Margaret Baker, PhD
Member, Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Baker is an associate professor in the Department of Global Health at Georgetown University. She has 25 years of experience working on Neglected Tropical Diseases and other infectious diseases. She received her MSc from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and her PhD from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Prior to Georgetown University, she worked at RTI International on USAID funded NTD programs, supporting over 20 countries across Africa, Asia, and Haiti; at the National Health Service in the UK in tuberculosis surveillance; at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine; and embedded within the national government lymphatic filariasis programs in Vanuatu (S Pacific) and the Dominican Republic. Dr Baker’s research focuses on increasing the reach of infectious disease interventions through integration and adaptation for special populations. She uses an implementation science approach, drawing on multidisciplinary methods. This work builds on over 25 years of experience in both implementation and research, with a focus on neglected tropical diseases, tuberculosis, and child health. Dr. Baker also teaches courses at the master’s and bachelor’s level, is on the International Health Journal and PLoS NTDs Journal editorial boards and regularly acts as a peer reviewer for multiple journals. She also continues to stay actively engaged with global health practice by serving on the board of trustees for Helen Keller Intl as well as regularly consulting for the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), USAID, and others.
Upendo Mwingira, MD, PhD
Member, Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Mwingira is a leading expert in the control and elimination of neglected tropical diseases (NTD), with over 70 abstracts and peer-reviewed publications to her credit. She serves as a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Working Group. Previously, she was a member for the Global Schistosomiasis Alliance Advisory Board and currently co-chairs its Implementation Working Group and WHO Onchocerciasis Technical Subcommittee. Until recently, she was with RTI International, an independent scientific research institute dedicated to improving the human condition, initially as a Senior NTD Technical Advisor and subsequently as a Technical Director. She also served as the first NTD Program Manager for the Integrated NTD Control Program at the Ministry of Health in Tanzania.
Dr. Mwingira hails from Tanzania. She received her Doctor of Medicine degree from the Russian University of the Friendship of Nations. (RUDN) in Moscow, her Master of Science in Tropical Medicine from Nagasaki University in Japan and her PhD in Medical Research and International Health from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich) in Germany. Her 20-plus-year career in public health includes research and program leadership focused on NTDs in Tanzania and other countries.
Emma Harding-Esch, PhD
Member, Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Harding-Esch is Associate Professor at The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Chief Scientist for Tropical Data. She is an epidemiologist with a focus on neglected tropical diseases, primarily trachoma, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). She obtained both an MSc and PhD from LSHTM. Dr. Harding-Esch led field studies for the Partnership for the Rapid Elimination of Trachoma (PRET) trial in The Gambia. She also has experience in infectious disease surveillance, having served as a Senior Enhanced Surveillance Scientist for Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease at Public Health England (PHE), and Principal Scientist in PHE’s HIV/STI department.
Dr. Harding-Esch was Senior Trials Coordinator for the electronic Self-Testing Instruments for STIs project, led by St George’s, University of London, and served as Program Manager and Epidemiology Lead for the Applied Diagnostic Research and Evaluation Unit (ADREU). She represents Tropical Data as an observer at the International Coalition for Trachoma Control (ICTC) and is a member of the ICTC “special populations” Task Team, the Neglected Tropical Disease NGO Network (NNN) “Conflict and Humanitarian Emergency” working group, and the NNN “WASH” working group. She is also a member of the Trachoma Expert Committee, Chair of the WHO NTD Diagnostic Technical Advisory Group (DTAG) Trachoma Subgroup, and Co-Chair of the Cross-Cutting Subgroup on Surveillance. Additionally, Dr. Harding-Esch is Co-Director of LSHTM’s STI Research Interest Group, LSHTM’s WHO Collaborating Centre for STIs, and Bristol Health Partners Sexual Health Improvement Program.