About

With over 25 years in research and development, I have acquired and continue to acquire expertise and skills in several areas from bench to clinic and beyond. I started my journey as a laboratory technician but quickly re-entered higher education to pursue a Ph.D. in life sciences.

My Ph.D. was interrupted by two years of french civil service during which I taught life science in a French secondary school in Tangier (Morocco). After my Ph.D., obtained in 1996, I went through the usual succession of post-doctoral positions in Scotland and England.

Realising that I was better at planning, managing and organising research than doing it, I started my first position as research coordinator in 2002 at Imperial College London, UK. This was followed by a position as senior programme manager, and finally director of operations at the IAVI Human Immunology Laboratory in London, UK. My career took a turn in 2019 when I moved to Switzerland to lead the [Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise](https://vaccineenterprise.org/). My formative years are never ending as I continue to learn everyday.

I am passionate about global health and in particular about infectious diseases and their prevention. My work practice is anchored in Systems Thinking and focusses on people as agents of change in complex and ever-changing environments.

Chairing a panel on HIV vaccine efficacy at the IAS Science Conference 2019 in Mexico. From left to right: Moses “Supercharger” Nsubuga, Jared Baeten, Carl Dieffenbach, Helen Rees, Willem Hanekom, and on my left Linda-Gail Bekker.

Services

– Global health
– Infectious diseases
– HIV prevention
– Vaccines and their manufacture (GMP)
– Basic, laboratory and clinical science (ICH-GCP, GCLP)

– Strategic planning
– Partnership building
– Resources mobilisation
– Grant application development and coordination

– Organisational development, the endeavour to improve an organisation’s capability through the alignment of strategy, structure, people, metrics, and management processes.
– International consortium management
– Grant management and reporting
– Finance & operations
– Capacity building and training (such as grant writing, programmes and project management, research management, scientific writing, scientific and technical training).

– Scientific writing
– Scientific communication and dissemination
– Community engagement
– Advocacy

Selected achievements