David Molyneux has been Director of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Lymphatic Filariasis Support Centre since April 2000. Supported by the Department for International Development (DFID) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Professor Molyneux utilises his extensive knowledge of parasitic disease control to offer technical support and advice to the Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis.

David was previously Director of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (1991-2000) and is currently Professor of Tropical Health Sciences of The University of Liverpool. He was Professor of Biology, Chairman of the

During his nearly ten-year tenure at the World Bank, Dr. Bangoura has worked in Bank operations leading task teams preparing or supervising the implementation of several countries' projects and programmes and policy dialogue (including Sector-Wide Approach projects, PRSP, Medium-Term Expenditures Frameworks), and has represented the institution and spoken at variety of international fora, amongst which global events and activities related to the Roll Back Malaria Initiative (RBM), United Nations Special Initiative for Africa (UNSIA) deliberations on health sector reforms in a cross-section of African countries and the World Bank-Norway Consultation on the utilization of the Norwegian Trust Fund for Education and Health. Dr. Bangoura is an alternate member of the World Bank Health, Nutrition and Population Sector Board, representing the Africa region.

Prior to joining the World Bank Group, Dr. Bangoura held a number of senior positions both in the public and private sector in his home country of Guinea, the most recent of which Secretary General of the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs. This was preceded by a 15 year career as Corporate Medical Director at the Société d'Alumine de Guinée, a subsidiary of the French aluminium production (Péchiney) – 1975 to 1990; and a two-year assignment as Head of Infectious Diseases Department at the University Hospital of Conakry between 1973 and 1975. He also served as Member of the Expert Panel for a "Better Health for Africa" established by the World Bank in 1994.

Through the numerous years of his illustrious career in international development, Dr. Bangoura has maintained a keen interest and made substantive contributions in the areas of health, nutrition and population and in particular, health policy and public health management, reproductive and child health and health care services. His current and past responsibilities have continued to provide him with a broad knowledge of health issues in developing countries as they relate to the international development agenda. "Working with donor agencies", he says, “has given me the opportunity to be familiar with a range of international organizations and to get valuable experience in negotiations in international fora, because forging strong partnerships with the international community is instrumental to the global development agenda.”  

Ken Gustavsen is Manager, Global Product Donations for Merck & Co. Inc. His responsibilities include the management and strategic development of all activiites associated with the Merck Mectizan® Donation Program. He serves as the liaison between Merck and its partners involved in Mectizan® distribution for onchocerciasis (river blindness) and lymphatic filariasis. He also manages Merck's donations of other pharmaceutical products and vaccines. In 2005, Merck donated $437M worth of medicines, incuding Mectizan®, to health programs and disaster response efforts throughout the developing world.

Ken has been with Merck since October 2000. Prior to joining Merck he worked for the non-profit organization World Relief, where he served as Project

Director in Kosovo (Yugoslavia). There he directed World Relief's post-war activities and coordinated efforts with the United Nations, NATO, USAID and other government and non-governmental agencies.

Before his work with World Relief, Ken was a Lieutenant in the United States Navy. Ken graduated from the United States Naval Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree in oceanography and is currently working towards a Master of Business Administration degree at Rutgers University.

Mwele holds a Bsc in Zoology from the University of Dar-es-salaam and an MSc and PhD in Parasitology from the University of London (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine). Her area of specialization was the immunology of filarial evasion mechanisms.

Mwele has worked at the National institute for Medical Research for 20 years in a number of areas including Lymphatic Filariasis Immunoepidemiology, and Health Systems and Policies. As Director for Research at NIMR, her main focus now is on research capacity building, the translation of research into action, as well as the policy and practice of priority setting for Health Research.

In her role as Director of the National Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination Program she brings her long research experience to efforts to eliminate filariasis, and she has run the national program since its inception in 2000. She is well known for her role in advocacy campaigns that have brought to light the real extent of the problem in Tanzania.

Mwele has served on a number of international committees including The Technical Advisory Group of The Global Program to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis, The Mectizan Expert Committee and the advisory board of the Initiative on Public-Private Partnerships in Health (IPPPH).

Eric Ottesen is Research Professor in the Department of Global Health at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and Director of the Lymphatic Filariasis Support Center at the Task Force For Child Survival and Development. He received his A.B. from Princeton University in 1965, his M.D. from Harvard University in 1970 and is board certified by the American Board of Pediatrics. Formerly head of the Clinical Parasitology Section of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH (1975-1994), and Project Leader of the Filariasis Elimination Programme at the World Health Organization (1995-2001), he is currently the director of the Lymphatic Filariasis Support Center in Atlanta.

Eric’s research interests have focused principally on host responsiveness to parasitic helminth infections (primarily filariasis, onchocerciasis and schistosomiasis) and on the relationship between allergic and parasitic diseases. Professional activities now target the elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis worldwide (especially program monitoring and evaluation), integrated control of the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), and the clinical and immunological aspects of filarial disease.

Andy Wright has a Bachelors degree in Civil Engineering and a Masters degree in Project Management. He is a Chartered Engineer whose early career includes project management of capital projects within the petrochemical construction industry, roles in marketing and business development and project management consultancy.

In 1994, Andy joined GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), working on global supply chain programmes and IT projects. Since 2000, he has been active in the global campaign to eliminate lymphatic filariasis. GSK is a key partner in the global effort, donating albendazole, one of two drugs required, for every country that