Appointment of Technical Director will help shape future of Malaria Consortium

Malaria Consortium today announced the appointment of Katherine Theiss-Nyland to its leadership team as the organisation’s new Technical Director. Katherine brings 15 years’ experience in epidemiology, having worked in diverse public health settings from leading community health programming to providing technical advice to governments and organisations including the World Health Organization. Katherine comes to Malaria Consortium most recently from the private sector, where she led the real-world evidence for Vaccines and Infectious Diseases at Johnson & Johnson. She will support Malaria Consortium to drive key partnerships with international stakeholders and develop policy and implementation recommendations.

Commenting on the appointment, James Tibenderana, Malaria Consortium's Chief Executive said, "Katherine will play a critical role in shaping and delivering Malaria Consortium’s ambition to expand our reach and impact, designing and implementing tailored and integrated solutions to public health problems and focused interventions in maternal and child health. She has an in-depth understanding of the sector, experience in leading large-scale clinical trials and operational research and a passion for reducing disease burdens, especially for underserved communities that will be an asset in contributing to achieving our mission to save lives and improve health across Africa and Asia."

On being offered the role, Katherine said: “I am delighted to be joining the exceptional team at Malaria Consortium, and to build on the incredible success and impact achieved over the past 20 years. With new and diverse tools being developed and deployed, such as the malaria vaccine, I feel a renewed hope and ambition toward an end-game for malaria control and elimination. We also have an opportunity now, more than ever before, to bridge the divide in global health inequities, working with governments to save lives through improved universal health coverage – Malaria Consortium is forward thinking in this space, and I am excited to be part of it.”

Katherine is a formidable leader in the Public Health community, having coordinated Epidemiology research at the University of Oxford and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She trained as a Public Health epidemiologist at the University of California and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, specialising in infectious and vaccine-preventable diseases. Katherine has gained extensive expertise in malaria, vaccines, reproductive health, and health systems strengthening, as well as a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods to address public health challenges.

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