Our Governance

Our governance structure has three layers: The Board of Governors (BOG); the Board of Trustees (BOT), and the Management Committee (MC).

Members of BOG and BOT include representatives of Tanzania Ministry of Health, National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Swiss Tropical & Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation (SDC), and Chief Executive Director (CED) of IHI, who is the secretary to both the BOG and the BOT. Members of the MC, which is chaired by the CED, are the Director of Science (DOS), Chief Operations Officer (COO), and heads of research departments.

Board of Governors (BOG)

The Board of Governors mainly comprises the Founder Members of the Institute. The main duties of the BOG are to appoint the Members of the BOT, to approve the strategy of the Institute, to appoint auditors, and to oversee the BOT.

Prof. Said Aboud

Chairperson

Dr. Honorati Masanja

Secretary to the Board

Dr. Omary Ubuguyu

Member

Didier Chassot

Member

Dr. Bugwesa Katale

Member

Prof. Jürg Utzinger

Member

Board of Trustees (BOT)

The main duties of the Board of Trustees are to appoint the Director; approve the annual budgets, operational plans, and annual reports of activities; approve the financing strategy of the Institute; and to adopt and approve audited accounts. In addition, the BOT ensures the MC formulate regulations for efficient and effective management of the funds as well as to direct the MC. The BOT has three sub committees: Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee (ARCC), Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) as well as Finance and Operations/Admin Committee (FOAC).

Prof. Abraham Mnzava

Chairperson

Senior Malaria Coordinator at the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA).

Dr Abraham Mnzava is currently the Senior Malaria Coordinator at the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA). Until the end of July 2016, Dr Mnzava was the Coordinator, Entomology and Vector Control unit within the WHO Global Malaria Programme. He has 36 years of experience in malaria control. Twenty years of these were spent in a number of malaria endemic countries in Africa (Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa) before joining the WHO in 2001.

Dr Mnzava worked in two of the six Regional Offices of WHO (AFRO and EMRO) before his final assignment at WHO headquarters. In his final assignment in WHO, Dr Mnzava was responsible for leading and coordinating the policy setting process for malaria vector control. Dr Mnzava understood the challenges that national malaria and other vector-borne disease control programmes faced and was committed to responding to these challenges based on the available evidence.

Dr Mnzava has conducted research initially focusing on the biology, behaviour and ecology of the African malaria vectors and later on the impact of the key malaria vector control interventions – including treated nets and indoor residual spraying. He has published extensively (over 120 scientific articles) in malaria as well as on other vector-borne diseases such as dengue, leishmaniasis, lymphatic filariasis and chikungunya.

He holds a Bachelor and a Master of Science Degree in Biology from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, a Master of Science in Medical Entomology and Parasitology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK and a PhD from the University of Basel, Switzerland. He is passionate on building capacity in entomology and vector control and believes that unless addressed, this gap is a ticking bomb! Dr Mnzava believes in his continued engagement with national and inetrnational partners to address this gap, especially in Africa where the need is huge#

Dr. Honorati Masanja

Secretary to the Board

Dr. Nyanda Ntinginya

Member

Ms. Mariam Bayumi

Member

Dr. Athuman Mgumia

Member

Dr. Flora Myamba

Member

Ms. Viviane Hasselmann

Member

Prof. Daniel Paris

Member

Dr. Ahmed Makuwani

Member

Mr. Godfrey Kilenga

Member

Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC)

The Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) provides strategic leadership in view of Ifakara scientific strategies and advise the BOT on the most appropriate pathways. The committee will provide guidance on strategic scientific programs, areas of investments, and core focus areas.

Current SAC members and their roles:

Prof. Abraham Mnzava

Chairperson

Senior Malaria Coordinator at the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA).

Dr Abraham Mnzava is currently the senior malaria coordinator at the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA). Until the end of July 2016, Dr Mnzava was the Coordinator, Entomology and Vector Control unit within the WHO Global Malaria Programme. He has 36 years of experience in malaria control. Twenty years of these were spent in a number of malaria endemic countries in Africa (Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa) before joining the WHO in 2001.

Prof. Julie Makani

Member

Ms. Lucy Fulgence

Member

Dr. Kaushik Ramaiya

Member

Prof. Don De Savigny

Member

Dr. Blandina Mmbaga

Member

Dr. Ntuli Kapologwe

Member

Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee (ARCC)

The Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee will assist the BOT in discharging its duties relating to the safeguarding of assets and to ensure that financial risks are managed; Prepare and recommend decisions to be taken by the BOT on all matters relating to finance, Audit and Risk Management; Review audited financial statements and make recommendations to the BOT; Monitor management’s progress towards internal and external audit recommendations; Ensure the independence , efficacy and effectiveness of internal and external audit functions; Ensure effective interactions between internal auditors, external auditors, the board, the management, funding partners and stakeholders; Review compliance with applicable legal, regulatory and accounting standards in the organization’s audited financial reports; Contribute to the climate of financial discipline, continuous improvements and controls.

Current ARCC members and their roles:

Mr. Godfrey Kilenga

Chairperson

Mr. Benjamin Chimori

Secretary

Mr. Gabriel Mwero

Member

Ms. Agnes Kitwanga

Member

Ms. Leticia Mashimba

Member

Dr. Gottlieb Mpangile

Member

Finance and Operations Committee (FOAC)

The Finance and Operations Committee (FOAC) will assist the BOT in discharging its duties relating to financial management and organizational operations. This includes preparing and recommending decisions to be taken by the BOT on all matters relating to financial management and organizational operations. Review annual operational plans and budgets, review operational structure and organizational functioning, review financial and operational reports.

Management Committee (MC)

The Management Committee manages day-to-day affairs of the Institute and the appointment and discharge of its staff. The MC reports to the BOT by submitting quarterly progress reports and annual plan of operation and financial statements including audited accounts. The management team is led by the Chief Executive Director who reports to the BOT.

Dr. Honorati Masanja

Chief Executive Director

Dr. Ally Olotu

Director of Science

Dr. Sally Mtenga

Head - Health Systems, Interventions, Impact Evaluation and Policy

Senior Research Scientist

Dr. Sally Mmanyi Mtenga is Head of Health Systems, Impact Evaluation and Policy department. She is a senior social scientist trained in Community Development (BSs) as well as in Medical Sociology (MA) and Epidemiology (PhD). She has over 10-year experience in community based and public health research and practices. Dr. Mtenga has specific expertise in social science research on the intersection of social-determinants of diseases and risk behaviors in the areas of HIV, reproductive health and malaria.

Dr. Mtenga joined the Institute in March 2003 to work as a Social Scientist. She holds a BSs in Community Development, a masters in Medical Sociology, and PhD in Epidemiology.

Dr. Mtenga’s recent work has investigated how social norms, gender, masculinity, policies, health system & social cognitive constructs shape health risk behaviors. Dr. Sally has long experience in mixed methods qualitative research including observations, focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and diarists.

In recent years, she has gained experience on how to design and triangulate mixed quantitative and qualitative studies in community based longitudinal and cross-sectional studies. Dr. Mtenga has supervised undergraduate students from the University of Dar es Salaam.

Dr. Mtenga has had direct work experience and collaboration with International agencies and organizations such as CARE International in Tanzania, University of Glasgow, Barcelona Centre for International Health Research, Manhica Health and Demographic Site (HDS)-Mozambique, In-depth network and Lambarene HDS-Gabon.

She maintains national collaborations with Tanzania AIDS Control Program, National Institute for Medical Research, Muhimbili Department of Health and Allied Science and Mwanza Institute of Clinical Trial Unit. Her local collaborations, include that with the Kilombero District Council Health Management team. #

Dr. Jerry Hella

Head - Biomedical Research and Clinical Trials

Acting head of BRCT department

Dr. Jerry Hella is an epidemiologist and a public health specialist working at the Tuberculosis Research group at the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI). He has a background in clinical medicine (MD) and holds a PhD. in Epidemiology from the University of Basel and Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute.

Currently, Dr. Hella serves in the acting capacity as Head of the Interventions and Clinical Trials Department at Ifakara Health Institute.

Dr. Hella began his career in research in 2012 as a study doctor at IHI and since then he has participated in different clinical research activities in Tanzania. He has extensive experience on data management ranging from database creation (OpenDataKit, EpiData, EpiInfo, SurveyMonkey, Ms. Access, MySQL etc.), data management and analyses using different platforms such as Stata and R. He is passionate in geo-spatial analysis and modelling of infectious disease. His publication list can be found here.

Current grants:

Tuberculosis cohort study in Dar es Salaam region: a prospective collection of clinical data and biological specimens to study the epidemiology of tuberculosis, including molecular epidemiology, immunology and the evaluation of new diagnostics and biomarkers (TB DAR); Role – PI; Funded by Swiss TPH; Budget 160’000 CHF annually.
Improving tuberculosis case finding among people living with HIV/AIDS in HIV clinics in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: An operational research (TB ACF); Role – Co-PI; Funded by Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children; Consultancy amount 247 million TZS.
A multicenter, phase III, double-blind, randomized, active-controlled study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of VPM1002 in comparison to BCG in prevention of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in newborn infants (VPM1002); Role – Co-PI; Funded by European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership and Serum Institute of India; Grant amount 1.7 million Euro.
Prospective multicenter evaluation of the accuracy and diagnostic yield of the Fujifilm SILVAMP TB LAM test for the diagnosis of tuberculosis in people living with HIV (FujiLAM); Role – PI; Funded by Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics; Grant amount 244’651 USD.
Health telematics for improving TB and HIV care in rural Tanzania (Health Telematics): Role – PI; Funded by the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), Grant amount 93’195.3 Euro

Dr. Emmanuel Kaindoa

Head - Environmental Health and Ecologial Sciences

Mr. Raphael Laizer

Chief Operating Officer

Our Governance

Our governance structure has three layers: The Board of Governors (BOG); the Board of Trustees (BOT), and the Management Committee (MC).

Board of Governors (BOG)

Board of Trustees (BOT)

Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC)

Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee (ARCC)

Finance and Operations Committee (FOAC)

Management Committee (MC)

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