Neglected Tropical Diseases - Sub-Saharan Africa

Professor John Gyapong is a Public Health Physician and an Epidemiologist. He studied Medicine at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana and later studied Public Health (MSc) and Epidemiology (PhD) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine of the University of London, UK. His main area of research is infectious diseases epidemiology, with a focus on lymphatic filariasis and other neglected tropical diseases, as well as malaria. He established and managed the Ghana Filariasis Elimination Programme for eight years where he was also in charge of the Onchocerciasis Control. For twelve years, he was Director for Research and Development of the Ghana Health Service where he was responsible for health systems and implementation research. Professor Gyapong served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Health [GA1] and Allied Sciences, Ho, Ghana, from 2016 to 2022. From 2011 to 2016, he was the Pro-Vice-Chancellorof the University of Ghana, responsible for Research, Innovation and Development. He was the Vice-Dean and Professor of Epidemiology and Disease Control at the School of Public Health of the University of Ghana, and an Adjunct Professor of International Health at the Georgetown University in Washington, DC, USA. He serves on several international research review committees and boards and has over 150 publications in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Boakye A. Boatin is a Public Health Physician and an Epidemiologist with degrees in Medicine, International Public Health and Epidemiology. He studied medicine in Ghana and undertook postgraduate studies in Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (Community Health), University of Liverpool, UK, and Epidemiology at the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (LSTMH) of the University of London, UK. He also had training in communicable disease control and surveillance at the Post Graduate Institute,Prague, Czech Republic. His research focuses on infectious diseases epidemiology particularly onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis and Human African trypanosomiasis. Until his retirement from the World Health Organisation (WHO), he led research in Integrated community-based interventions and Lymphatic Filariasis at The Special Programme for Tropical Diseases (TDR) and had short a stint as the head of the Aids Medicines and Diagnostics (AMDS) Unit at the World Health Organization. He worked at the Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa (WHO) for 15 years, first as Chief Epidemiologist then as Head of Planning Evaluation and Transfer and later as Director of the Programme until its closure. He is currently an Adjunct Professor in International Health at the Institute of Parasitology, McGill University, Canada and Senior Scientific Advisor to the Lymphatic Filariasis Support Center for Africa, Ghana. He served for a long period on the Mectizan Expert Committee and several reviewcommittees. He has authored chapters on Onchocerciasis in several books and has many publications in peer review journals.