously, he held posts at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland; U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 6 in Lima, Peru; Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, USA; and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, USA. Daniel places a strong emphasis on capacity development in all his projects and has a keen interest in the role of the scientist in promoting health and human rights. He is fluent in English, French and Spanish.

Contact: Daniel.Bausch@finddx.org

Willo Brock joined FIND as Director of External Affairs in February 2021. In this role, he is responsible for driving stakeholder engagement, communication, advocacy, and resource mobilization. Willo has almost 30 years of global development and health experience. Previously, he was Senior Vice President External Affairs at TB Alliance for seven years and worked for large international development organizations like WWF and Habitat for Humanity. His passion is bringing together people, for-profit organizations, governments and civil society to tackle global issues of insecurity and inequality and develop effective programmes giving people opportunities for growth and development.

Willo started his career working for the Netherlands Ministry of Development in Pakistan and later moved to MDF Training & Consultancy, gaining over ten years of management consultancy, training, coaching and project management experience focused on non-profit clients. He has worked in over 90 countries globally.

Willo earned a master’s degree in business economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Contact: Willo.Brock@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

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 Emma Hannay serves as FIND’s Chief Access Officer, supporting FIND’s efforts to expand access to effective diagnostic testing.  She has been leading FIND’s COVID response, including the creation of the ACT-Accelerator Diagnostics Partnership, co-convened by FIND and The Global Fund.

Emma is a public health doctor with a focus on global health strategy and delivery.  Her work has been centred at a global level on organizational strategy in global health, and at a country level in implementing health system reforms in complex operating environments.  In her previous role as Head of Health at Acasus, she helped design and lead the Pakistan Health Reforms Roadmaps, which improved primary care for more than 150 million people, and the DRC’s Mashako Plan to increase immunization coverage for children.

Prior to joining Acasus, she was manager of the Market Dynamics Team at Unitaid in Geneva, and an Engagement Manager for McKinsey & Company based out of Dubai and Washington, DC. She holds a medical degree from the University of Auckland, New Zealand and a Master of Public Health from Harvard University.

Contact: Emma.Hannay@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

Béatrice Mouton joined FIND in 2016 and leads the organization’s Human Resources department. She has over 20 years’ experience in human resources, finance and administration at both office headquarters and in the field. Béatrice started her career at CEVEO, a start-up launched by Vets without frontiers, then moved to Médecins Sans Frontières, first as an expatriate in Dagestan and Russia as HR Manager, and then as Finance Controller with the Geneva-based Access Campaign. With MSF Geneva, she was part of the creation of DNDi in 2003. As Head of HR for their Swiss headquarters and regional offices, Béatrice helped to develop and implement their HR strategy, supported the roll-out of a performance and career management system, and provided coaching to high-level staff on key HR issues.

Béatrice received a BA in International Relations, a Master’s in Development and Cooperation from the Sorbonne, Paris, a Master’s in Human Resources, University of Geneva, and a Master’s in Executive Coaching in 2019 from the International Coaching Institute.

Contact: Beatrice.Mouton@finddx.org

Stefano Ongarello leads the Data Services and Biobanking team at FIND, overseeing all activities relating to data science, statistical analysis and support for clinical trials, and data collection and management. He is also responsible for the FIND biobank, including the supervision of sample collection and distribution, and the organization’s virtual biobank platform.

Prior to this position, he focused on data science for pharmaceutical development, in particular the development and implementation of personalized medicine in oncology through statistical analysis and machine learning.

He received an MD in Computer Science, and a PhD in Bioengineering, both from the University of Padova, Italy.

Contact: Stefano.Ongarello@finddx.org

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

Marta Fernández Suárez serves as the Senior Director of R&D. She joined FIND in 2017 as a product development consultant, with increasing responsibilities to lead FIND innovation and R&D activities. In her current role, Marta is responsible for the overall strategic direction and management of the technical and scientific programs within FIND, serving as the center point between FIND’s technology and innovation needs, including digital health solutions, and disease programme priorities.

Previously, Marta served as the VP of Assay R&D at Daktari Diagnostics. She has more than 10 years of experience in in vitro diagnostics (IVD) product development, both in academia and in industry, and has led teams through the entire product development process, from proof-of-concept through clinical validation. Her work has been published in high-impact journals and she serves on expert panels and review boards for federal agencies and foundations. Marta is passionate about improving health around the world and has more than 15 years of experience in the design and on-the-ground implementation of international development projects in Africa and Central and South America. She obtained her B.S. in Chemistry and M.S. in Chemical Engineering at the Institut Quimic de Sarria (Barcelona, Spain), and her Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, Cambridge, USA).

Contact: Marta.Fernandez-Suarez@finddx.org

Heidi Albert obtained a Bachelor of Pharmacy and Pharmacology Honours degree and a PhD at the University of Bath, UK, before moving into a research career in diagnostics. She has more than 20 years of experience in TB diagnostics development and implementation in low resource settings. She completed a Masters of Public Health, specializing in Health Economics, at the University of Cape Town.

Heidi joined FIND in 2007 to oversee demonstration projects for rapid screening of multidrug-resistant TB in South Africa. In 2008, she moved to Uganda to establish FIND’s Diagnostics Research Laboratory based at the National TB Reference Laboratory in Kampala, and conducted studies aimed at improving and simplifying specimen processing, as well as clinical studies of new technologies, including LED fluorescence microscopy, line probe assays and Xpert MTB/RIF.

From 2012-2016 she was the Principal Investigator for FIND’s CDC-funded Cooperative agreement, “Building Global Capacity for Diagnostic Testing of Tuberculosis, Malaria and HIV through Laboratory Strengthening and Integration of Services” under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR operating in 13 countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.

She served on the Core Group of the Global Laboratory Initiative, a working group of the Stop TB Partnership from 2014-2018 and on the GLI Africa regional core group, and has been a lead contributor to multiple global and national TB diagnostic guidelines and tools.  She currently leads work on Networks for Optimized Diagnosis (NODE), a data-driven network design approach to inform national strategic planning and donor investments, including development of open access software for use across multiple diseases.

Contact: heidi.albert@finddx.org

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

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, and Schistosomiasis. He is also Executive Director 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

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

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.

Sanjay joined FIND from Becton Dickinson (BD), where he was Regional Director of Global Health for the Asia Pacific region and was responsible for design, development, and implementation of BD’s public health strategies. During his stint with BD, he was instrumental in establishing several key partnerships, including one with MoH India, which resulted in expansion of TB diagnostic capacity within the national TB programme; TB lab strengthening partnership with USAID in Indonesia; collaboration with Project Hope to strengthen diabetes management capacity at Class 1 facilities in China, and a lab systems strengthening partnership with CDC and MoH India known as the “Labs for Life Partnership”.

Before joining BD, Sanjay served as Regional Lab Advisor (India & South East Asia) with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI). In CHAI, he played a key role in scaling up access to CD4 monitoring within India’s AIDS Control Programme and was responsible for setting up more than a dozen functional CD4 laboratories, development of the CD4 enumeration guidelines and an external quality assurance system for CD4 monitoring in India.

Contact: Sanjay.Sarin@finddx.org