The Training Advisory Comittee (TAC) plays a critical role in external oversight to monitor trainees’ progress, provide career guidance and opportunity, and additionally evaluate the program in its entirety. Each member was strategically selected based on their successful experience with training pre and postdoctoral students in nutrition (undernutrition, child health, diabetes/ metabolic syndrome) and tuberculosis (TB) in Tanzania.
Dr. David Sando
David Masambe Sando, MD, PhD Is the Management and Development for Health’s (MDH) Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Sando is a physician and epidemiologist with experience in design and implementation of rigorous monitoring and evaluation systems for health programs. He has experience and expertise in health systems delivery models and policy analysis. He has also led diverse evaluations of health interventions, as well as the implementation of various projects and programs. Dr. Sando is well known for his strategic and innovative health system strengthening approaches. Dr. Sando obtained a PhD in Global Health and Population Science from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health where he then went on to contribute to health systems analyses with The Lancet Global Health Commission on High-Quality Health Systems in the SDG Era, with Liverpool University to evaluate the impact of a results-based financing scheme for improving quality and utilization of maternal and child health services, an empirical evaluation to assess disparities in access to quality care for cardiovascular diseases in China, policy analysis on the cost and clinical impact of integration of non-communicable disease care and HIV care in Uganda to name a few. He is a member of the National AIDS Program and the Community Development, Gender, Elders, and Children programs within the Tanzania Ministry of Health.
Dirk Lund Christensen
Dirk Lund Christensen, PhD is Associate Professor at the Section of Global Health at the University of Copenhagen. Dr. Christensen’s research interests include the diabetes-tuberculosis association in TB patients, fetal placental malaria exposure and cardio-metabolic risk in early adulthood in Tanzania, and investigating diabetes risk factors in different populations. Dr. Christensen has had a career’s long focus on the health of pastoralist societies (especially East African Maasai) related to non-communicable and nutritional dependent diseases now for 20 years in Tanzania and Kenya. He has trained numerous Masters, PhD and postdoctoral students, both Tanzanian and Danish and at the University of Copenhagen and various Tanzanian institutes.
Dr. Kaushik Ramaiya
Kaushik Ramaiya, MBBS, MMed is Consultant Physician specializing in Internal Medicine / Endocrinology and Chief Executive Officer at Shree Hindu Mandal Hospital, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Hon. Lecturer at the Department of Internal Medicine at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, in Dar es Salaam. He is also Professor of Medicine & Global Health at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) since 2018 Dr. Ramaiya is also a Member of the Board of World Diabetes Foundation and Hon. General Secretary of Tanzania Diabetes Association (TDA), Tanzania NCD Alliance (TANCDA) and Chair, Association of Private Health Facilities of Tanzania (APHFTA). Dr. Ramaiya has contributed to a better understanding of diabetes in Tanzania and sub Saharan Africa in total, having performed basic epidemiology, the economic and programmatic evaluations of diabetes interventions and care. Relevant to this GIDRTP, Dr. Ramaiya is currently working to improve health of Tanzanian children who have Type 1 diabetes, gestational diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular complications of antiretroviral drugs in HIV/AIDS, and the diabetes/TB interaction from clinical science and health systems approaches. Dr. Ramaiya is professionally connected throughout the major institutions of science and health systems in Tanzania but also spanning for-non profit health industries.
Mecky Isaac Matee
Mecky Matee, DDS, PhD is Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Biology at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Prof Matee’s background is in molecular epidemiology and biology of TB, HIV and neglected tropical diseases. A national leader in TB and advisor to the National TB and Leprosy Programme, Prof Matee has worked throughout his life in Tanzania, has participated in the system of training in Tanzania for 3 decades including training Masters and PhD students, and his subject matter expertise has grown to involve the connection between diet, nutrition, environment, animals and infectious diseases. Dr. Matee understands the numerous barriers facing Tanzania postdoctoral trainees that stay in the country and strive for research independence, but has also been an active participant in the incredible growth of predoctoral and doctoral training opportunities.
