About Us
Prof Patrick Mallon
University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland
(Coordinator, WP1 Lead)
He is Dean of Medicine and Head of School at UCD. He is also full Professor of Microbial Diseases in UCD and Director of the UCD Centre for Experimental Pathogen Host Research (CEPHR), one of the few academic research centres in Europe to integrate host and pathogen research in a single centre.
Prof Mallon has over 20 years’ experience in infectious diseases clinical research and leads a group with extensive experience in collaborative international projects with the resources and capacity to coordinate this proposal, oversee and deliver all project activities from implementation to completion.
Prof Bruce Kirenga
Makerere University Lung Institute (MLI), Uganda
(Scientific Coordinator, WP2 Lead)
He is the Director of the Makerere University Lung Institute (MLI) and Principal of the College of Health Sciences. He is a distinguished physician and researcher with a deep commitment to improving lung health and healthcare systems in Uganda and Africa.
He has served as Lead Scientist at MLI for more than 10 years and led the implementation of several sentinel vaccine trials, including the STREAM TB trial (shortened TB treatment regimens), several COVID-19 trials and Ebola Vaccine trials, including a current trial assessing safety and immunogenicity of SUDV Vaccines. Under his leadership, the MLI has become a leading research and clinical center, focusing on tuberculosis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and COVID-19.
Prof Eoin Feeney
University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland
(WP2 Co-Lead)
He is a Consultant Physician in Infectious Diseases at St. Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin, where he established the Infectious Diseases department which has now grown to a large clinical service serving south east Dublin and Ireland.
He is national specialty director for Higher Specialist Training in Infectious Diseases in the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland, associate Clinical Professor at UCD, and Chief Investigator of the Mpox Vax trial in Ireland.
Dr Andrew Obuku
Uganda National Health Organisation (UNHRO- UVRI), Uganda
(WP3 Lead)
He is Senior Research Scientist and Head of the UVRI BSL3 Laboratory. He has expertise in virus culture (SARS-COV-2, HIV), manufacture of virus like particles and leads on biobanking protocols from Ugandan disease outbreaks to generate reagents for diagnostics and therapeutics.
He is a key member of the UVRI CEPI laboratory, focusing on immunogenicity assays for Marburg and SUDV and the team evaluating immune responses to Ad26.ZEBOV/MVA-BN-Filo vaccine. He is a consultant for the NAVCOV study evaluating new Adenovectors for delivery of immunogens, recently funded from Innovate UK, to develop Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) vaccines.
Dr Wilber Sabiiti
University of St Andrews (USTAN), UK
(WP4 Lead)
He is a biomedical scientist with interest in translational research, working on the interface of applied biological science and healthcare provision. His research team leads translational research in diagnostic and treatment biomarker discovery, having developed molecular assays for Tuberculosis and SARS-CoV-2.
Dr Sabiiti leads on building research consortia between Africa, UK and EU. He is a member of faculties of experts for different funding streams including UKRI Applied Global Health, South Africa Medical Research Council, Africa Research Excellence Fund, Commonwealth Scholarship Commission Academic Adviser panel, NIHR College of Experts for the Global Effort on COVID-19, and Newton Fund Biomedical Sciences. He is Co-Chair Immunology & Diagnostics Working Group of the Coalition for Equitable Research in Low Resource Settings (CERCLE), Co-Chief Investigator Africa Vaccine Research Network (AFRIVAXn), member of the Interdisciplinary Consortium for Epidemics Research (ICER), Co-ordinator St Andrews-Africa Health Research network (StAAHR) and a TDR/WHO Antimicrobial resistance Knowledge
management consultant.
Dr Patrick Katoto
Catholic University of Bukavu (UCB), DRC
(WP2 Consortium Partner)
He is a clinician, vaccinologist, epidemiologist, and global health
expert with more than a decade of working experience as a clinician, academic, and advisor for multiple public and private health agencies.
He holds a clinical and academic position in the Department of Internal Medicine (Division of Pulmonology and Infectious Diseases), School of Medicine and Public Health, Catholic University of Bukavu, (DRC) since 2009.
Dr Katoto has worked on various projects of global health concern and produced evidence to inform decision making to address HIV, tuberculosis, vaccine uptake, non-communicable diseases, and household air pollution in resource-limited settings. His research work includes experimental work and clinical-epidemiological studies of respiratory illnesses attributable to environmental pollution (from household air pollution to mining air pollution), with a particular interest in the association of exposure to pollutants with the high triple burden of Tuberculosis, MDR-TB and HIV infection. He is also interested in evidence synthesis (evidence- informed policy and clinical practice guidelines development) and into implementation science, especially for poverty related diseases in low and middle income-countries. Dr Katoto is co-investigator on the baseline for sepsis in Africa (Liverpool school of tropical medicine) and the Statin-TB (University of Cape Town) and co-founder of The Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, UCB.
Dr Nyanda Elias Ntinginya
National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR),
Tanzania
(WP2 Consortium Partner)
He is a Principal Research Officer at the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) with a background in Medicine.
He holds a Medical Degree (MD) from the University of Dar Es Salaam, a Master of Science (MSc) in Tropical and Infectious Diseases from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom and a PhD in Medical Research-International Health from the Centre for International Health at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (CIHLMU), Munich; Germany.
With over 16 years of experience, he is a seasoned expert in medical research that has served in diverse roles as a Sponsor representative, Principal Investigator, Research Leader and Coordinator at institutional, national and international levels. His expertise extends across cross-functional, multicultural and international environments. His abiding interest lies in leveraging the potential of research to tackle the pressing global health challenges, ultimately adding value to humanity. He has experience in clinical trials (drugs and vaccines), implementation, operational and diagnostic studies especially on TB, HIV and comorbidities as well as research of emerging diseases and NCDs (selected) with over 80 publications on relatedareas in peer-reviewed journals.
His commitment and interests extend to improving the research landscape and strengthening health systems to produce evidence that guides policy and practice. He is passionate about mentoring and building the capacities of early and mid-career researchers aiming to cultivate future generations of researchers. He is a member and/or co-leader of numerous national and international research networks, technical working groups and committees including at the Tanzanian Ministry of Health. He was a member of the Presidential Special Advisory Technical Committee on COVID-19 in Tanzania.
Dr Ntinginya brings strategic research leadership experience having served as the Head of TB and Emerging Diseases Research department from 2012 to 2016, Acting Centre Director from 2016 to 2018, Centre Director from October 2018 to 2022, and Centre Manager from 2022 to Feb 2024 at the NIMR Mbeya Medical Research Centre. During his tenure, the Centre has continued to grow to become one of Tanzania’s most active research centres, engaging in a wide spectrum of medical research endeavours.
The growth has been accompanied by successful grant acquisition efforts, fostering notable capacity building and evidence generation with local and international collaboration. Currently, Dr Ntinginya is the Director of Research Coordination and Promotion at the National Institute for Medical Research, Headquarters.