ad interim Executive Director of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM)
Biography of Dr Thomas Teuscher
Thomas Teuscher is a physician and public health specialist with extensive professional experience in developing countries and in public private partnerships.
Thomas worked in remote rural areas in Africa for over 20 years. First as a pediatrician in Gabon, then as a public health practitioner in Togo, later as Director of the Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre in Tanzania, and finally as General Manager of the ECOWAS Health Research Consortium in Côte d'Ivoire.Under Thomas' direction, the Ifakara Research and Development Centre provided the first testing ground in Africa for a disease-modulating malaria vaccine and also tested the efficacy of deploying intermittent preventive treatment through the Expanded Immunization Programme to protect infants from the consequences of malaria infections. Thomas is a founding member of the Mapping Malaria Risk in Africa, or MARA, a collaboration that generated the first evidence-based malaria risk map for Africa.
Dr Thomas Teuscher joined the Roll Back Malaria Cabinet Project as a Senior Adviser in 2000. During his tenure, Thomas helped to facilitate RBM's transition from a partnership 'built on the strength of loose ties' to a well-structured, accountable, and internationally recognized body for the coordination of global and regional malaria control efforts.
Thomas has played a key role in strengthening RBM's governance and decision-making processes, contributing to the establishment of formal RBM Partnership mechanisms such as the RBM Board, Constitution and By-Laws. Thomas also helped to set increasingly ambitious objectives and priorities for the Partnership, particularly by facilitating the development of the Global Strategic Plan (GSP) and Global Malaria Action Plan, which strengthened the Partnership's shift away from an exclusive focus on vulnerable populations to the adoptoin of the wider goal of universal coverage for all populations at risk. More recently, Thomas worked on expanding the Partnership beyond Africa by forging strategic alliances with malaria control coalitions in Asia and the Americas. He has also served as the research focal point within the RBM Secretariat.
Thomas holds a Doctor in Medicine (MD), and Master's of Science degrees in Clinical and Tropical Medicine and in Human Nutrition from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Thomas has published over 40 articles in international peer-reviewed scientific journals focussing on generating evidence that informs public health policy, planning and programme implementation. Thomas is a former commercial pilot and keen mountaineer.