Since its formation in 2008, the Global Laboratory Initiative (GLI) has provided a focus for TB within the framework of a multi-faceted, integrated approach to laboratory capacity strengthening through a network of international partners.
Organizationally, GLI is one of the seven Working Groups of the Stop TB Partnership. Functionally, it serves as an independent, technical expert advisory group to WHO, the Stop TB Partnership, development and funding agencies, and countries. Structurally, the GLI consists of individuals with expertise in multiple disciplines, representing constituencies of stakeholders and/or institutions involved in global and country-level laboratory strengthening.
The GLI core group has representation from key constituencies including national and supranational reference laboratories, high TB and MDR-TB burden country programmes, technical partners, donors and civil society. The WHO Global TB Programme provides the GLI secretariat.
Marguerite Massinga Loembé
Senior Science Manager
Independent Consultant - Health systems strengthening
Libreville, Gabon
Constituency: Technical agencies and implementation partners involved in global and country-level laboratory strengthening
Sushil Pandey
Chief Scientist,
Supranational Reference Laboratory Brisbane
Queensland Mycobacterium Reference Laboratory,
Pathology Queensland, Queensland Health,
Brisbane, Australia
Constituency: Technical agencies and implementation partners involved in global and country-level laboratory strengthening, Supranational Reference Laboratory.
Mercy Annpoorani
Director and Managing Trustee,
Blossom Trust,
Virudhunagar, India
Constituency: Civil Society representative
Henry Byabajungu
Technical Supervisor,
Supranational Reference Laboratory Kampala
National TB Reference Laboratory
Kampala, Uganda
Constituency: Technical agencies and implementation partners involved in global and country-level laboratory strengthening, Supranational Reference Laboratory
Andrea Cabibbe
Research Associate
Supranational Reference Laboratory Milan
San Raffaele Scientific Institute
Milano, Italy
Consituency: Technical agencies and implementation partners involved in global and country-level laboratory strengthening, Supranational Reference Laboratory.
Valerie Flore Dokeng Donfack
Head of Mycobacteriology Unit,
Centre Pasteur du Cameroun (CPC)
Yaounde, Cameroon
Constituency: High burden country, National TB Programme
Alex Durena
TB Diagnostics Technical Advisor
United States Agency for International Development
Washington, United States
Constituency: TB Diagnostics Technical Advisor
Pamela Hepple
Regional Laboratory Coordinator
IOM Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Bangkok, Thailand
Constituency: Technical partners involved in global and country-level laboratory
Kristin Kremer
Senior Laboratory Scientist
KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation
The Hague, The Netherlands
Constituency: Technical partners involved in global and country-level laboratory strengthening
Leen Rigouts
Senior Scientific Expert,
Institute of Tropical Medicine Reference Laboratory
Antwerp, Belgium
Constituency: Technical agencies and implementation partners involved in global and country-level laboratory strengthening, Supranational Reference Laboratory.
Léon Sawadogo
Laboratory manager,
Centre National de Lutte Antituberculeuse (CNLAT)
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Constituency: High burden country; National TB Programme
Tetsuhiro Sugamoto
Laboratory Scientist
Research Institute of Tuberculosis JATA(Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Association)
Tokyo, Japan
Constituency: Technical agencies; Supranational Reference Laboratories
Karchung Tshering
Chief Laboratory Officer,
National TB Reference Laboratory,
Thimphu, Bhutan
Constituency: High burden country, National TB Programme
Wayne van Gemert
Diagnostics Technical Officer
Stop TB Partnership
Geneva, Switzerland
Constituency: Technical partners
Carl-Michael Nathanson
Technical Officer
Global TB Programme
World Health Organization
Geneva, Switzerland
Constituency: World Health Organization