Partner 1: University of Edinburgh (UEDIN)
Role, qualification and experience
The University of Edinburgh is one of the largest (26,000 students, 8000 staff) and most successful research universities in the UK with an international reputation as a centre of academic excellence. The College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine (CMVM) aims to produce leading edge, internationally recognised research and teaching.
Within the Centre for Infectious Diseases (CID), which integrates all research disciplines within the University of Edinburgh working on infectious diseases (bacteriology, virology, epidemiology, immunology & infection, pathway medicine, medical microbiology, medical sciences and veterinary clinical studies), the Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine (CTVM) is a leading partner in longstanding research on the integrated control of neglected zoonoses including trypanosomiasis, brucellosis and rabies. The University of Edinburgh brings substantial capabilities and expertise in project coordination to the ICONZ consortium, with vast experience in large collaborative activities between CMVM and African centres e.g. Cameroon: control of onchocerciasis; Uganda: ‘Stamp Out Sleeping Sickness’ public-private partnership; The Gambia: prospective case control molecular profiling studies; Kenya: Infectious Diseases of East African Livestock; Malawi: e-learning for capacity for healthcare professional education; primary care development; Pan sub-Saharan Africa: African Universities Veterinary e-learning Consortium AUVEC; Alliance for Rabies Control.
Scientific leader
Prof. Sue C. Welburn is Professor of Molecular Medical and Veterinary Epidemiology at the Centre for Infectious Diseases UEDIN. Sue has more than 20 years experience working on human sleeping sickness and zoonotic trypanosomiasis in domestic wild and animal populations. Research focus: the design and application of molecular diagnostic tools for the study and management of sleeping sickness and animal trypanosomiaisis; assessment of the animal reservoir of disease for human sleeping sickness, cost burden analysis for human and animal disease, policy implications for control options, risk factors for disease emergence, optimization of zoonotic disease control and spatial epidemiology of zoonotic trypanosomiasis. Research encompasses ‘grass-roots’ fieldwork in Africa to laboratory-based dissection of the problem of trypanosomiasis at the gene level, ranging from the management of high-tech laboratory research to the running of applied field projects in developing countries. Sue has projects ongoing in Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia and Tanzania focussing on medical and veterinary sector interventions for disease control (in partnership with the National Institutes of Medical Research, Ministries of Health, Ministries of Agriculture) supported by funding from World Health Organization / DFID / Wellcome Trust / Leverhulme Trust, Cunningham Trust and NTI, Global Health and Security Initiative). Sue has a strong commitment to Capacity Building in HEI and Research Institutions in the Global South and is a Director of the University of Edinburgh International Development Centre and most recently has been appointed Director of the Edinburgh Global Health Academy (www.globalhealthacademy.ed.ac.uk/). With colleagues in the private sector, and Makerere University, Uganda she has established a Public Private Partnership for the control of sleeping sickness in Uganda (www.stampoutsleepingsickness.com). Sue is leader of ICONZ WP 1 Co-ordination and Management and WP12 – Communication and Dissemination.
Key personnel
Dr. Kim Picozzi, Lecturer in Global Health – Neglected Zoonotic Diseases at the Centre for Infectious Diseases, UEDIN. Research focus: Development of new molecular methodologies and diagnostic techniques to investigate the molecular epidemiology of the neglected zoonoses (zoonotic trypanosomiasis, brucellosis. Program Director MSc in Emerging and Neglected Infectious Diseases.