COVID-19 and Gender: Leadership by Women Scientists in Global Health

On April 27, 2021 the Women in Global Health Research Initiative will be virtually hosting its sixth Annual Women in Global Health Research Symposium. To register please visit https://weillcornell.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJctf-yhqj4rG9zE5ZualbH3-4LrdJWFmjNE. We will be highlighting women scientists’ leadership throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and are pleased to announce our three featured panelists: Professor Koleka Mlisana, Dr. Regine Douthard, and Dr. Vanessa Rouzier. 

Information Flyer for Symposium - COVID-19 and Gender: Leadership by Women Scientists in Global Health

Professor Koleka Mlisana is the Executive Manager of Academic Affairs, Research & Quality Assurance at the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) at the South African Ministry of Health. She has conducted research on HIV prevention and pathogenesis, working at the Centre for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) in Durban for over a decade. Her current research interests include TB diagnostics, antimicrobial resistance as well as sexually transmitted infections. Amongst other national commitments, Professor Mlisana recently chaired the Pathology/Laboratory subcommittee of the first established Ministerial Advisory Committee for COVID-19, serves as a member of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance and is a member of the Board of Trustees for the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) as well as the Medical and Dental Board of the HPCSA. 

Dr. Regine Douthard joined the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) in 2018 and serves the ORWH leadership as Senior Medical Officer and as an expert in women’s health, global and environmental health. She earned her MD degree at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Libreville, Gabon and an MPH at Emory University. She completed a residency in Family Medicine and a Fellowship in Environmental and Occupational Medicine at the George Washington University (GWU) Medical Center, in Washington DC. Before joining NIH, Dr. Douthard worked with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Global HIV/AIDS program, helping to establish the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program. She received the HHS Secretary’s Award for her work with the PEPFAR program, and the NIH Director’s Award for her contribution in developing the IDeA States Pediatric Clinical Trials Network (ISPCTN) within the ECHO Program.

Vanessa Rouzier is the Chair of the Department of Paediatrics at GHESKIO in Haiti, the largest HIV/AIDS and TB Center in the Caribbean. She is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in Medicine in the Center for Global Health at Weill Cornell Medicine. She trained at McGill University in Canada (MD 2003) with dual fellowship training in Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases (2010).  In addition to providing clinical care, Dr. Rouzier conducts NIH-funded research in Maternal Child and Adolescent Health. She is the Haiti PI for the NIAID International Maternal, Pediatric, Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trails Network (IMPAACT). She is also involved in several investigator-initiated clinical trials in Haiti on models of care for adolescents living with HIV, community-based ART service delivery, and TB diagnosis and treatment in children. Dr. Rouzier is also the recipient of an NIH Diversity Award on adolescent health outcomes in a population-representative cohort of young people in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.