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.

Prof. Alexandra Calmy is a medical doctor, trained in internal medicine and in Infectious diseases (FMH), and holds a PhD in clinical research PhD in HIV/AIDS obtained in Sydney, Australia (Prof. Andrew Carr, 2005-2008). She is currently an associate Professor and head of the HIV/AIDS Unit in Geneva University Hospital. Prof. Calmy’s research interest is in the public health and humanitarian response to HIV/AIDS, specifically the provision of antiretroviral therapy and management of side-effects in resource limited settings. She has worked as a medical doctor with Médecins Sans Frontières in Cambodia in 1996 and has subsequently supported MSF’s HIV/AIDS work for more than 10 years. She is a member of WHO working groups on the writing and the implementation of guidelines related to the treatment of HIV in developing countries since 2001, head of CSS13 committee at the “Agence Nationale de Recherche sur le SIDA” (ANRS), member of the scientific board of the Swiss HIV Study Cohort (SHCS), and the Federal commission of Sexual Health in Switzerland. She is also a reviewer for numerous well recognised medical journals and has published over 200 articles in peer-reviewed medical journals.

Akthem Fourati, MD, is the chief of Medicines and Nutrition Centre in UNICEF Supply Division supporting the procurement of Medicines and Nutrition products for Maternal and Child Health programmes. He joined UNICEF in 2006 and has mainly worked on Immunisation, HIV/AIDS and Maternal/Child health programmes.

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.

Jordan Jarvis is a Canadian researcher and advocate on global non-communicable disease and access to medicines issues. She is currently a Doctor of Public Health candidate at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and visiting researcher at St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto. Her research is focused on pharmaceutical policy and the political economy of non-communicable disease treatment and prevention, which is supported through a CIHR Doctoral Award. Jordan previously helped establish and served as the Executive Director of the Young Professionals Chronic Disease Network (YP-CDN), a global independent advocacy organisation that seeks to mobilise young leaders to promote social justice and health worldwide. She has also worked for the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases, Amref Health Africa in Kenya, and the WHO, as well as consulted on projects for Health Action International and the American Cancer Society (Global). Her work has been featured in various publications such as The Lancet, Health Affairs, and the WHO Bulletin, and she’s been a speaker for TEDx. Jordan completed a postgraduate research fellowship at the Harvard Global Equity Initiative/Harvard Medical School, has a Master of Science in Medical Biophysics from the University of Toronto, and a BSc (Hons.) in Biology from Western University.

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.

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.

Sasha Volgina became interested in HIV activism and advocacy after receiving HIV+ diagnosis in 2000: she was one of the co-founders of FrontAIDS, the first treatment advocacy group in Russia, and co-founded Svecha, one of the first community-based organisations. In 2009-2010, she co-founded the first All-Russian Women Network “E.V.A.” and was co-founder of the “Patients in Control” Treatment Access Movement, which received Red Ribbon Award for advocacy campaign against ARV stock outs in 2011. Since 2013, Sasha have worked in the East Europe & Central Asia Union of People Living with HIV Secretariat, based in Kiev, Ukraine, as the Senior Advocacy Officer. She is creating and implementing programs that enable dialogue between PLHIV, health professionals, governments, pharmaceutical companies and international organisations in the EECA region. Sasha focuses on mobilising the regional PLHIV community to be involved as much as possible into access to treatment and human rights advocacy on the regional level and in their countries, developing capacity and expertise of community in treatment literacy, IP issues, negotiations with pharmaceutical companies, human rights violations, stigma and discrimination resistance. Since 2015, she has been working in the All-Ukrainian Network of PLHIV as International Relations Advisor – responsible for international work, representation and partnership development of the organisation. Sasha is a former member of the NGO Delegation to the UNAIDS PCB and currently serves as an acting member of the Communities Delegations of both the Global Fund and UNITAID boards. Now Sasha is working for GNP+, based in Netherlands, as program manager.

Karine Belondrade joined the Medicines Patent Pool as Head of Strategy, Operations and Resource Mobilisation in October 2018. She is part of our senior management team and has overall responsibility for overseeing the operationalisation of the organisation’s strategy, its implementation and the mobilisation of the necessary resources. Karine is greatly committed to health equity and has worked in the public health non-profit sector for nearly 10 years in the field of viral hepatitis most recently as Chief Operating Officer / Acting CEO at the World Hepatitis Alliance in London. As such, she has significant leadership and management experience and a great knowledge of the environment in which MPP operates. Karine has a BSc in International Development from Birkbeck, University of London.

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.

Vincent Chauvin joined us in September 2016. As CFO & Head of Human Resources, Vincent brings more than 15 years of international experience in finance and human resources management to the organisation. Vincent is the former International Finance & IT Director and Finance Manager for Aide et Action International in Geneva, Switzerland, where he managed finance and administration for its network of regional offices. Before joining Aide et Action, Vincent spent ten years in the private sector working for Sudler & Hennessey, Dexia and Renault, among other companies. Vincent has a business degree from École de Management de Lyon, France.

Priyam joined the Medicines Patent Pool in April 2020 as Communications Manager (maternity cover). She brings to the communications team her experience in public health communications and expertise in scientific research. Priyam is passionate about raising awareness on public health issues and driving behaviour change through effective communication. Prior to joining MPP, Priyam worked as a communications consultant at Unitaid in Geneva; scientific editor at the open access journal Frontiers in Immunology in Lausanne; and editorial intern at the Bulletin of the World Health Organization in Geneva. She holds a Postdoc and PhD in cervical cancer cell biology from University College London and MSc in Biology from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. She loves to work in multicultural environments and with colleagues from across disciplines.

Meghmala Das joined the Medicines Patent Pool as Business Analyst in October 2017 based in Gurgaon, India. She became Business Development Manager in 2019. At MPP, Meghmala is responsible for analysing internal and external data that the foundation generates or obtains to monitor progress of projects and support MPP and its industry partners’ decision making. Meghmala brings a wealth of experience in data analysis to this role having worked on building cost-effectiveness models at Axtria, a company that specialises in pharmaceutical analytics. Meghmala also worked at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in their economic affairs and international division. Meghmala holds a bachelor’s degree in business studies as well as a master’s degree in business economics, both from the University of Delhi.

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.

Andrew S. Goldman joined the Medicines Patent Pool in September 2018 as Associate Counsel based in Geneva, Switzerland, where he works with the legal team on negotiations and drafting of licensing agreements, as well as on a variety of matters relating to MPP governance. Prior to joining MPP, Andrew was counsel for policy and legal affairs at Knowledge Ecology International where he worked on access to medicines and closely related international IP, competition law, and trade concerns. Andrew began his legal career working primarily on intellectual property at Astrachan Gunst Thomas, in Baltimore, Maryland (USA), where he was cross-trained in litigation and transactional work. He received a B.A. from Princeton University, a M.A. from Columbia University, and his J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law in 2012.

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 under two years he has advanced the work of MPP in HIV and viral hepatitis and is opening up further opportunities for the MPP model of voluntary licensing to be used for patented medicines on the World Health Organization (WHO) essential medicines list.

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.

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 Maillard 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 Hepatitis C product development portfolio. To this role, Hannah brings private sector experience in corporate strategy, 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 holds a Masters degree in Public Health from George Washington University, USA, and a Bachelor of Arts from Emory University, USA.

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).

Rajesh Murthy joined the Medicines Patent Pool’s Liaison Office in Gurgaon India as Business Development Manager and Head of Operations in September 2017. Rajesh brings more than 10 years of academic and pharmaceutical industry experience in research & development and project management to the role. At the foundation, Rajesh oversees MPP out-licensing activities and supervises the daily activities of the India office. Prior to joining MPP, Rajesh worked as the head of the research and development division at Perrigo API India, managing a team of 30 members. At Perrigo API India, he was responsible for delivering non-infringing scalable processes for various active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) as well as managing the lifecycle of APIs, from conceptualisation to commercialisation. Rajesh holds a PhD in chemistry from the University of Cincinnati, United States (US), and a post-doctoral fellowship in medicinal chemistry from the South Dakota State University, US, where he synthesised anti-cancer compounds and developed novel drug delivery models. He also established the Core Synthesis Facility at Centre for Protease Research in the US funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). Rajesh has published several scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Sophie Naeye joined the Medicines Patent Pool in March 2016 as Office Manager. A former Executive Assistant to the Vice President of Shaza Hotels Corporate Office in Geneva, Switzerland, Sophie is responsible for general administrative tasks, support to the Executive Director and management of travel and accommodation for our staff. She also supports staff in organising events, as well as ensuring the smooth running of the office and the effective implementation of internal policies and procedures. Sophie holds a Master in Business Studies in International Trade from Waterford Institute of Technology, Ireland.

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 under a third-party payroll. She is now a full-time staff member effective January 2020 and is primarily responsible for providing administrative support and smooth running of the Indian Office. Her main duties also include liaising with the Finance department in Geneva to organise, monitor and maintain properly all administrative and financial processes of the Liaison Office; along with coordinating with office vendors to ensure good delivery of services. Prior to MPP, Maneesha was employed with Wilhelm Fricke, a German firm as an Executive Assistant and Logistics Manager. She also has the useful experience of the hospitality sector due to her past employment with Oberoi Hotels and Resorts. Maneesha holds a Bachelor’s degree in Science from the University of Himachal Pradesh, India.

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.

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.

Bétina Zago joined the Medicines Patent Pool as Communications Officer in April 2019, where she supports the daily running of the Communications Department in managing online communications, visual identity and branding, as well as events and publications.
She has had previous experiences in digital communications for start-up companies, and most recently worked at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as Web Publication Assistant.

She holds a master’s degree in Marketing and Digital Communications from Montpellier Business School, France.