TLM International Research Committee
Paul Saunderson
Chair of the International Research Committee
Paul received his medical degree from Cambridge University and has been involved in leprosy work since 1981. He is part of the Editorial team at Leprosy Review, the main international scientific journal devoted to leprosy. Now semi-retired, Paul has served on several World Health Organization (WHO) advisory and technical committees and as a member of the International Federation of Anti-Leprosy Associations (ILEP) Technical Commission. He enjoys making the most of the outdoor life around his home in Norway.
Warwick Britton
Professor of Medicine and Immunology, University of Sydney
A clinical immunologist, since 1990 Warwick has led the Mycobacterial Research Program at the Centenary Institute in Sydney to study of host immune responses to M. tuberculosis and M. leprae, antigen discovery, mycobacterial genetics and their application to vaccine development. He has long-standing interests in the global control of tuberculosis and leprosy, and has current studies on developing new TB vaccines and drugs, active case finding to improve TB control in Vietnam and testing new biomarkers for TB disease in Vietnam and China.
Warwick served in a rural hospital in Nepal, then completed his PhD on the immunology of leprosy after which established The Leprosy Mission's Mycobacterial Research Laboratory at Anandaban Leprosy Hospital in Kathmandu for the study of human immune responses to M.leprae
Warwick has served on the International Research Committee since 1989.
Diana NJ Lockwood
Emeritus Professor of Tropical Medicine, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Diana has worked as a clinical researcher, teacher, consultant leprologist, infectious disease physician, and journal editor. Her work has focused on improving the outcome of leprosy patients with nerve damage and has led an international consortium (the ENLIST group) of researchers to improve the management of leprosy patients with the leprosy complication Erythema Nodosum Leprosum (ENL/Type 2 Reaction) Read more about ENLIST here.
Bassey Ebenso
Associate Professor of International Health, University of Leeds
Bassey has built a 20-year disease control career, building from his experiences in West Africa. He has worked with The Leprosy Mission for 15 years and was the Director of The Leprosy Mission Nigeria for 9 years. He studied leprosy-related stigma at Masters and Doctoral level which enabled him to join the University of Leeds as a Research Fellow in 2013. Bassey focused on addressing global challenges and making healthcare fairer by developing collaborative health systems research programmes with partners from African and Asian countries.
His work on developing guidelines and toolkits for reducing health-related stigma and mental health has contributed to international policy changes leading to wide-scale consideration and implementation of stigma-reduction interventions in many parts of the world.
Bassey's research experiences can be seen in many international projects. Until recently, he was a member of the Leprosy Research Initiative's Scientific Review Committee.
Laura Dean
Lecturer, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Laura Dean is a public health specialist with over 15 years of experience of research, capacity strengthening, and partnerships for community led-development and health systems strengthening in Africa and Asia.
Laura’s training is in the social sciences and her research utilises qualitative, narrative, and participatory research methodologies to support the strengthening of people-centred health systems for the management of communicable and non-communicable disease, disability inclusion and the integration of mental health services. She has led multiple multi-partner research programmes, developing long standing research collaborations across fragile and conflict affected States within West and Central Africa and South Asia.
Drawing on intersectionality and gender theory, all of the research that she leads engages with marginalised populations and people with lived experience of communicable and non-communicable disease to ensure their needs, values and priorities are recognised. Laura is currently a Reader in Social Science and Global Health at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and leads the Mental Health, Inclusion, NTDs and Disability (MIND) research group.