Global TB Summit

 

Prof. Kon is a Respiratory Physician and Head of Service for TB at Imperial College London Healthcare NHS Trust. He is also Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College London. He is the chair of the UK National MDRTB Clinical Advice Service and the British Thoracic Society Joint Tuberculosis Committee. His research interests include the clinical and immune diagnosis of TB and the delivery of care and management of the disease. 

Dr. Martinez is a faculty member in the Department of Epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health. He uses epidemiological and quantitative approaches to study high-risk populations in high tuberculosis burden settings. These include children, incarcerated persons, and persons living with HIV or diabetes.

Prof. Sutherland is the head of the MRC Gambia TB research group which consists of the TB case-contact (TBCC) cohort and the TB immunology laboratory. At the summit, she will present data on transcriptomic and proteomic signatures across the spectrum of TB infection, disease and treatment response. In addition, she will share data on novel tests for TB translated from early biomarker studies.

Paul Elkington is Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Southampton and Honorary Consultant in Respiratory Medicine. His talk at the summit, “Immune check-point inhibitors and TB,” will describe the evidence that cancer immunotherapies can increase tuberculosis reactivation, discuss the underlying mechanism, and conclude with the implications for clinicians.

Dr. Nyang'wa is a British-Malawian Medical Director of Médecins Sans Frontières and Chief Investigator of TB-PRACTECAL - a phase II-III MDR-TB clinical trial pivotal in the change of WHO guidelines for the treatment of rifampicin-resistant TB. The WHO has recently recommended BPaL(M), a six-month all-oral regimen for the treatment of rifampicin-resistant TB. In his talk, he’ll summarize the efficacy, safety and economic evidence from the NiX, ZeNiX and TB-PRACTECAL clinical trials supporting this recommendation.

Dr. Seddon is a Reader in Global Child Health at Imperial College London, an Associate Professor at Stellenbosch University, and a Consultant in Pediatrics Infectious Diseases at St. Mary’s Hospital in London. His talk, “An update in TB & Pediatrics,” will discuss new diagnostic approaches, including stool microbiology and the use of treatment decision algorithms, the use of shortened treatment for non-severe disease, optimized therapy for TBM, new drugs and regimens for children with MDR-TB and new models of care.

Dr. Menezes de Souza is a Pharmaceutical Biochemistry Specialist in Pharmaceutical Care Management and has Master's in Biotechnology and Biosciences, with a concentration in Cellular and Molecular Biology, focused on MTB. In her talk at the summit, she’ll focus on the evidence for BPaL-based rifampicin-resistant TB treatment.

Ms. Altass is the NHS England lead for the TB program. She co-authored, with UKHSA, the TB Action Plan for England, 2021 –2026. Her main focus is ensuring the delivery of the latent TB testing and treatment program for NHS England, plus supporting TB services and commissioners to provide TB services that best meet patients’ needs. This includes the initiation in 2023 of the ‘Get It Right First Time’ (GIRFT) TB Project, which ensures that a patient receives equally timely and effective investigations, treatment and outcomes. At the summit, she’ll talk about “Retaking the fight against TB after the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Dr. Robinson is the head of UKHSA’s national TB unit, a consultant clinical microbiologist and clinical lead for the National Mycobacterial Reference Service. She is the mycobacterial theme lead for the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in collaboration with UKHSA and Imperial College, London. She has ongoing research interests in mycobacterial diagnostics and public health, including whole-genome sequencing, TB transmission and non-tuberculous mycobacteria. At the summit, she’ll talk about “Retaking the fight against TB after the COVID-19 pandemic.”