VOICES IN THE ROOM
Experts shaping global AMR action.
Meet the researchers, practitioners and partners joining the conversation in Abuja.
Meet the researchers, practitioners and partners joining the conversation in Abuja.
Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare
Federal Republic of Nigeria
H.E. Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate leads Nigeria’s Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative. He previously served as Global Director for Health, Nutrition, and Population at the World Bank Group, where he led the health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As Nigeria’s Minister of State for Health, he helped advance polio eradication, vaccine introduction, and primary healthcare through the Saving One Million Lives initiative, which sought to reduce maternal, newborn, and child mortality.
Minister of Environment
Federal Republic of Nigeria
H.E. Alhaji Balarabe Abbas Lawal previously served as Secretary to the Kaduna State Government from 2015 to 2023. His earlier roles included serving as Chief of Staff to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and as Special Assistant to the Ministers of State for Education and Defence.
Minister of Livestock Development
Federal Republic of Nigeria
H.E. Alhaji Idi Mukhtar Maiha spent more than two decades as a career staff member of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), culminating in his appointment as Managing Director of the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC).
Minister of State of Agriculture and Food Security
Federal Republic of Nigeria
H.E. Dr Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi represented the Niger North Senatorial District in the 8th and 9th Senates, serving as Deputy Chief Whip and as Chairman of the Niger State Caucus. He also chaired the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs and served as Senate spokesperson.
Director General
World Health Organization
H.E. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is a global public health leader whose work has focused on strengthening the global health architecture, advancing universal health coverage and modernising emergency response networks. He has also played a leading role in elevating antimicrobial resistance on the global political agenda. His experience in steering multilateral diplomacy and in bringing sovereign states together through legal health treaties offers valuable insights for strengthening regional biosecurity and collective containment.
Director General
World Organisation for Animal Health
H.E. Dr Emmanuelle Soubeyran is a global leader in biosecurity, international animal welfare standards, and cross-border disease containment. She has led national and international animal health administrations and has expertise in developing modern public-private partnerships across the livestock value chain. Her experience offers practical insights into translating theoretical guidelines into frontline animal health protection.
Director General
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention
H.E. Dr. Jean Kaseya is a public health leader whose work focuses on advancing regional biosecurity through localized medical manufacturing, multinational data-sharing networks and integrated epidemiological surveillance frameworks. His diplomatic stewardship during health emergencies offers practical insights into scaling regional biosecurity across borders.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Uruguay to India
Embassy of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay
H.E. Ambassador Fernando Lugris has advanced international environmental governance through multilateral treaty negotiations, cross-border chemical waste regulations and intergovernmental sustainable development frameworks. His experience in unifying diverse geopolitical coalitions to legally protect shared global ecosystems offers valuable insights into aligning multi-country coalitions to address the environmental drivers of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Director General for Health and Food Safety
European Commission
Ms. Sandra Gallina’s work spans public health safety, pharmaceutical governance, sustainable food systems and cross-border emergency preparedness across the European Union. Her regulatory leadership and experience in shaping regional medical rules bring valuable evidence, practical experience and innovative thinking to discussions on accelerating implementation and impact.
Assistant Director-General, Chief Veterinarian, and Director of Animal Production and Health Division
Food and Agriculture Organization
Dr Thanawat Tiensin brings veterinary expertise and leadership to advance sustainable agrifood systems. His work includes transboundary animal disease control, cross-border legislative assessment tools for antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and the global One Health Strategy. His experience in international livestock policies and youth-led agricultural stewardship platforms offers a valuable perspective on minimising antimicrobial misuse in farming ecosystems.
Deputy Director General, International Science and Standards
World Organisation for Animal Health
Dr. Montserrat Arroyo Kuribreña is a leader in veterinary public health, scientific standards, and cross-border frameworks for zoonotic disease control. Her work includes the ANIMUSE global monitoring platform for animal antimicrobial use. She has also helped translate complex animal health data into global standard-setting benchmarks to support preventive biosecurity across the livestock value chain.
Chief, Chemicals and Health Branch
United Nations Environment Programme
Ms. Jacqueline Alvarez is an environmental expert whose work focuses on pollution prevention, cross-border scientific evidence generation through the IPEA, and the development of global guidance on pharmaceutical manufacturing waste. Her work frames the environment as a critical vector in the spread of drug-resistant pathogens and emphasises the implementation of systemic environmental prevention.
Director, a.i., Department of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and Control; Coordinator, Communicable Diseases Prevention and Control Branch
World Health Organization, Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office
Professor Benedetta Allegranzi has technical expertise in infectious disease epidemiology and works to strengthen global health security by championing infection prevention. Her work includes launching global data networks to track healthcare-associated infections, establishing health protocols, and bridging hospital management with international patient safety frameworks and global biosecurity.
Director a.i., AMR Department and Director, Quadripartite Joint Secretariat on AMR
World Health Organization
Dr Jean-Pierre Nyemazi is a leader in advancing multi-sectoral One Health implementation, coordinating aligned international action plans, and empowering essential faith-based and community networks. His background spans healthcare delivery science and high-level international partnership coordination, offering insights into aligning multi-country coalitions to translate global AMR commitments into concrete national outcomes.
Senior Animal Health Officer
Food and Agriculture Organization
Dr Junxia Song advances agricultural biosecurity by designing and implementing a farm-level antimicrobial reduction initiative, global surveillance systems and transboundary disease control protocols. Her work also includes promoting national action plans across member states and translating high-level Quadripartite policies into practical action at farm level, offering valuable insights into sustainable food systems.
Executive Chair of the Fleming Initiative and Director
Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College London
Professor Lord Ara Darzi of Denham’s work spans clinical innovation, cross-sectoral epidemic policy frameworks, and international biosecurity research alliances. His efforts to bring together multidisciplinary stakeholders to address antimicrobial resistance (AMR) offer valuable insights into aligning multi-country coalitions to advance clinical and strategic breakthroughs.
Executive Director
International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions (ICARS), Denmark
Ms Helle Engslund Krarup is a leader in international health cooperation, focusing on advancing global health security through evidence-based operational research, cross-government policy development, and context-specific AMR solutions tailored to low- and middle-income countries. Her background in translating scientific data into localised institutional ownership brings an important perspective to global roadmaps and coordination efforts.
Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer
Foundation for New Innovative Diagnostics (FIND)
Dr Jutta Reinhard-Rupp is a global health leader whose work focuses on advancing diagnostic innovation, cross-border research and development pipelines, and equitable testing access frameworks for vulnerable populations. Through her leadership of the Merck Global Health Institute and her work on public-private partnerships to address neglected diseases, she brings a valuable ground-level perspective to policy roadmaps.
Chief Executive Officer
Access to Medicine Foundation, Netherlands
Dr Jayasree K. Iyer is a global health strategy leader whose work has helped transform the pharmaceutical landscape. She has led independent corporate benchmarking initiatives, advanced sustainable manufacturing frameworks to address critical supply bottlenecks, and driven procurement equity. Her work also focuses on accountability for antimicrobial stewardship and for research and development pipelines, including efforts to align multi-country coalitions to finance global access.
Founder and President
One Health Trust, United States of America
Professor Ramanan Laxminarayan is a global leader whose multidisciplinary work spans multi-sectoral One Health initiatives, large-scale epidemiological mapping and sustainable financing models, all aimed at advancing global health security. His work frames antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as a shared global resource requiring collective management, offering a valuable perspective on how to address AMR.
Founder
Global Strategy Lab, Canada
Professor Steven J. Hoffman is a legal epidemiology expert whose work focuses on developing international frameworks to curb antibiotic resistance. Through his leadership at the Global Strategy Lab and the WHO Collaborating Centre on Global Governance of Antimicrobial Resistance, he champions evidence-based public health policy, global health law, institutional design and regulations governing transnational threats.
Co-Founder and Executive Director
ReAct Africa, Zambia
Professor Mirfin Mpundu brings more than two decades of experience in public health diplomacy. His work includes driving the implementation of national antimicrobial resistance (AMR) action plans across the continent, establishing multi-sectoral parliamentary coalitions and mobilising community-led surveillance networks.
Executive Director
Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP)
Dr Manica Balasegaram’s work focuses on transforming the antimicrobial landscape through non-profit public-private partnerships, accelerating clinical pipelines and securing access strategies for novel treatments targeting drug-resistant infections. With clinical roots at Médecins Sans Frontières and experience guiding the development of breakthrough antibiotics, his work brings an important ground-level perspective to policy roadmaps.
Professor and Calestous Juma Science Leadership Fellow
Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Professor Iruka Okeke’s work spans molecular epidemiology and genomics, with research and advocacy across Africa. Her advisory and surveillance leadership provides a valuable perspective on efforts to address antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Veterinary Officer
Danish Veterinary and Food Administration (DVFA), Denmark
Dr. N. Frederik Fabricius is a veterinary epidemiology expert whose work focuses on prudent antimicrobial use in livestock, including Denmark’s Yellow Card initiative, and on cross-border veterinary surveillance partnerships in developing nations. His data-driven work tracking antibiotic volumes and enforcing agricultural stewardship guidelines supports global coordination.