[日本語]

The Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) is pleased to announce that Dr Hiroki Nakatani has joined the Board as its newest member, with Professor Hanan Balkhy joining the Board as Observer from the World Health Organization.

With over 40 years of public health experience, Dr Nakatani is a seasoned expert in health policy, international health, and health science and technology. He has worked for Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the World Health Organization, and most recently as Project Professor for the Global Research Institute at Keio University and Invited Professor at Osaka University Post Graduate School of Medicine.

Dr Nakatani holds various roles in a range of national and international organizations, including as Board Chair of the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund), and Senior Advisor of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).

“I am delighted to join the GARDP Board and look forward to providing strategic advice and public health expertise to ensure that GARDP tackles the growing health emergency of drug resistance,” said Dr Nakatani.

Prof Balkhy, Assistant Director-General for Antimicrobial Resistance at the World Health Organization, is a Professor of Pediatric Infection Diseases with over two decades of experience in the field of infectious diseases and infection prevention and control (IPC), a clinician and a researcher with over 150 publications.

She led the WHO Collaborating Centre for IPC and AMR in Saudi Arabia between 2009-2019. Prof Balkhy is also the first appointed chair for the Infectious Disease Research Unit at King Abdullah International Medical Research Center at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In this role, she developed and led a team of scientists with a focus on relevant infectious disease research, such as multidrug resistance pathogens and hospital-acquired infections.

“Antibiotic research and development needs an urgent boost now more than ever and GARDP is part of the solution,” said Prof Balkhy. “As GARDP Board Observer, I am honoured to support GARDP in its efforts to ensure that new and effective treatments against drug-resistant infections are made accessible to all.”

Dr Nakatani joins the Board as part of its expansion, and Professor Balkhy replaces Dr Soumya Swaminathan as Observer to the Board from the World Health Organization.

“I would like to sincerely thank Dr Swaminathan for her valuable contribution as GARDP Board Observer these past two years, and welcome both Dr Nakatani and Prof Balkhy to the Board,” said Dr Manica Balasegaram, GARDP’s Executive Director. “Their expertise will provide valuable guidance as GARDP ramps up efforts to tackle the silent pandemic of drug-resistant infections.”

GARDP has set the 5 BY 25 goal, which seeks to develop five new treatments by 2025 to tackle the growing emergency of drug-resistant infections. GARDP’s five treatments will focus on the priority bacterial pathogens identified by the World Health Organization that pose the greatest threat to global health.

About GARDP

The Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) is a Swiss not-for-profit organization developing new treatments for drug-resistant infections that pose the greatest threat to health. GARDP was created by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) in 2016 to ensure that everyone who needs antibiotics receives effective and affordable treatment, no matter where they live. We aim to develop five new treatments by 2025 to fight drug-resistant infections, focusing on sexually transmitted infections, sepsis in newborns and infections in hospitalized adults and children. GARDP is funded by the governments of Germany, Japan, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland, United Kingdom, as well as Médecins Sans Frontières and private foundations. GARDP is registered under the legal name GARDP Foundation.