Dr. Wim H van Brakel NTD NGO Network, The Netherlands

Wim van Brakel holds a medical degree from Amsterdam University Medical Centre, an MSc in Infectious Disease Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and a PhD in the epidemiology of neuropathy in leprosy from University Medical Center Utrecht. Dr van Brakel has worked for 17 years... read morein Nepal and India for the International Nepal Fellowship and The Leprosy Mission, specializing in leprosy control, public health, prevention of disabilities, rehabilitation, and research.

Since 2003, Dr van Brakel has supported projects of NLR, first as Senior Public Health Adviser at the Royal Tropic Institute, Amsterdam, from 2014 to January 2019 as Head Technical Department at NLR, and since February 2019 as Medical Director of NLR. In this position he advices the NLR Director and management of the NLR Alliance on the medical-technical work of NLR at the highest strategic level, both at country level and internationally. He coordinates research in the NLR Alliance, developing and guiding specific research projects, contributing to capacity strengthening in research skills and representing NLR in international bodies concerned with leprosy and NTD-related research.

Dr van Brakel is also a member of the ILEP Technical Commission and of the Steering Committee of the Leprosy Research Initiative, an organisation to support leprosy-related research and strengthen research capacity in endemic countries. Dr van Brakel serves as Chair of the NTD NGO Network’s (NNN) Disease Management, Disability and Inclusion Cross-Cutting Group. He is a member of the Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy’s Research Working Group.

Dr van Brakel's research interests include the epidemiology and preventive chemotherapy against leprosy, nerve damage in leprosy, leprosy and NTD-related disability, rehabilitation, stigma and social inclusion, social participation, and measurement of disability. He has a strong interest in promoting the participation of persons affected by leprosy or other NTDs in health and social services. He has published and co-authored over 100 papers in peer-reviewed international journals and book chapters in books on leprosy and other NTDs, disability, and stigma.

Dr van Brakel is passionate about working towards a world free of leprosy as a disease through introducing and improving preventive chemotherapy against leprosy, prevention and self-management of disabilities, stigma reduction, and full social inclusion of all persons affected by leprosy and others living with consequences of NTDs.