Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Disease Elimination

The Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Disease Elimination (STAG-DE) is the principal advisory group to PAHO on topics related to communicable disease elimination and eradication for the Region of the Americas. It has the mandate to advise the PAHO Director on strategic policies and actions, including optimal pathways of coordination and guidance in the development of a regional agenda for elimination of selected diseases and related conditions.

The STAG-DE works in a coordinated and complementary manner with other technical advisory groups as needed, and its members has a responsibility to provide PAHO with high quality, well-reasoned advice and recommendations on matters related to the PAHO Elimination Initiative.

Biographies

Pedro Cahn

Fundación Huésped, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Pedro Cahn has been working in infectious diseases for more than 35 years and has been involved in the HIV/AIDS arena since 1982. He is a Senior Consultant on Infectious Diseases at the Juan Fernandez Hospital and is Scientific Director of the Huésped Foundation, Buenos Aires, Argentina (the largest non-government organisation in Argentina, serving patients with, and at risk of, HIV/AIDS). Dr Cahn is Professor of Infectious Diseases at the Buenos Aires University Medical School.

Dr Cahn is a past President of the International AIDS Society (IAS), and has served as external advisor for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), UNITAID, and Doctors without Borders, as well as a member of the antiretroviral guidelines panel both for the WHO and the International Antiviral Society–USA (IAS–USA).

Dr Cahn has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters.

Dirk Engels

Retired Director of the Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

Dr Dirk Engels is a Global Health Consultant and Senior Adviser to Uniting to Combat NTDs (www.combatntds.org). He has worked for the World Health Organization in Geneva for 20 years and retired as Director of the Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) at the end of 2017. In WHO, he has worked mainly on infectious and tropical diseases. He has been instrumental in developing norms and standards for the large-scale implementation of NTD interventions, in developing the first NTD roadmap with a focus on elimination, and in steering the global expansion of interventions for the control and elimination of tropical diseases. During the first half of his professional career he successively worked in clinical tropical medicine, public health, and disease control, in East, Central and West Africa. Dirk Engels is a medical doctor, and holds additional diplomas in tropical medicine and hygiene, epidemiology, a master’s degree in health services research, and a PhD in parasitology. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific and public health papers.

J. Peter Figueroa

Prof J Peter Figueroa OJ, BSc, MBBS, DPH, PhD, FFPH

J. Peter Figueroa is Professor of Public Health, Epidemiology and HIV/AIDS at The University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica where he has led the development of a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) program. He was the National Epidemiologist in Jamaica and led the National HIV/STI Program from its outset in 1986 until 2008. He served as Chief Medical Officer from 1997–2002. He is chair of PAHO’s Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Immunization and he was a member of WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE} from 2009 – 2015. He is Co-Chair of the SAGE Working Group on Polio, a member of the WHO Working Group on COVID-19 vaccines and a member of the UNAIDS scientific expert panel. He has published widely on communicable diseases, HIV/ STIs and public health including 155 peer reviewed papers and 3 books. He has received many awards for his work including in 2019 a WHO award for Leadership in Global Health.

Patricia Garcia

Patricia J. García, MD, MPH, PhD
Former Minister of Health, Peru
Former Chief of the Peruvian National Institute of Health
Professor and former Dean of the School of Public Health at Cayetano Heredia University, Lima-Peru
Member, US National Academy of Medicine

Dr. Garcia is recognized as a leader in Global Health. She is the former Minister of Health of Peru, Dean of the School of Public Health at UPCH, and former Chief of the Peruvian National Institute of Health (INS). She has been member of the PAHO Foundation’s Technical Advisory Group (FTAG), board member of the Consortium of Universities in Global Health and President of the Latin American Association Against STDs (ALACITS). She has served in a number of roles with Via Libre, an NGO focused on prevention, treatment, research and advocacy in the area of HIV and STIs, as a volunteer physician, associate member, and member of the Board.

As Minister of Health, Dr. Garcia introduced emergency contraception and contraception for adolescents through the public sector. She implemented new guidelines for cervical cancer screening including molecular testing, HPV vaccination, labelling of processed food (towards prevention of non- communicable diseases), and introduction of electronic medical records.

Her research interests include drug and vaccine development and strengthening health systems. She is actively involved in research and training in Global Health, reproductive health, STI/HIV, HPV self-sampling, and medical informatics. Dr. Garcia contributed to the introduction of Point of Care Diagnostics (i.e. for congenital syphilis) and the introduction of a rapid Dengue test during a 2017 disease outbreak associated with the El Niño event.

She was appointed as a member of the United States National Academy of Medicine, becoming the first Peruvian professional with such a distinction. She is affiliate Professor of the Department of Global Health, at University of Washington and of the School of Public Health at Tulane University.

Lucia Altagracia Guzman Marcelino

Altagracia Guzman Marcelino is an Infectious Diseases Pediatrician. She oversaw the department of Infectious Diseases at the San Lorenzo de Los Mina Maternal-Infant Hospital, professor of Infectious Diseases and Pediatrics for 24 years old at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo. Emergency Manager and Head of Clinic at Dr. Robert Read Cabral Children's Hospital for 14 years. Planning Director of the UASD Faculty of Health Sciences for 4 years. President of the Dominican Society of Pediatrics, co-founder of the Dominican Society of Infectious Diseases and of the Dominican Society of Perinatal Medicine and president of the Dominican Medical Association.

Deputy to the National Congress and President of the Health Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, submitting several draft laws: General Health Law, Organ Transplantation and Children's day care (currently laws in execution). Secretary of State for Public Health in two government periods, 1997-99 and 2014-18. Health Advisor to the Executive Branch. Director of the National Health Insurance (State entity for the administration of Health Risks of the population classified as poor and at the same time salaried employees). Author of: Opúsculo - Dra. Evangelina Rodríguez Perozo (1ra. Médica Dominicana) (Booklet, Dr. Evangelina Rodríguez Perozo, First female doctor in the Dominican Republic) and Public Policies and Impact of Public Policies on Maternal-Infant Mortality.

Claudia Henriquez

Doctora en Medicina y Cirugía, egresada de la Universidad Estatal de Cuenca, Ecuador, con estudios de Posgrado en Gerencia y Auditoría de la Calidad en Salud, egresada de la universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano de Bogotá, Colombia.

Actualmente me desempeño como Secretaria de Asuntos Indígenas del departamento de La Guajira, con el propósito fundamental para formular políticas institucionales, planes, programas y proyectos que promuevan el desarrollo social, cultural, económico y ambiental de las etnias donde se validen los usos y costumbres, Derechos Humanos y Derecho Internacional Humanitario por el bienestar de los pueblos indígenas de La Guajira, de conformidad con los procedimientos institucionales acordes con la normatividad vigente.

Durante mi experiencia como Médica Indígena y posteriormente Gerente de la ESE Hospital de Nazareth en la Alta guajira, y teniendo en cuenta que la ESE, se encuentra ubicada de manera estratégica en una zona en donde el 100% de la población Indígena, perteneciente a la etnia Wayuu, con fortalezas institucionales como es contar con personal asistencial perteneciente a esta etnia y por ende bilingüe, fue necesario aprovechar las fortalezas institucionales para actualizar y documentar el Modelo de Atención bajo una propuesta con enfoque intercultural.

Además, como Profesional Indígena de la etnia Wayuu con conocimientos en Salud Pública, poseo destrezas para realizar intervenciones comunitarias de Promoción de la Salud y Prevención de la Enfermedad, dentro de la caracterización del entorno sociocultural del individuo y su familia. De igual forma, tengo la experiencia en el diseño y ejecución de programas y proyectos en salud con adaptación intercultural.

Patrick Lammie

Patrick Lammie, PhD, is the Director of the Neglected Tropical Diseases Support Center (NTD-SC), a program of The Task Force for Global Health. In this role, Dr. Lammie provides technical guidance and strategic oversight on the portfolio of operational research projects managed by NTD-SC on behalf of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID and UKAid.

Dr. Lammie spent more than 25 years as a senior staff scientist in the Disease Elimination and Control Group in the Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) where his research was focused on lymphatic filariasis and integrated serosurveillance. He continues to support efforts to develop new tools and strategies to monitor and evaluate filariasis and other neglected tropical diseases.

Dr. Lammie has served on the World Health Organization’s NTD Monitoring and Evaluation Working Group on the Regional Program Review Groups for AFRO, SEARO and WPRO and is currently serving on WHO’s new NTD Diagnostic and Technical Advisory Group.

Nísia Trinidade Lima

Nísia Trindade Lima holds a Ph.D. in Sociology and a master's degree in Political Science. She has authoring books and articles with an emphasis on Brazilian social thinking, history of ideas in public health, and the Brazilian processes of construction of the National State. She is the President of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation – FIOCRUZ since 2017 and the first woman to occupy this position in its 120 years of history. Linked to Brazilian Ministry of Health, Fiocruz is the largest Public Health Academic Institution in Latin American and the Caribbean Region.

On the 2030 Agenda 2030 for sustainable development and its SDGs, she established a FIOCRUZ's Strategy on 2030 Agenda, and serve as a member of the WHO Advisory Committee for the Research, Development, Innovation, and Access Accelerator of the Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-Being. She also serves as a member of the International Steering Committee (ISC) of the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25. She also participated and supported the FIOCRUZ activities that contribute to the ECOSOC - High-Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development on different themes.

She is in the forefront response to the COVID-19 Pandemics from its early stages. In February 2020, she attends the WHO global research and innovation forum. Since then, she has coordinated the institutional efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemics. FIOCRUZ is the reference institution in Brazil for testing the novel coronavirus (SARS-2-COV) and has been working around the clock to produce and ensure timely and reliable diagnostic kits for the Brazilian Unified Health System. The Foundation participates and leads, in Brazil, an important research response to Covid-19, the Solidarity trial, launched by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Gina Ogilvie

Gina Ogilvie, MD MSc FCFP DrPH is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Global Control of HPV related diseases and prevention, and Professor at the University of British Columbia in the School of Population and Public Health. She is also Senior Public Health Scientist at BC Centre for Disease Control and Senior Research Advisor at the BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre. She was previously Medical Director of Clinical Prevention Services at BC Centre for Disease Control where she provided both operational and scientific leadership to an integrated public health unit with over 100 staff. This unit focuses on providing public health leadership and service in STIs, HIV, Hepatitis and Tuberculosis provincially, nationally and globally. Dr. Ogilvie is currently principal investigator on over 10 million dollars in research grants and she has received funding from NIH, PHAC, CIHR, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, Canadian Foundation for Innovation and private foundations including BC Women’s Hospital Foundation among others. Her research is focused on both the public health and clinical aspects of reproductive health, sexually transmitted infections, HPV screening and the HPV vaccine, and her findings have been highly influential in setting and directing health policy both in Canada and globally. Among other research projects, she is principal investigator for the ASPIRE program, a global health initiative conducting research and providing women-centred, innovative solutions for cervical cancer prevention and reproductive health in sub-Saharan Africa. She also leads HPV FOCAL, which is a randomized trial of over 25,000 women comparing primary screening for cervical cancer, and QUEST, a pragmatic randomized trial defining the effectiveness of reduced dosing of the HPV vaccine.

She has published over 150 peer reviewed manuscripts and has provided advice and consultation to national and global institutions, including the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, Public Health Agency of Canada, the World Health Organization and Ministries of Health globally on STI, HIV and HPV vaccine policy and programming. She speaks widely at international and national research and education conferences, and has supervised medical students, residents, and graduate students throughout her career. Dr. Ogilvie received her MD from McMaster University, and completed a specialty in Family Medicine and a fellowship in Population Health and Primary care. She received her Master of Science at UBC, and her Doctorate in Public Health from the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health. Dr. Ogilvie is the recipient of several honors, including Michael S. O’Malley Alumni Award for Publication Excellence (2019); YWCA Woman of Distinction (2018); President’s Award, Children and women’s Health Centre of BC (2018); Options for Sexual health Sexual Health Champion of the Year (2018); Provincial Health Officer’s Award for Excellence in Public health (2015); Researcher of the Year, College of Family Physicians of Canada (2014); YWCA Women of Distinction Nominee (2014); Distinguished Achievement in Research, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia (2014). In 2019, she was part of the Governor General’s Official Delegation to the 25th Commemoration of the Rwandan Genocide. She is one of the inaugural recipients of the highly prestigious CIHR ‘Foundation Grant’ awards, given to leading scholars to pursue 7 years of research in a field.

Regina Rabinovich

N. Regina Rabinovich, MD, MPH

ExxonMobil Malaria Scholar in Residence
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Director, Malaria Elimination Initiative
ISGLOBAL, University of Barcelona

Regina Rabinovich is the ExxonMobil Malaria Scholar in Residence at Harvard University, and Director of the Malaria Elimination Initiative at ISGLOBAL at the University of Barcelona. She serves as the Chair of the Malaria Eradication Scientific Alliance, hosted at ISGLOBAL, where she led the steering committee for the Malaria Eradication Research Agenda. She has over 25 years of experience in global health across research, public health, and philanthropic sectors, with focus on strategy, global health product development, and the introduction and scale-up of tools and strategies resulting in impact on endemic populations.  Prior to joining Harvard, Dr. Rabinovich served as Director of the Infectious Diseases division at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, overseeing the development and implementation of strategies for the prevention, treatment, and control of infectious diseases of particular relevance to malaria, pneumonia, diarrhea, and neglected infectious diseases. Dr. Rabinovich was Chief of the Clinical and Regulatory Affairs Branch at the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), focusing on the development and evaluation of vaccines through a network of US clinical research units. 

She participated in the Children's Vaccine Initiative, a global effort to prevent infectious diseases in children in the developing world.  In 1999, Dr. Rabinovich became the founding director of the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, a project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to advance efforts to develop promising malaria vaccine candidates.  She is past president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and serves on the boards of CMMB and the Sabin Vaccine Institute.  She serves on the Malaria Vaccine Advisory Committee at WHO, the EU Malaria Fund Advisory Committee, and the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Disease Elimination at PAHO. Dr. Rabinovich holds a medical degree from Southern Illinois University and a Masters of Public Health degree from the University of North Carolina.

Swarup Sarkar

An experienced and strategic global health diplomat and practitioner, having wide ranging expertise on shaping global, regional and national policy and programmatic approaches to addressing outbreak control, disease eliminations, with experience and interests in understanding and engaging affected communities in the formulation, implementation and governance of health programs.

He has earlier worked as Director in UNAIDS, Global Fund, World Health Organisation, CARE International as well as advisers to Asian Development Bank and UNITAID and as National Chair to the Indian Council of Medical Research, Government of India.

Following retirement from UN after two decades, focus of (his) current work is on advising governments, multi-lateral bodies and community organization on Covid-19 and elimination of communicable diseases.

He also works as adjunct professor in universities in Canada and India.

John W. Ward

Dr. John W. Ward created and directs the Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination of the Task Force for Global Health. The Coalition is a community of practice providing technical assistance and monitoring progress toward hepatitis elimination in over 190 countries. In addition to PAHO, Dr. Ward is an advisor to WHO Geneva, the WPRO Hepatitis B Expert Resource Panel and the African Union Hepatitis Technical Working Group. Dr. Ward chairs the AASLD Task Force for Hepatitis Elimination. Over a 13-year tenure, Dr. Ward directed the US CDC Division of Viral Hepatitis with responsibilities for viral hepatitis surveillance, prevention, and research. At the national level, Dr. Ward developed recommendations for hepatitis A and hepatitis B vaccination, hepatitis B and hepatitis C screening, and authored the first national action plan for viral hepatitis prevention. Dr. Ward guided the launch of pioneer HCV elimination programs. Previously, Dr. Ward led US HIV/AIDS surveillance and served as Editor of the CDC MMWR. Dr Ward has authored over 150 scientific publications. He received his medical training at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and University of Washington, Seattle. Dr. Ward is a Professor in the Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University,

Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Disease Elimination

Members of the STAG

Current STAG-DE Members:

Biographies

Technical and Executive Secretariat

Meeting Report