Professor Rosanna Peeling

Rosanna Peeling is currently Professor and Chair of Diagnostics Research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and she is Director of the International Diagnostic Centre (IDC). Trained as a medical microbiologist, she was Research Coordinator and Head of Diagnostics Research at the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme on Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (WHO/TDR) in Geneva and the co-Director of the Canadian National Laboratory for Sexually Transmitted Diseases before assuming her current position. Her work spans from facilitating test development and evaluation to the translation of evidence to inform policy, and strategic placement of new diagnostic technologies to ensure maximum impact. She established the IDC to advocate the value of diagnostics, foster innovation, and accelerate access to quality-assured diagnostics to improve global health. She has served as a member of many WHO expert advisory groups including, the WHO/TDR Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC), the Social Innovation for Health Initiative, the Global Validation Advisory Committee for the Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV and Syphilis, and HIV and Hepatitis testing guidelines. She is also on the Expert Advisory Group for the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Innovation Fund, the Prize Advisory Panel for the UK Longitude Prize and The European Commission Horizon 2020 Prize to incentivise point-of-care test development to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions and conserve antibiotics for future generations. In 2014, Professor Peeling was awarded the George MacDonald Medal for outstanding contribution to tropical medicine by the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, becoming the first woman to receive this honour.