Overview

The ILEP Technical Commission comprises a group of experts covering a range of areas of leprosy expertise related to ILEP’s three strategic objectives. Due to the importance of ILEP’s relationship with the WHO, there is a standing invitation to the WHO Global Leprosy Programme to attend ITC meetings. There are also standing invitations to the Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy and the UN Special Rapporteur for the elimination of discrimination against persons affected by leprosy and their family members.

Wim van Brakel (Chair of ITC)

Medical Director, NLR International

Wim van Brakel holds a medical degree, an MSc in Infectious Disease Epidemiology and a PhD in leprosy-related neuropathy. He has worked in Nepal and India in leprosy control and research. Dr van Brakel is Medical Director of NLR and member of the Steering Committee of the Leprosy Research Initiative. He is former Chair of the NNN Disease Management, Disability and Inclusion (DMDI) Cross-Cutting Group and is a member of the Uniting To Combat NTDs Consultative Forum.

Dr van Brakel is passionate about working towards a world free of leprosy through prevention of leprosy and disabilities, stigma reduction, mental wellbeing and social inclusion of all persons affected by leprosy and other NTDs.

Emmanuelle Cambau

Professor in Clinical Microbiology, University of Paris

Emmanuelle Cambau is a medical doctor specialised in clinical microbiology, working at the University of Paris and several hospitals in Paris. In association with Fondation Raoul Follereau, she has been involved in the microbial diagnosis of leprosy for 25 years, with a particular interest in resistance to anti-leprosy drugs, and has been part of the WHO network for surveillance of resistance in leprosy since 2008.

Dr Cambau is a member of the WHO Technical Advisory Group for leprosy and participated in the writing of the 2018 WHO guidelines on leprosy. Her aim is to contribute towards the improvement of leprosy diagnosis and treatment.

Joseph Chukwu

Medical Advisor, German Leprosy and TB Relief Association, Nigeria

Joseph Ngozi Chukwu is a Nigerian public health physician with a longstanding interest in marginalised populations. He serves as Medical Co-ordinator at German Leprosy and TB Relief Association in Nigeria, where he leads a team of public health professionals which actively supports the Nigerian leprosy and TB control programme. They are widely published in various aspects of NTDs (especially leprosy and buruli ulcer) and tuberculosis.

Joseph graduated from the University of Vienna, holds a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and a Masters in Public Health from the Nuffield Institute, University of Leeds.

Premal Das

Executive Director, The Leprosy Mission Trust India

Premal Das is a Surgeon who started working with The Leprosy Mission in India, after completing his MBBS from Christian Medical College – Vellore, in 1985. His enthusiasm for Leprosy Reconstructive Surgery was kindled in early childhood, while observing these surgeries at a TLM Hospital, where his father was the Superintendent. Having spent all his life with The Leprosy Mission, being a 3rd Generation employee, he has witnessed the changing attitudes towards persons affected by leprosy, over the past 6 decades; from the dungeons, segregation and isolation to the present integration and home based care.

Dr Das completed his postgraduation in Surgery in 1993, from CMC Vellore and has since devoted his skills to deformity correction in leprosy, performing several hundred tendon transfers, each year, for the past two-and-a-half decades. His special interest is in preventing ulcer recurrence through more acceptable and effective footwear.

Saba Lambert

Clinical Research Fellow, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Saba Lambert is a part-time Clinical Research Fellow, seconded to ALERT, in Addis Ababa as a leprosy specialist. She has been in Ethiopia for the last 12 years. Her duties include organising and conducting research, looking after leprosy patients as their clinician, organising and supervising leprosy related research, teaching on leprosy courses offered at ALERT and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and working in conjunction with the Ministry of Health as part of the Leprosy Expert Advisory Group.

Her PhD at LSHTM, under Professor Diana Lockwood, was based on a clinical trial looking at treatments for leprosy reactions. She continues to work on this field by being part of the ENLIST group which specifically looks at Erythema Nodosum Leprosum. Having recently completed a Diploma in Clinical Dermatology, she is looking forward to working on a new study on stigmatising skin diseases funded by the UK NIHR RIGHT: Skin Health Africa Research Programme (SHARP). Saba writes that she is privileged to be part of this technical commission and looks forward to learn and share as the ITC works towards improving leprosy care and control.

Diana Lockwood

Professor of Tropical Medicine, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Diana Lockwood is an infectious disease physician and leprologist who focuses on improving the outcome of nerve damage in people affected by leprosy. Diana graduated from the University of Birmingham with an MD in 1996, and graduated with a Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians in 1999. She has held various positions at several hospitals around England, in addition to researching and working in India and Africa. Diana has authored over 100 articles and book chapters in the field of infectious diseases, focusing for the most part on leprosy. She has also devoted much of her time to editorial and review work, and was also the editor of Leprosy Review from 1996 to 2012.

Diana is currently a professor of Tropical Medicine in the Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases at the London School and of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She also serves as a consultant physician and leprologist at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London. Diana is also working on developing, analysing and refining severity scales for measuring Type 1 and erythema nodosum leprosum (ENL) reactions.

Paul Saunderson

Senior Technical Advisor, American Leprosy Missions and The AIM Initiative

Paul was appointed Medical Director of American Leprosy Missions (ALM) in 2000, and now has an advisory role, allowing time for other work, in particular, being Editor-in-Chief of Leprosy Review, the only international scientific journal devoted specifically to leprosy research. He has been a member of the WHO Technical Advisory Groups for both leprosy and Buruli ulcer.

Paul gained his medical degree at Cambridge in 1976 and has worked in the field of leprosy since 1981. He started his career at a mission hospital in western Uganda, and in 1994 he was appointed Director of the Leprosy Control Division of ALERT in Ethiopia.