Independent Members of the Trial Steering Committee. Includes representatives of national TB control programmes, WHO, the TESA-2 and EACCR-2 networks, TB-affected communities and technical assistance agencies, as well as scientific experts (see Consortium as a whole).
The AB advises the Steering Committee (SC) and Executive Board (EB) at the strategic level on direction and the performance of PreFIT, its output, its embedment in TB control, and its strategies towards ensuring uptake of the validated assays
The team
Anthony David Harries
Senior Advisor at the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease in France and an honorary professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the UK.
He is a physician and a registered specialist in the United Kingdom in infectious diseases and tropical medicine. He spent over 20 years living and working in sub-Saharan Africa, starting in North-east Nigeria in 1983.
In 1986, he moved to Malawi where he was consecutively Consultant Physician, Foundation Professor of Medicine at the new medical school in Blantyre, National Advisor to the Malawi Tuberculosis Control Programme and National Advisor in HIV care and treatment in the Ministry of Health, responsible for scaling up antiretroviral therapy in the country.
In 2008, he returned to UK where he works for the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Paris, France.
Katherine Fielding
Professor Medical Statistics and Epidemiology and joint-head of the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Department at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the UK.
Katherine has been at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine since 2000, and previously was at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention in the US. Her research focuses on the design of intervention studies and evaluation of interventions to reduce the burden of tuberculosis, particularly in settings of high HIV prevalence.
She has been a senior statistician on cluster randomized trials evaluating Xpert MTB/RIF within a national rollout of the new tuberculosis diagnostic, assessing the effect of community-wide isoniazid preventive therapy on tuberculosis incidence and prevalence, and evaluating digital adherence technologies to improve adherence to tuberculosis treatment and treatment outcomes.
She sits on Trial Steering Committees and Data Safety Monitoring Boards for tuberculosis treatment trials and phase II tuberculosis vaccine trials. In 2018 she was the recipient of the Union Scientific Prize from the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.
Prof. Dr. Sayoki Godwin Mrinde Mfinanga, MD, PhD
Chief Research Scientist and Director of the Muhimbili Research
Centre of the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Tanzania
Sayoki Mfinanga is a global health and clinical research expert working for the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) in Tanzania. He is a medical doctor and epidemiologist, as he holds a Degree of Medicine (MD) and a Doctorate of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Medical Epidemiology focusing on tuberculosis and HIV. Mfinanga supervises and mentors fellows at a junior and mid-career level in various local and international academic and non-academic institutions. He has published over 100 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals, including The Lancet and New England Journal of Medicine. He has expertise in epidemiology, clinical trials, and public health surveillance for infectious diseases.
Mfinanga is a Director and Chief Research Scientist for NIMR Muhimbili Cenre, Honorary Professor of Global Health, at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Honorary Lecturer at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences.
Mfinanga expertise includes designing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating interdisciplinary research projects, including clinical trials, biomedical research, disease surveillance studies, health system and capacity assessments, policy-driven health surveillance, and health system improvement research.
Mfinanga is leading several scientific research networks in Africa. He is Deputy Director -UK NIHR Global Health Research Group on prevention and management of non-communicable diseases and HIV-infection in Africa, Deputy Director for Afrique one ASPIRE consortium, and Coordinator of TB node of excellence in East Africa under East Africa Consortium for Clinical Research (EACCR2).
Mfinanga has led/is leading several multi countries clinical trials and contributed to national and global policies in management, prevention, and control, mainly in TB and HIV. Also, he has research experience in other scientific topics, including non-communicable diseases, zoonosis, maternal, and child health (immunizations).
Mfinanga supervises Master and Ph.D. students, as well as post-doctoral fellows, and he facilitates various courses in epidemiology, clinical trials, and tuberculosis at several institutions and networks in Africa and Europe.
Mfinanga won several research grants and scientific awards, including the NIMR Best Journal Publishing Scientist Award and American Thoracic Society (ATS) certificate of Scientific Merit.
Lindokuhle Sibiya
My name is Lindokuhle Sibiya, a young woman who has a vast experience in youth development project which I did in various organizations locally and internationally. I have been a youth leader for Diabetes Eswatini Organization from 2011 to 2016 and thereafter became the organization youth mentor. Here I dealt mainly with youth issues, projects, recruitment and counseling. During this period I worked with youth led-organizations. In 2017 I was part of a group of individuals that meet to assist government combating the sudden increase of NCD’s in the kingdom and an organization called ACANCODE was formed and a youth wing was also formed , there I was appointed youth mentor to date. I also got an opportunity to represent the youth at the UN MULTISECTIONAL MEETING in NEW YORK, in 2019.
Dr. Raymond Byaruhanga
Senior Technical Advisor, Global Fund
Ministry of Health/ National TB and Leprosy Program
Dr. Byaruhanga Raymond MD, M.Sc HSM, is the senior technical advisor in the National TB and Leprosy Program at the Ministry of Health in Uganda. I have held this position for now 4 years. Before joining the Ministry of Health, I was the Project Director of the USAID TRACK TB project a flagship project of USAID providing technical support the National TB and Leprosy program. Furthermore my position was pivot in scaling up TB diagnostics and MDR TB management in the country. And before joining USAID TRACK TB project I was Executive Director, AIDS Information Centre, Uganda. I held this position for 10 years.
At the Ministry of Health, National TB and leprosy program I have been pivot at scaling up TB active Case finding and increasing utilization of GeneXpert technology. I am involved in increasing Global fund absorption and effective and efficient use of the Global funds and USAID funding. Furthermore I am supporting the coordination of systems and processes for better service delivery.
My goal is to see efficient and effective use of TB resources to improve service delivery. For this am engaged in planning, implementation and monitoring of TB service delivery from national level to community level.
I hold a Bachelor degree in Medicine and surgery from Makerere University and a Master’s degree in Health Services Management from Uganda Martyrs University. I hold a number professional papers in corporate and good governance from MSK management and governance consultancy.
I have held a number of positions on different boards including board secretary of AIDS Information Centre (AIC), Uganda, Board member (Programs chair) of Eastern and Southern Africa AIDS Service organization (EANASO), Board chair of Uganda National AIDS service Organizations (UNASO) and board member of the Civil Society Fund (CSF) in Uganda.
I bring on board skills in technical skills especially working with country programs and management skills.