Mwelecele Ntuli Malecela

Dr Mwelecele Ntuli Malecela is Director of the Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland. Until her appointment in December 2018, Dr Malecela was Director in the Office of the WHO Regional Director for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo, with responsibility for providing policy, managerial and diplomatic advice to the Regional Director. Before joining WHO in April 2017, Dr Malecela served as the Director General of the National Institute for Medical Research, United Republic of Tanzania – the first woman to occupy this post – and as the founding Director of the Tanzania Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination Programme. She worked for 30 years at the National Institute for Medical Research, starting as a junior scientist in the field of lymphatic filariasis and later working on the immuno-epidemiology of filarial infections and running treatment programmes. Dr Malecela holds a BSc in zoology from the University of Dar es Salaam and an MSc and PhD in parasitology from the University of London (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine), where she specialized in filarial immunology, specifically mechanisms of filarial immune evasion. She has served on a number of international committees, including the Technical Advisory Group of the Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis, the Mectizan Expert Committee, the Trachoma Expert Committee and the advisory board of the Initiative on Public–Private Partnerships for Health. Dr Malecela also chaired the WHO Neglected Tropical Diseases Regional Programme Review Group for Africa and was a member of WHO’s Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for Neglected Tropical Diseases and the Medicine in Need Steering Committee on Innovation, Alliance and Translation Management. Dr Malecela has been involved in a number of philanthropic organizations including the Msichana Initiative, established to advocate empowerment for the rights of girls. Dr Malecela has authored several publications in peer reviewed journals and is the recipient of a number of awards in recognition of her work against neglected tropical diseases.