Dr Modest Mulenga

TDR Joint Coordinating Board Chair

This is my final year serving as chair of TDR’s Joint Coordinating Board, which has been a great honor over the last three years. This period included the establishment of the forward-looking TDR Strategy 2018-2023, which is now being implemented with great momentum.

I have been particularly impressed by TDR’s regional approach to supporting research and strengthening research capacity. In Africa, this can be seen with the development of the West African Regional Network for tuberculosis control (WARN-TB) and a sister network in Central Africa (CARN-TB). TDR has been training and supporting the national TB programme teams to enhance research in close collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for Africa, WHO’s Global TB Programme and numerous other partners involved with TB. There have been focused efforts to harness the collective strength of these networks to support effective implementation of WHO TB guidelines through identification of programmatic gaps and research priorities.

The postgraduate training scheme is one of TDR’s flagship training programmes, focused on implementation research on malaria, TB and neglected tropical diseases. This programme is a collaboration with universities in low- and

middle-income countries: in Colombia, Ghana, Zambia, South Africa, Lebanon, Bangladesh and Indonesia. These universities act as regional hubs in Latin America, Africa, Eastern Mediterranean and Asia-Pacific, attracting hundreds of students from across these regions. It is rewarding to
see these students obtain their master’s degrees through TDR scholarships and go on to make a difference in their home countries.

I would like to thank Professor John Reeder and his staff for the hard work and for taking the programme to a higher level of vibrancy that has seen closer collaboration with emerging regional health care programmes. I have also been impressed with proactive efforts to promote female leadership in research activities.

I also want to thank members of the JCB and its committees for supporting the new strategic direction that has seen
a turnaround in the performance of the programme.
I will continue to cherish the collegial friendship I had
with distinguished members of the JCB and its committees.
I cannot forget the support I received from the Minster of Health, Dr Chitalu Chilufya, and my superiors in the Zambia Ministry of Health.

Even as I step down as JCB Chair, I will continue to
follow closely the work of TDR, which I am sure will
continue to flourish.