Dr. Paul Emerson International Trachoma Initiative, USA

Dr. Paul Emerson is ITI’s Director, with overall responsibility for the success of the ITI program with Pfizer. He has a personal commitment to end the needless suffering caused by NTDs and has dedicated his career to their eradication, elimination, and control. Firstly, as a research scientist conducting clinical trials... read morein The Gambia and Tanzania, secondly as the technical lead on the global flagship trachoma control programs supported by The Carter Center, and latterly as the ITI Director at the Task Force for Global Health.

He makes strong use of data to plan and focus program delivery, and emphasizes operational research with academic partners to overcome barriers to scale-up and service delivery. He has supported partner Ministries of Health and NGOs in strategy, program development, training, implementation, monitoring, and impact assessment. He is an adjunct faculty at the Rollins School of Public Health and an author on over 150 peer-reviewed scientific papers, including many that have been extremely influential in NTD control and with a high impact in the field (11 papers cited at least 100 times each). He is a TEDx speaker and is sought after as an inspirational guest lecturer.

Prior to joining ITI, Dr. Emerson worked at The Carter Center where he was Director of the Trachoma Control Program and co-Director for The Carter Center’s malaria program. He integrated trachoma program delivery with malaria control in Ethiopia, with Guinea worm eradication in South Sudan, and with lymphatic filariasis in Nigeria.

Dr. Emerson was instrumental in the formation of the International Coalition for Trachoma Control (ICTC) serving on the executive group as vice chair, chair, or immediate past chair for a total of eight years, and setting it up as the successful collaborative membership organization it is today. He is currently a member of the WHO AFRO Regional Program Review Group (for NTDS) and chairs the steering committee of the WHO AFRO Expanded Special Project for the Elimination of NTDs in Africa.

Dr. Emerson holds a doctorate in Biological and Biomedical Sciences from the University of Durham, an MSc. in Applied Parasitology and Medical Entomology from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, a Post Graduate Certificate of Education from Bath Spa University, and a BSc. in Zoology from the University of Nottingham.

In 2012, Dr. Emerson received the Trachoma Gold Medal: For ‘Les service exceptionnels rendus dans la lutte contre le Trachome’ [Exceptional services bestowed in the battle against trachoma] awarded by the International Organization Against Trachoma and the French League Against Trachoma.