This is a collection of videos that introduce you to the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST) including its purpose, objectives, structure and triple remit; research, response and capacity development. It includes speakers from partner organisations such as DHSC, FCDO, WHO-GOARN and Nigeria CDC sharing their first-hand perspectives of working with the UK-PHRST.

These videos are recordings from The Global Health Network and UK-PHRST webinar Response, Research, and Capacity Development: The UK-PHRST’s Triple Mandate for Outbreak Support in Low and Middle Income Countries on 25 January 2021. 

 

Introduction to the UK-PHRST

Professor Daniel Bausch, Former Director, UK-PHRST

Daniel Bausch is the UK-PHRST Director. He is trained in internal medicine, infectious diseases, tropical medicine, and public health. Dan specializes in the research and control of emerging tropical viruses, with over 25 years’ experience in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia combating viruses such as Ebola, Lassa, hantavirus, and SARS coronaviruses. 

 

 

Global Health Security Delivery Team’s partnership with UK-PHRST

Katie Gotham, Global Health Security (GHS) Policy Lead, Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)

Katie is the Global Health Security Policy Lead in the DHSC Global Health Security Preparedness Team. As part of this, she leads for DHSC on relationships with the Rapid Support Team and IHR Strengthening project. As well as this, Katie leads the Global Health Security Policy workstream of DHSC’s GHS programme. Before starting at DHSC, Katie worked in various roles across government, including at the Department for International Trade and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Dr Nicola Commander, Research Manager, Global Health Security (GHS) Delivery Team

Nicola is a Senior Programme Manager for NIHR. Her role mainly involves management of the NIHR Global Health Research RIGHT scheme (RIGHT stands for Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation). As well as RIGHT, the team also supports DHSC Global Health Security with management of some of the research elements of their programme - including the UK-PHRST. Nicola’s background is in infectious diseases research. 

 

 

Deployments

Dr Ashley Sharp, Deputy Director for Operations and Senior Epidemiologist, UK-PHRST

Ashley Sharp is the Deputy Director for Operations and Senior Epidemiologist at UK-PHRST. He was a medical doctor before moving into public health and completing the UK Public Health Specialty Training Programme and the UK Field Epidemiology Training Programme (FETP). Ashley has worked in a variety of public health roles at local, regional, national and international levels in the UK, Eswatini, Sierra Leone, Haiti and Bangladesh, with a focus on health protection and health systems development. He is also a Fellow of the UK Faculty of Public Health.

 

 

Research

Hilary Bower, Epidemiologist and Former Interim Deputy Director for Research, UK-PHRST

Hilary is an epidemiologist with extensive field experience in Africa and Asia, and a deployable member of the UK-PHRST. Hilary’s research interests are emerging and epidemic infectious diseases and improving outbreak responses and interventions.

 

 

Nigeria CDC’s partnership with UK-PHRST

Dr Kola Jinadu, National Coordinator for the Rapid Response Team Training / Senior Technical Advisor to the Director General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)

Dr. Kola Jinadu is a consultant community health physician, field epidemiologist and global public health expert. He is an assistant director and currently the national coordinator for the rapid response team training at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) where he has led critical areas of emergency preparedness and response.  He also works as a Senior Technical Advisor to the Director General NCDC. Over the last ten years, he has worked in various roles towards contributing to public health in Nigeria, regional health security in West Africa and global health, and is now leading the National Rapid Response Team to support COVID-19 response in Lagos State.

 

 

Introduction from WHO-GOARN

Renee Christensen, Lead for Capacity Building and Training, GOARN, World Health Organization (WHO)

Renee Christensen leads the Capacity Building and Training Programme for the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) based at WHO in Geneva. Renee has over 15 years’ experience with the United Nations across Africa, Asia, and Europe in building capacity for post-conflict, humanitarian and infectious disease emergency response.

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction from the FETP Programme

Dr Louise Coole, Director, Field Epidemiology Training Programme (FETP)

Louise Coole is the Director of the UK FETP and before that worked as a consultant in communicable disease control for 9 years and as a consultant epidemiologist for 10. Until recently she was also a scientific coordinator for the EPIET/ EUPHEM programme with ECDC for the last four years.  

 

 

Introduction from the FCDO UK-EMT

Nicholas Lobel-Weiss, Project Director, UK Emergency Medical Team (UK-EMT)

Nick Lobel-Weiss from the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office is the Project Director of the UK Emergency Medical Team.  Having Nick previously worked in Emergency Preparedness and Response for NHS England.  Nick was previously the Director of Health and Medical for The New York City Office of Emergency Management and has led responses in Pakistan, Haiti, Liberia and elsewhere.

 

 

Capacity Development

Dr Ashley Sharp, Deputy Director for Operations and Senior Epidemiologist, UK-PHRST

Ashley Sharp is the Deputy Director for Operations and Senior Epidemiologist at UK-PHRST. He was a medical doctor before moving into public health and completing the UK Public Health Specialty Training Programme and the UK Field Epidemiology Training Programme (FETP). Ashley has worked in a variety of public health roles at local, regional, national and international levels in the UK, Eswatini, Sierra Leone, Haiti and Bangladesh, with a focus on health protection and health systems development. He is also a Fellow of the UK Faculty of Public Health.

Hilary Bower, Interim Deputy Director for Research, UK-PHRST

Hilary is an epidemiologist with extensive field experience in Africa and Asia, and a deployable member of the UK-PHRST. Hilary’s research interests are emerging and epidemic infectious diseases and improving outbreak responses and interventions.

 

 

Education

Dr Maryirene Ibeto, Research Fellow in Education, UK-PHRST

Mary is the Research Fellow in Education for the UK-PHRST and is based at The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. She has a master's in public health which focused on public health in low- and middle-income countries. Her current research project is a review of the massive open online course on COVID-19 that the rapid support team led. The course enrolled close to quarter of a million learners and was developed at pace over a 6-week period.

 

 

The UK-PHRST Knowledge Hub

Rosanna Glazik, Project Coordinator (Knowledge Development), UK-PHRST

Rosanna is currently the Project Coordinator for Knowledge Development with the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST). Rosanna originally trained as a Registered Nurse in the UK and primarily worked in Emergency Care. She completed a Diploma in Tropical Nursing at LSHTM and went on to obtain a MSc in Public Health. Rosanna has worked on several emergency humanitarian health projects with non-governmental organisations in various countries, including South Sudan, Mozambique, Dominica and Greece.