Ana Maria Henao-Restrepo

Dr Henao- Restrepo is a physician, communicable diseases epidemiologist and, clinical trialist. She leads the WHO’s R&D Blueprint for action to prevent epidemics. The R&D Blueprint for epidemics was established at the World Health Assembly in May 2016. It is a global strategy and preparedness plan that allows the rapid activation of research and development activities during epidemics. With WHO as convener, a broad global coalition of experts from medical, scientific and regulatory backgrounds have contributed to it. It played a critical role to identify research priorities and encouraged collaborative research during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2015, Dr Henao-Restrepo led the Phase 3 “Ebola ça suffit” ring vaccination trial in Guinea which was pivotal to evaluate the rVSV ZEBOV GP vaccine against Ebola. She has coordinated research on priority pathogens that can cause epidemics and coordinated trials and deployment of unlicensed vaccines and therapeutics during outbreaks. At WHO headquarters she has coordinated WHO’s global measles control efforts, managed a project on alternatives routes of vaccine delivery. As the team leader of the Implementation Research unit, she coordinated research to inform recommendations on immunization schedules for ten vaccines, and on evaluation of non-specific effects of vaccines. Dr Henao- Restrepo worked in Colombia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, and Southeast Asia. Her work focused on polio eradication, measles control, neonatal tetanus elimination and vaccine-preventable diseases in general. Dr Henao Restrepo obtained a Medical Doctor and Surgeon Degree from University of El Rosario, Colombia and a master’s degree in communicable disease epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.