About the instructor:
Panelists
Dr. Aïssata Barry is a medical doctor with over a decade of experience in malaria research and public health in Burkina Faso. Her PhD research focused on Plasmodium falciparum reservoirs and transmission-stage epidemiology, generating important insights into infectiousness among semi-immune schoolchildren and the role of asymptomatic infections. In 2023, she was appointed Director of Planning, Surveillance, Monitoring & Evaluation and Research within Burkina Faso's National Malaria Elimination Programme. She was nominated for the GBD Emerging Researcher Award in 2022, is a TDR Clinical Research Leadership Fellow (2023), and a Science of Defeating Malaria Alumni (2024). Dr. Barry actively promotes women's leadership in global health and serves as co-chair of two Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Working Groups.
Sylviane Miharisoa is an entomologist and PhD candidate with the Vector Atlas, working at the intersection of field-based vector biology and quantitative disease modelling. Her research applies Bayesian statistical modelling to insecticide resistance across Africa, linking multi-locus genotype and phenotype data with real-world intervention coverage—including insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS)—to understand how resistance evolves under vector control pressure. Building on earlier field research on Aedes and Anopheles mosquitoes in Madagascar, she is committed to translating research into practical solutions that strengthen malaria vector control across the African continent.
Metchanun Nawaphan is a malaria modeller specialising in agent-based and compartmental approaches to guide disease control in resource-limited settings. She completed her PhD at the University of Bonn, in collaboration with the Institute for Disease Modeling (IDM), where she evaluated novel gene drive strategies for malaria elimination in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. With a background in pharmacy and advanced degrees in Clinical Research and Business Administration, she focuses on strengthening malaria modelling and research capacity across Southeast Asia, ensuring that scientific evidence is translated into policy and public health impact.
Dr. Debra Okeh is a global health physician and infectious disease epidemiologist with more than 15 years of experience. She is a 2023 alumna of the Nigeria Malaria Modelling Fellowship and a 2024 alumna of the Faculty Enrichment Program on Applied Malaria Modelling using EMOD. Her research focuses on applying modelling to strategic malaria planning using subnational data. At Corona Management Systems, she co-leads the team providing modelling and analytical support to Nigeria's National Malaria Elimination Programme, including technical assistance for the 2025 Nigeria Malaria Indicator Survey. Dr. Okeh is a member of the AMMnet Learning Committee, the Research Subgroup of the SMC Alliance, and serves as Assistant General Secretary of AMMnet Nigeria.
Professor Sheetal Silal is an internationally recognised leader in infectious disease modelling, with a particular focus on vector-borne diseases, vaccine-preventable diseases, and pandemic preparedness in Africa and globally. She is Director of the Modelling and Simulation Hub, Africa (MASHA) at the University of Cape Town and an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow in Tropical Disease Modelling at the University of Oxford. Her research develops and applies mathematical transmission models to understand disease dynamics, evaluate public health interventions, and support evidence-based decision-making. She chairs the World Health Organization's Immunization and Vaccines-related Implementation Research Advisory Committee and is a Gates Foundation Calestous Juma Science Leadership Fellow. Through these roles, she contributes to global immunization strategy and advances the use of modelling to strengthen health systems, endemic disease control, and pandemic preparedness.
Moderator
Nana Aba Williams is a medicinal chemist and global health leader with more than 20 years of experience leading international health research programmes and knowledge networks. She leads MESA Alliance, the global malaria knowledge-to-action platform that maps the research and implementation landscape, synthesises emerging evidence and trends across the ecosystem, and translates that intelligence into actionable insights to inform policy and practice across the continuum from control to eradication. At the heart of her work is the conviction that progress toward a malaria-free future depends not only on the science being produced, but on whether it reaches the right people, at the right time, in forms they can act on, within an ecosystem that is driven by, and grounded in, the priorities of malaria-endemic countries.
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