YPIN Panel Discussion: Africa After Ebola

To the average citizen, many questions still remain about what became of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in late 2013. What happened, and what will happen again if another outbreak occurs? Were sustainable health systems established during the crises, and can they be maintained? What’s next for global health across the continent? Join YPIN for “Africa After Ebola,” a panel discussion on the impacts and aftermath of the Ebola crises featuring three local global health and epidemiology experts.

Meet our Speakers:       

Ann Marie Kimball, MD, MPH, FACPM, Senior Consulting Fellow, Centre on Global Health Security, Chatham House

Ann Marie Kimball is a physician and epidemiologist. She is Senior Consulting Fellow for the Centre on Global Health Security at Chatham House. She is a strategic adviser for Rockefeller Foundation and recently completed a research residency for them at Bellagio Center. She served as technical and strategic lead for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation surveillance strategy formation. She was also senior program officer with the foundation, prior to which she served as professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington School of Public Health where she is now emerita. During her tenure at UW, Dr Kimball founded and directed the APEC Emerging Infections Network, and led research and training programs in Peru and Thailand. Her research focus on global trade and emerging infections earned her a Fulbright New Century Scholars award and a Guggenheim Scholars award. She is the author of Risky Trade: Infectious Diseases in an Era of Global Trade and has authored numerous scientific publications and served on several Institute of Medicine panels. Most recently she led the Rockefeller Foundation evaluation of their global disease surveillance network portfolio. She is a fellow in the American College of Preventive Medicine and member of the National Biosurveillance Advisory group, Centers for Disease Control.

David Pigott, DPhil, Assistant Professor, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)

David Pigott, DPhil, is an Assistant Professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington. He is a faculty member in the Geospatial team, focusing on improving the spatial resolution at which disease burden and metrics are considered, expanding and refining existing techniques to a wider number of pathogens and sequelae. He also leads work defining at-risk areas for a number of pathogens with pandemic potential and quantifying heterogeneities in global response capacity. Dr. Pigott studied at the University of Oxford, UK, first for an undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences, then a DPhil investigating the spatial epidemiology of a variety of pathogens, including the leishmaniases and a number of zoonotic hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola.

David A. Townes, MD, MPH, DTM&H, Associate Professor, Department of Global Health, University of Washington

David Townes, MD, MPH, DTM&H  is an Adjunct Associate Professor in Global Health at the University of Washington. He is also a Medical Epidemiologist and Guest Researcher for the International Emergency Response and Recovery Branch of the Center for Global Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Additionally, he is a Public Health and Medical Technical Advisor for the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance with the United States Agency for International Development. Dr. Townes received his medical degree from the University of Massachusetts. He is board certified in emergency medicine. He also holds a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (DTM&H) from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Dr. Townes joined the faculty at the University of Washington in 2001 in the Division of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Townes has worked in Antarctica, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Russia, Senegal, Tanzania, Turkey, the West Indies, and Zambia. His research interests include response to complex humanitarian emergencies, disease surveillance in humanitarian emergencies, health policy for humanitarian emergencies, refugee and internally displaced populations, and malaria.

Amy Wales, Vice President Health and Social Impact, Weber Shandwick (moderator)

As Weber Shandwick’s deputy global Client Experience Lead for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Amy brings her nearly 15 years of experience in global health and international development to guide teams delivering results across multiple program areas, including Financial Services for the Poor, Water Sanitation and Hygiene, and Women and Girls. Prior to Weber Shandwick, Amy was Senior Communications Officer at PATH, where she led communications for product development teams in the diverse space of vaccine and pharmaceutical technologies as well as the global immunization supply chain. Early in her tenure at PATH, she also led communications for rice fortification innovations in Brazil and India. Amy has lived and worked for extended periods of time in Argentina, Brazil, England, Mozambique, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, and Thailand. She holds a master’s degree in Comparative Health Policy from Oxford University (England), a certificate in Women’s Health Advocacy in the Global South from the International Institute of Social Studies graduate school in the Hague (the Netherlands), and a dual bachelor of arts in Spanish Language and International Relations from Middlebury College (USA).