Governance & Team

Peter Beyer, a trained lawyer, is a Senior Advisor with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva where he leads a team working on antimicrobial resistance focusing on developing global instruments and developing new antimicrobial treatments. Peter was instrumental in setting up the WHO/DNDi Global Antibiotic R&D Partnership (GARDP) as well as the trilateral collaboration among the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and WHO. Previously, Peter Beyer was a Legal Advisor to the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property in Berne. He negotiated free trade agreements for the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and was responsible for the bilateral dialogue between Switzerland and China on intellectual property. Prior to joining the Swiss civil service, Peter Beyer worked with the Ecologic Institute in Berlin on environmental law and policy. Peter Beyer was a research and teaching assistant at the University of Geneva, writing his doctoral thesis on integrated pollution control in the industrial sector. He is a graduate of the Universities of Cologne and Freiburg im Breisgau and was admitted to bar in Berlin in 2001.

Zeba Aziz is a medical oncologist with a busy clinical practice based in Hameed Latif Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan. She previously served as the Head of Department of Oncology and Professor at Jinnah Hospital Lahore. Currently she is Dean of Medical Oncology for the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan and is also the Program Director for the Medical Oncology Fellowship at Hameed Latif Hospital. She is currently the President of Society of Medical Oncology of Pakistan formed recently. Her international efforts include being on the steering committee for the Australian & Asia Pacific Oncology Research Development (ACORD) Workshop and being an invited panelist and speaker for multiple conferences around the world. She has made contributions to research through her 79 peer-reviewed publications on Oncology. Her specific fields of interest are malignant haematology and breast cancer.

Dr. Jennifer Cohn is an infectious disease physician with a focus on improving access to and uptake of effective health products and models of care in low- and middle-income countries. She currently serves as the global health access leader for the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP), and is a clinical associate professor of Infectious Diseases and Scholar at the Center for Global Health at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Before joining GARDP, Jennifer served as Senior Vice President for cardiovascular health at Resolve to Save Lives, Senior Director of Innovation at the Elizabeth Glaser Paediatric AIDS Foundation, and as the Medical Coordinator for the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Access Campaign. Jennifer has served on international advisory groups for TB, HIV, non-communicable diseases and viral hepatitis. She has published over 80 papers in peer-reviewed medical journals.  Jennifer received her MD from University of Pennsylvania, is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases and earned her Masters in Public Health at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Jan Gheuens, MD, PhD, joined the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2007. As an incoming Sr. Program Officer, Jan focused on the “new tools” to combat tuberculosis (TB) – the diagnostics with FIND, the vaccines with AERAS and the drugs with the TB Alliance.
After a temporary assignment as Interim Director for the TB Program, Jan became the Deputy Director for TB drugs in 2013. He retired from this role and the Gates Foundation in the summer of 2017. During his tenure at the foundation, Jan made a major contribution to changing the process of developing new TB drug regimens by testing new drugs in combination before they are individually approved.

Jan came to the Gates Foundation from Amgen, where he was Vice President, Global Development Operations, and R&D Japan. Prior to his 6 years at Amgen, Jan spent 10 years at Johnson and Johnson. He took on various product development, clinical development and medical affairs roles at Janssen Research Foundation and Janssen Pharmaceutica US, culminating as Vice President Medical Affairs.
Before joining the biopharmaceutical sector he was trained as a Neurologist in his native Belgium, did a postdoctoral fellowship in the NIH Intramural Program, was awarded a Ph.D. in Neuroimmunology, and served for 7 years on the faculty at the University Hospital of Antwerp.

Manuel earned his medical degree in the Lisbon Medical School in 1977, and practiced general medicine in the Portuguese NHS until 1988. He is an elected member of the Portuguese Medical Academy and was a consultant to the General Management of the Largest Public University of Lisbon (NOVA) since 2003 and an elected member of its General Council 2008 – 2018. In June 2018 Manuel was appointed by the Ministers of Science and Technology; and Health of Portugal, member of the Committee that created the Portuguese Agency for Clinical Investigation and Biomedical Innovation – AICIB. Manuel worked in the Pharma Industry from 1984 to 2018 in Portugal France and UK. He became Vice President and General Manager of GSK’s pharmaceuticals business in Portugal in 1997. During the period 1997-2009 he was Board Member and Vice-Chairman of the Portuguese Pharma Trade Association. Manuel Gonçalves was part of the team that created ViiV Healthcare Plc in 2009 a fully dedicated HIV company. He was Executive Vice President, Head of External Affairs and Communications and a member of ViiV Executive Committee from 2009 to 2018. During his time in ViiV, Manuel and his team were responsible for developing innovative and ground-breaking partnerships with key stakeholders that enabled access to ViiV medicines in most resource poor countries. Manuel was elected Co-Chairman, of the International AIDS Society, Industry Liaison Forum in 2014, position that he occupied until February 2018.

Dr Martha Gyansa-Lutterodt is the Director of Technical Coordination at the Ministry of Health, Ghana. Martha is a product of KNUST Ghana, Leeds University, United Kingdom in Health Policy and GIMPA’s School of Governance and Leadership. Martha also holds a Doctorate in Pharmacy from KNUST, Ghana. She serves on several national and international boards and also was a Lancet Commissioner on Essential Medicines in 2015. She is an Expert member of the World Health Organisation Expert Committee on Medicines Policy and Management. She has several publications on various topics like Universal Health Coverage, TRIPS, DOHA and Access to medicines, policy options for Ghana, Antibiotic Resistance in Ghana by Lancet Infectious Diseases among others. Martha is also a Board member for Africa Palliative Care Association. She is a fellow of West African Post Graduate College of Pharmacists and Foundation fellow of Ghana College of Pharmacists. She is the chair for Ghana’s Alliance for Antimicrobial Resistance. She was an Expert member of United Nations Interagency Coordinating Group on Antimicrobial Resistance. Until March 2019 Martha was the immediate Chief Pharmacist and Director of Pharmaceutical Services for Ghana.

Ellen ‘t Hoen (1960) directs Medicines Law & Policy, a group of legal and policy experts offering services to international organisations, governments and non-governmental organisations. She is a researcher affiliated with the Global Health Law Unit of the University Medical Centre Groningen. She is the former director of policy for Médecins sans Frontières’ Campaign for access to essential medicines and former Executive Director of the Medicines Patent Pool. She has published widely and is the author of several books. In 2017 she received the Prix Prescrire for her latest book “Private Patents and Public Health: Changing intellectual property rules for public health.” She holds a Masters in Law from the University of Amsterdam and a PhD (cum laude) from the University of Groningen, The Netherlands.

Jordan Jarvis (she/her) is a health policy and systems researcher with a focus on the governance and political economy of medicines and health products, particularly for non-communicable diseases. She currently serves as a Senior Policy Advisor for the Ontario Ministry of Health (Canada). Jordan earned her doctorate in public health (DrPH) from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. Previously, as the Executive Director of the Young Professionals Chronic Disease Network, Jordan led advocacy focused on improving health equity and access to health products for people suffering from non-communicable diseases. She has worked and consulted for diverse global health institutions, including the World Health Organization, the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases, and Amref Health Africa in Kenya. She also serves as an associate editor for BMC Globalization & Health and on WHO’s Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases. She completed a postgraduate research fellowship with the Harvard Global Equity Initiative, earned a MSc in Medical Biophysics from the University of Toronto, and a BSc (Hons.) in Biology from Western University in Canada.

Giten is currently the Community and Policy Program Manager at amfAR’s TREAT Asia programme in Bangkok, Thailand. He has been working on improving HIV and hepatitis C treatment access, advocating for price reductions, scaling up of national responses and improving regulatory uptake of direct-acting antivirals in South and South East Asia. He also serves as a trainer on viral hepatitis events with regional and national community networks.
Giten has been a member of World Health Organization’s Global Guidelines Development Group on hepatitis B and hepatitis C besides being a member of the Expert Advisory Group on hepatitis C with the Medicines Patent Pool. He also has served in different technical groups on viral hepatitis in WHO WPRO and SEARO region. He has been a resource person and keynote speaker in various national, regional and global viral hepatitis and HIV related events. He was also profiled as a Change Maker for hepatitis C by the Economist Intelligence Unit in 2016.

Gugu Nolwandle Mahlangu is the current Director-General of the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe and a pharmacist by profession. Ms Mahlangu gained her initial professional experience in hospital pharmacy and community pharmacy management. However, most of her 30 working years has been spent in the arena of medicines regulation. She has served the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe and its predecessor, the Drugs Control Council, in various technical and managerial capacities culminating in her appointment as Director-General in 2012. Ms Mahlangu has been involved in the regulation of the professions, first as the pharmacist member of the Health Professions Council, and then as the first chairperson of the Pharmacists Council.

She is a member and past President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Zimbabwe, former Chairperson of the Medical Research Council of Zimbabwe and a former board member of the National Pharmaceutical Company. She has been actively involved in the harmonisation of regulatory activities regionally and continentally, particularly with respect to capacity development for NRAs. She is a member of the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Drug Evaluation, sits on a number of WHO Expert Committees and chaired the Task Team to establish the African Medicines Agency (AMA).

Valérie Paris joined the OECD Secretariat in September 2005 to contribute to the work undertaken by the Health Division. Since then, she has contributed to several projects on health systems’ characteristics and performance, providers’ payments, pharmaceutical policies and regional variations in health care use. She co-ordinated and co-authored the OECD reports New Health Technologies – Managing Access, Value and Sustainability (2017) and Pharmaceutical Innovation and Access to Medicines (2018). She is responsible for most OECD projects related to pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
Previously, she was researcher at the French Institute of Research and Information on Health Economics (IRDES), a non-for-profit organisation. She participated in research projects on pharmaceutical policies, physicians’ payment schemes, health accounts and comparative analysis of health systems. She holds a master’s degree in Economics, statistics and econometrics from the University of Paris 1-Sorbonne (1990).

Fatima Suleman is a Professor in the School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal and Professor, and former Prince Claus Chair of Development and Equity: Affordable (Bio)Therapeutics for Public Health (until September 2018) at Utrecht University. She is a Fulbright Alumnus (Fulbright Scholar 2002-2004). She has received numerous grants from the National Research Foundation, the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the Medical Research Council and the National Institute of Health. She has been appointed by the Minister of Health to serve on the National Pricing Committee (2010-current) and is currently the Chair of the Pricing Committee. She was appointed on the World Health Organization Pricing Policy Guideline Committee (2011-2012); Rapporteur for the World Health Organization’s Expert Committee on Selection and Use of Essential Medicines for 2017 and 2019 and appointed as Chair of the WHO informal advisory group on Availability and Affordability of Cancer Medicines for 2018. She also has collaborations with the Oslo Cochrane Centre, in the field of pharmaceutical policy. She has been appointed to the World Health Organization’s Expert Advisory Panel on Drug Evaluation (2017 – 2021), and as a council Member for the African Forum on Research and Education in Health (AFREhealth) PI Council from 2016 to date. She is currently an expert member of the Guideline Development Group for updating WHO Guideline on Country Pharmaceutical Pricing Policies for 2019-2020.

Landry Bertaux joined the Medicines Patent Pool in February 2022 as Biologic Health Products Expert within the newly created Technology Transfer Unit. Before joining MPP, Landry worked for 17 years at Sanofi Pasteur in Formulation and Drug Substance Process Development before leading the CMC activities (Manufacturing, Testing and associated Regulatory and Quality) for New Vaccines in Development. Landry holds a Master of Science in Biotechnology from the European High School of Biotechnology (Germany, Switzerland, France) and a Master’s degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the Strasbourg University (France).

Tiwadayo Braimoh joined the Medicines Patent Pool in February 2021 as Policy and Advocacy Manager. After 9 years of working in sales, marketing and business development in the pharmaceutical industry, Tiwadayo joined Clinton Health Access Initiative in 2013 where he held several positions in Nigeria and Rwanda, mainly focusing on access and health policy. His last position was as Senior Technical Advisor for Health Financing at the Ministry of Health, Rwanda. At MPP, he works on the policy aspects of COVID-19 with a focus on Africa. Tiwadayo holds a MSc in Health Policy, Planning and Financing from the London School of Economics and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicines and an MBA from the University of Lagos. He is also a Pharmacist and Fellow of the West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists.

Esteban Burrone is our Head of Policy. Esteban has been with us since we were established, in 2010, and oversees our partnerships with a wide range of external organisations. These include governments, intergovernmental organisations, civil society and community-based organisations. He is part of our senior management team and has overall responsibility for our Patents and Licences Database MedsPaL and for the annual Prioritisation report. Esteban has more than 15 years of experience working in the field of innovation, IP rights and access to medicines with a focus on developing countries. Esteban holds a Master of Science in Development Studies from the London School of Economics, a Master in Business Administration from the International University in Geneva and a Master in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Marco Casalini joined the Medicines Patent Pool as Business Development Manager in June 2021, bringing professional experience in the healthcare industry, mainly working in the Alliance Management & Licensing department at the Menarini Group and in the Management Consulting division at Accenture, where he gained experience in IN & OUT-licensing and management of key partnerships.
Marco holds a master’s degree in Management from Bocconi University in Milan (Italy) and a bachelor’s in business administration from the University of Perugia (Italy).

Aditi Das joined the Medicines Patent Pool in January 2021 as Business Development Manager, Technical and Regulatory Affairs, at the Indian Liaison Office in Mumbai. Aditi supports the Business Development team with respect to the technical and regulatory aspects of drug product development. Aditi has a rich experience of 18 years in diverse areas of drug product development including formulation and process development, technology transfer and Quality by Design across several organisations including Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Sandoz, Novartis, and Zydus Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining MPP, Aditi was heading the Centre of Excellence for topical products for Zydus Pharmaceuticals. Aditi holds a master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Banaras Hindu University, India.

Meghmala Das is a Business Development Manager and joined the Medicines Patent Pool in October 2017. At MPP, she is responsible for alliance and partnership management in addition to analysing data for monitoring progress of projects. She brings a wealth of experience in data analysis and project management to this role having worked previously at Axtria in pharmaceutical analytics and the economics affairs department of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Meghmala holds a bachelor’s degree in business studies and a master’s degree in business economics, both from the University of Delhi.

Gerry Fayolle joined the Medicines Patent Pool in June 2022 as Finance and Administration Officer. Gerry works with Muriel Lacombe for the finance department. As an accountant he’s mainly in charge of supplier invoices, professional expenditures and payment. Gerry hold the Baccalaureate in finance and accountancy, the technician brevet in management and accountancy and a license in finance and administration, moreover brings almost 4 years as a Junior Accountant for several companies, handling customers and suppliers bookkeeping.

Ruth Foley joined MPP as Monitoring and Evaluation Manager in June 2021. She brings with her 19 years of experience in the NGO sector, with specific expertise in monitoring, evaluation and strategy development as well as in advocacy on human rights, gender equality and HIV. Previous employers include the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Ruth holds a Master in International Affairs from the Graduate Institute in Geneva and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Oriental Studies from the University of Cambridge.

Lobna Gaayeb joined the Medicines Patent Pool in November 2019 as Long-Acting Technologies Project Manager. She supports the establishment of a long-acting technologies access hub, by bringing in her experience in scientific projects coordination acquired at the Institut Pasteur, where she managed for five years a 22-countries One Health Network of national laboratories, academia and public health institutions. Her previous work includes infectious diseases-related research and capacity building in low- and middle-income countries.
Lobna is Veterinarian by training. She holds a Masters in Biology and a PhD in Clinical Research, Technological Innovation and Public Health. She loves working in multicultural environments. Her native languages are Spanish, Arabic and French, and she speaks fluently English and Italian.

Charles Gore is the Executive Director of the Medicines Patent Pool. He took up the post in July 2018 following a career in patient representation and public health advocacy. In a short period of time, he has advanced the work of MPP in HIV and viral hepatitis and led the organisation’s strategy for expanding its mandate into essential medicines and COVID-19 treatments as well as the licensing of technology with an initial focus on COVID-19 vaccines and pandemic preparedness.

He was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 1995 and cirrhosis in 1998. In 2000 he set up The Hepatitis C Trust in the UK which he ran for 18 years. In 2002 he was treated and cured of the virus. He helped create the European Liver Patients Association and was its first President in 2004. In 2007 he organised a meeting of hepatitis patient organisations from around the world to agree on co-ordinated global action. From this emerged the decision to hold an annual World Hepatitis Day and to create a new NGO, the World Hepatitis Alliance, of which Charles was the President from 2007 until the end of 2017. As a result of advocacy by the Alliance and its members, the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted successive viral hepatitis resolutions in 2010, 2014 and 2016, making World Hepatitis Day an official day, celebrated on 28 July every year, and endorsing the first Global Health Sector Strategy on viral hepatitis with the goal of eliminating hepatitis B and C by 2030.

In addition to direct advocacy with over 50 Ministries of Health, Charles has led on advising countries on finding sustainable domestic financing for hepatitis programmes, including health system elements such as infection control and blood and injection safety. Charles also sits on a number of national and international advisory bodies, including the WHO Director-General’s Strategic and Technical Advisory Committee for Viral Hepatitis and has been a member of all the WHO guideline development groups on testing and treating viral hepatitis.

Ike James joined MPP in March 2022 as Head of Technology Transfer within the newly created Technology Transfer Unit. He is part of our Senior Management Team and has the overall responsibility for overseeing MPPs work in technology transfer, local production in low- and middle-income countries and its role in the ACT-A/COVAX Manufacturing Workforce. Ike has held technical leadership positions at Biovac, Aspen Pharmacare, and Lonza prior to starting at MPP, culminating in approximately 16 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He has focused on the product development, technology transfer, and process validation of small molecules and biological products, together with the operationalisation of new state of the art manufacturing facilities, ensuring the successful commercial launch thereof and compliance to quality and regulatory requirements. Ike holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

Shania Khan joined Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) as Communications Manager focussing on the mRNA Technology Transfer Hub, to develop and implement the company’s marketing plan in line with the company objectives. She is responsible for the design and delivery of the ‘hub’ overall media and marketing strategy. Her remit is to develop an online presence, promote brand awareness, manage events and field trips as well as build and maintain a client base.

Prior to her work at MPP she was Journals Manager at Frontiers Media and Head of Marketing at Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation. Her background includes scientific marketing for the Royal Society and global marketing for the Arab British Chamber of Commerce in London.

At MPP, she is thrilled to apply and grow her marketing expertise, deepen her knowledge of the non-profit sector and, overall, support the success of the organisation’s mission and goals.

Muriel Lacombe joined the Medicines Patent Pool as Finance and Administration Manager in September 2018. Muriel works with the CFO and Head of Human resources, looking after the overall budget of the organisation and ensuring compliance with internal control systems. Muriel brings almost 10 years of experience in accounting, reporting and project management having served as Senior Financial Accountant for the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition and several companies in the private sector, in charge of bookkeeping, audits and reporting. Muriel holds a diploma of business administration from the Business School Nicolas-Bouvier as well as a master’s degree in management and business studies from the University of Geneva.

Nicola Loffredi joined the Medicines Patent Pool a Business Development Manager in September 2019 where he is responsible for the MPP’s pediatric product development portfolio. He has worked and lived in countries such as Italy, Panama, Monte Carlo, the United States and the United Kingdom during his career in the pharmaceutical and contract clinical research industry. Nicola holds a Master’s degree in Biotechnology from Georgetown University in Washington D.C (USA) and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Science from the University of Brighton in England.

Amina Larbi joined the Medicines Patent Pool in September 2018 as Patent Information Manager. Part of the Policy and Advocacy team, she manages our Patents and Licences Database MedsPaL and performs patent searches and analyses. Amina, a registered Swiss and European Patent Attorney, brings to the organisation her broad experience as a patent specialist in the private sector, particularly in the field of biopharmaceuticals. Her experience extends from prior-art searching, performing patentability studies, patent drafting and prosecution, handling of patent and trademark portfolios to the management of intellectual property databases and systems. Before joining MPP, Amina worked for five years for two small companies active in the field of mechanics (medical devices, optics, security printing) after having worked for 14 years in the Intellectual of Property Department of the pharmaceutical company Merck-Serono S.A, based in Geneva. Amina holds a master’s degree in biology from the University of Geneva.

Mila Maistat joined the Medicines Patent Pool in May 2017 as Policy and Advocacy Manager, bringing more than 15 years of policy and advocacy experience in HIV/AIDS and viral hepatitis to the organisation. She was most recently Senior Program Advisor with the Alliance for Public Health (International HIV/AIDS Alliance) where she led policy and policy activities to support the scale-up of hepatitis C diagnostics and treatment in Ukraine and other countries. Mila is a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Strategy and Technical Advisory Group on viral hepatitis and the WHO guidelines’ development and peer-review groups as well as a member of the Lancet Commission on Accelerating the Elimination of Viral hepatitis. She also chaired the Hepatitis C Group for Unitaid’s non-governmental organisation (NGO) delegation and continues to serve as a member of the HIV in Europe Steering Committee. Mila was recognised by the Economist as one of the leading voices for advocacy to increase access to affordable diagnostics and treatment of viral hepatitis. Mila holds a master’s degree in English and German from Gogol State University and a master’s degree in Social Sciences and Technologies (Sociology, Public Relations) from the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy. She speaks Ukrainian, Russian, English and German.

Gelise McCullough joined the Medicines Patent Pool in January 2020 as Head of Communications. Gelise is a public health professional with 20 years of experience. She has come from Unitaid where she worked for nearly 12 years in programme management and communication on range of innovative grants including intellectual property. She is dedicated to access to treatment and has worked with a wide range of partners, international, government and civil society, to ensure quality, adapted and affordable medicines and diagnostics are made available to those who need it most. She enjoys fostering partnerships and engaging stakeholders towards a common goal. Gelise has worked in communication roles with a number of International Organisations: United Nations Development Program (UNDP), World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF. Gelise holds a Master’s in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where she specialised in health promotion. Her first degree was in Communications.

Hannah Moak joined the Medicines Patent Pool as Business Development Manager in April 2017 where she is responsible for the MPP’s in-licensing efforts. To this role, Hannah brings private sector experience in corporate strategy, alliance management, project management, marketing, and health education, most recently working at Vanda Pharmaceuticals. She has interned for the World Health Organization, the Atlanta Center for Medical Research and the National Institutes for Health and has co-authored research articles in the Journal of American Association of Animal Laboratory Science. Hannah is an Executive MBA candidate at the University of Geneva and holds a Masters degree in Public Health from George Washington University, USA, and a Bachelor of Arts from Emory University, USA.

Abhijeet More joined the Medicines Patent Pool in October 2021 as Business Development – Alliance Manager at the Indian Liaison Office. Abhijeet is responsible for managing alliances with generic manufacturers (MPP licensees) and ensuring the fulfilment of contractual obligations. Abhijeet comes with 16 years of experience in international business development and sales in the pharmaceutical industry and medical devices in Europe and Africa, having worked for companies such as Cipla and Ipca laboratories in business development, and Meril Life Sciences in sales. Abhijeet has expertise in business development, forming and managing alliances between pharmaceutical distributors for commercialisation of products in Africa. Abhijeet holds a Post Graduation in Foreign Trade Management from MVIRDC, World Trade Centre, Mumbai and a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management.

Sébastien Morin joined the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) in May 2019 as Policy and Advocacy Manager, bringing more than six years of policy and advocacy experience in HIV and viral hepatitis to the organisation. He was since 2013 a Research Officer in the HIV Programmes and Advocacy Department of the International AIDS Society (IAS), where he led the work of the Industry Liaison Forum on paediatric HIV and regulatory affairs, as well as the efforts of the HIV Co-Infections and Co-Morbidities initiative in the areas of viral hepatitis (mostly hepatitis C) and tuberculosis.

Sébastien is author of several peer-reviewed and other publications on paediatric drug formulations, hepatitis C, people who inject drugs, regulatory affairs and treatment access, in addition to the scientific articles originating from his basic research work on antibiotic resistance and HIV infection.

Sébastien holds a PhD in Biochemistry from Laval University (Québec, Canada) and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Basel (Basel, Switzerland); he speaks French, English and Spanish.

At MPP, Sébastien’s work in the policy space covers various disease areas (including HIV and TB) and geographies (with a focus on the Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean regions). Sébastien is also involved in the paediatric space, contributing to the Global Accelerator for Paediatric Formulations (GAP-f).

Monica Moschioni joined MPP in March 2022 as Project Manager within the newly created Technology Transfer Unit. Before joining MPP, Monica worked for six years at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) on two multi-country MDR-TB Phase III clinical trials sponsored by MSF (TB-PRACTECAL and endTB) as Country Coordinator and Trial Manager. Before MSF, Monica worked for 15 years at Novartis Vaccines and GSK Vaccines in the Research and Development Department leading vaccine coverage evaluation projects in high -, low- and middle-income countriesfor vaccines in early or late development phase. Monica holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from Bologna University (Italy), a Master in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (UK) and a Master of Science in Pharmacy from the University of Padova (Italy).

Rajesh Murthy has worked at the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) Liaison Office in India since 2017. He has more than 15 years of experience in R&D and project management at university and in the pharmaceutical industry. In his role as Head of Partnerships and Business Management in India, Rajesh provides a pivotal role overseeing all activities that arise from signing a license, both for the MPP and licensees. patents and generic manufacturers. All of these relationships are managed with the objective of ensuring access to MPP licensed products for patients in need in low- and middle-income countries. Rajesh holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Cincinnati (USA).

Valentina Ndibalema joined our Communications Team in May 2022 as a  Digital Communications Officer. Within her current role, she is responsible for maintaining MPP’s online presence, with a specific attention to social media channels, website management, working with consultants and agencies for the design of visuals for online and print and the procurement of marketing materials. Overall, she supports with the smooth running of the communications’ department.

As a Communications professional, she brings forth skills and years of experience from her communications and digital media background in supporting the implementation of Corporate Communications strategies and the business communications needs for organizations and companies. Valentina holds a Bachelor of Arts degrees in Broadcast Journalism and African Studies from Pennsylvania State University. She has worked in the private sector and for international organisations in the USA, Switzerland, Tanzania and China

Kelvin Nguyen joined the Medicines Patent Pool in May 2022 as Associate Counsel, where he works with the legal team on negotiating and drafting licence agreements, as well as on a variety of matters relating to MPP governance. He is an Australian-trained intellectual property lawyer with a scientific background in pharmacology and physiology.  Prior to joining MPP, Kelvin worked as an Associate at an Australian law firm, MinterEllison, focusing on patent law and health technologies.  He has also worked as a Legal Advisor at an Australian government health practitioner regulation agency.  He has received a Master of Laws from Georgetown University Law Center, a Graduate Diploma in Laws from the University of Melbourne, and a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Health Sciences from the University of Adelaide.

Parag Nimbolkar joined the Medicines Patent Pool as a Business Development Manager in May 2022 where he is responsible for the in-licensing activities at MPP. In this role, Parag brings private sector experience in business development and licensing. Parag has over 10 years of experience in a variety of fields such as the licensing of biosimilars and injectable and generic products, corporate strategy and M&A’s, market access and portfolio management.

Parag has worked with IQVIA, Dr. Reddy’s and more recently with Intas Pharmaceuticals. Parag holds a Master of Pharmaceutical Management from NIPER, Mohali, India and a Bachelor of Pharmacy from the University of Pune, India.

Sandra Nobre joined the Medicines Patent Pool in October 2018 as Head of Business Development. Sandra has had a successful career within the pharmaceutical industry over the past 17 years and in her previous position as the Senior Director of Global Business Development at pharmaceutical company Takeda. Sandra enjoys working internationally and integrates well with multicultural and multinational companies. She also has a deep knowledge of the global health care ecosystem. Sandra earned a Master of Science in Chemistry from Universidade de Coimbra, a Master of Science in Biotechnology from Instituto Superior Técnico (both in Portugal), and an MBA in Entrepreneurship and Business Development from Université de Genève.

Nataliya Omelchuk joined the Medicines Patent Pool in September 2020 within the legal team as Associate Counsel, to work on negotiations and drafting of licensing agreements, as well as on a variety of MPP legal matters. Nataliya brings to MPP as a lawyer an extensive industry and non-for profit experience. As of lately, she was contributing to access to safe and affordable medicines for neglected diseases at Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) in Geneva. Nataliya has received a law degree from the National University Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine, a Master degree from University of Toulouse, France and an LL.M in International Arbitration Law from the University of Stockholm, Sweden.

Chan Park is the Medicines Patent Pool’s General Counsel. He has been with MPP since it was established in 2010, overseeing all legal matters of the organisation. As General Counsel, Chan forms a vital part of our negotiation team, and has successfully negotiated and drafted our licensing agreements. Before joining MPP, Chan was a member of the team at Unitaid that conceptualised and established our organisation. An attorney by training, Chan practised IP law with US firm, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati, and served as Senior Technical and Policy Advisor for the Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS unit in India. He has consulted for a number of international organisations, including the United Nations Development Programme, the World Health Organization and Unitaid, on a range of issues related to IP and access to medicines. Chan received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania, USA and his Juris Doctor from the New York University School of Law, USA.

Manuele Piccolis joined the Medicines Patent Pool as Scientific Manager for Infectious Diseases in March 2020. He holds a PhD in Life Sciences from the University of Geneva and he has an extensive experience in metabolism. Before joining MPP, Manuele worked at the Gladstone Institutes (CA), Harvard HSPH (MA), EPFL (CH). More recently he was responsible for the clinical evaluation of Rapid Diagnostic Test for infectious diseases in LMIC. In MPP, he joined the Business Development team bringing his scientific expertise in the evaluation of treatments that are candidates for in-licensing.

Maneesha Ranaut started working with the Medicines Patent Pool in February 2019 as an Executive Assistant at the Indian Liaison Office. She was then promoted to the position of Project Manager-Business Development in July 2021. Maneesha manages the internal relationships for the MPP Business Development Team and aids the out-licensing management activities. Before joining MPP, she was associated with Wilhelm Fricke as an Executive Assistant and Logistics Manager. Her previous employment with Oberoi Hotels and Resorts provided her with valuable hospitality experience. Maneesha graduated from the University of Himachal Pradesh in India with a Bachelor’s degree in Science.

Giulia joined the Medicines Patent Pool in June 2020 as Scientific Manager for non-communicable diseases (NCDs). She is part of the Policy and Advocacy team and she is in charge of supporting the selection of treatment candidates for the expansion of the in-licensing activities in the WHO Essential Medicine List. She spent the first seven years of her career working in the pharmaceutical industry following medical affairs and drug development activities. In the past five years, she worked at a non-governmental organisation focused on health system strengthening in sub-saharan Africa, in charge of various public health projects on the field. She is bringing to MPP her knowledge of profit, not-for-profit and academic sectors both in developed and developing countries and her experience of health systems in low resource settings in order to support the effort of selecting the right candidates for in-licensing.
Giulia holds a master degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technologies, a PhD in Epidemiology and is a registered Pharmacist.

Zongyuan Tang joined the Medicines Patent Pool in December 2021 as Patent Information Officer. A member of the Policy and Advocacy team, she supports the Patent Information Manager, and is responsible for medicines, vaccines, patents data entry and management, collecting information on pharmaceutical test data exclusivity, preparing listings of patents and patents applications and contributing to the further development of MedsPal and VaxPal databases. Prior to joining MPP, Zongyuan worked for the World Intellectual Property Organization for two years and a half in the Madrid Information System Division, Madrid Registry, Brands and Designs Sector, based in Geneva. Zongyuan holds a master’s degree in Business Administration and a double bachelors’ degree in Business Administration and Management from the Webster University of Geneva.

Sophie Thievenaz is our Communications Manager since October 2016, managing online communications, visual identity and branding, as well as events and publications. She also works closely with the Head of Communications to implement our communications strategy. Sophie acted as Head of Communications a.i. from June-December 2019. Sophie comes with a wealth of communications and advocacy experience, having served as Communications Officer for the Sanitation and Water for All Global Partnership, hosted by UNICEF in Geneva. Here, Sophie managed the organisation’s web and social media presence, publications and events. She also worked as the Communications and Campaign Coordinator for Yfoundations, a non-profit organisation working to address youth homelessness in Sydney, Australia, and for the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Annecy, France. Sophie has a master’s degree in political science from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques d’Aix-en-Provence and a postgraduate diploma in corporate social responsibility from the London Metropolitan Business School, UK.

Agnese joined the Medicines Patent Pool as Grants and Operations Manager in November 2020. She supports the Head of Strategy, Operations and Resource Mobilisation in ensuring the smooth running of the day-to-day operations of the organisation and the efficient management of grants and donor relations. Agnese is genuinely committed to work for organisations that ensure access to equal opportunities for all. She has worked in the non-profit sector for nearly 8 years as Programme Finance Associate, Afghanistan for the International Development Law Organization, as Project Officer, Somalia for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and most recently as Officer, Operational efficiency at the Global Fund. She holds a Master of Science degree in International Management from King’s College, London and a Bachelor of Arts from John Cabot University in Rome.

Priyanka Vagal joined the Medicines Patent Pool in October 2021 as Office Assistant, bringing more than nine years of experience working in the healthcare industry to the organisation. She is responsible for providing support to, and facilitating the smooth running of the India office through the maintenance of various administrative tasks, and the coordination with the Finance Department and Office Manager in MPP’s Geneva office. Prior to joining us, Priyanka worked in assistant roles for organisations such as Hopscotch Heath PVT Ltd, Reach therapy Center for Children, and Fortis hospital. Priyanka graduated in Home Science from SNDT University Mumbai, India.

Ashok Valechha joined MPP in March 2022 as Business Development – Alliance Manager at the Indian Liaison Office. At MPP, he is responsible for alliance management with generic manufacturers (MPP licensees). Ashok comes with 15 years of rich experience in pharma industry with a knowledge of generic pharmaceutical product development, project management and business development, having worked for companies such as Famy Care & Zydus Cadila. Prior to joining MPP, he was heading the Project Management function at Bliss GVS Pharma Ltd. Ashok holds a Bachelor’s in pharmacy and Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management from Mumbai University.