Join us for the virtual ceremony of the Global Goalkeeper 2020 Award to Dr. John Nkengasong, Director of Africa CDC, by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation today at 6.00 pm Eastern Africa Time.
DR. JOHN NKENGASONG (DIRECTOR, AFRICA CDC)
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Director Dr. John Nkengasong has become a central voice for Africa’s scientific community. He is a relentless proponent of global collaboration and evidence-based public health practices, and a champion for minimizing the social and economic consequences of COVID-19 across the African continent.
Through his role as the co-chair of the African CDC Consortium for COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Trials Dr. Nkengasong is leading the securement of a variety of late-stage vaccine clinical trials on the continent by bringing together global vaccine developers, funders, and local facilitators for clinical trials. This work will be vital to ensure the most promising vaccine candidates for the African population are identified and scaled up. He was appointed by the World Health Organization’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as Special Envoy on COVID-19.
Prior to his appointment with Africa CDC, he was Associate Director of Laboratory Science and Chief of the International Laboratory Branch at the Division of Global HIV/AIDS, Center for Global Health at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Nkengasong has been published in internationally revered journals and books and has received several awards for his work on HIV/AIDS.
Please visit http://gates.ly/Goalkeeper-Awards to find out more.