OUR VISION A WORLD WITHOUT DEATHS FROM FUNGAL INFECTION.

Our Board Members

are the driving force behind GAFFI’s mission. They bring a wealth of expertises in global health and senior management posts.

Oddi Aasheim

BIOGRAPHY >

Nkechi (Mbanefo) Azie MD MBA FIDSA

BIOGRAPHY >

Juan Luis Rodríguez Tudela MD PhD

BIOGRAPHY >

Skhumbuzo Ngozwana

BIOGRAPHY >

David S. Perlin, Ph.D.

BIOGRAPHY >

Yasuaki Mori

BIOGRAPHY >

David Allmond

BIOGRAPHY >

Biography:

Chair and Chief Strategy Officer

Oddi Aasheim is the founder and Managing Director of FirstHuman, a company that specialises in the facilitation and implementation of performance breakthroughs and in breakthrough leadership.  Prior to FirstHuman, Oddi has been the Commercial Director for JMW Worldwide UK, a Strategy Executive for Accenture and Transformation Manager for Shell UK.

Oddi was born in Norway, but moved to the UK when he did his B.Eng. in Offshore Civil Engineering at Heriot-Watt University.  He has remained close to his alma mater and held positions such as Member of the Heriot-Watt Foundation Board, been the President of the London Watt-Club, had a seat at the Watt-Club Council,  and sat on the General Convocation.  Currently he is also a board member of the Norwegian YWCA in the UK.

Oddi is a Swiss Board member and a Trustee of GAFFI, UK.

There are no conflicts of interest.

Biography:

Nkechi (Mbanefo) Azie MD MBA FIDSA is a highly accomplished pharmaceutical executive. Dr. Azie is widely recognized as an expert in the field of infectious diseases with breadth of experience in translational medicine, drug development, medical affairs, product launches and pharmacovigilance. She has held key leadership roles in the clinical development of major antifungals and antibiotics for Astellas, Pfizer, The Medicines Company and, most recently, Scynexis. She has broad experience that also covers vaccines, immunology, neurology, gastrointestinal disease, and women’s health. Dr. Azie has extensive experience interacting with the FDA and other global regulatory agencies to deliver safe and effective products at the global level. She has successfully led product Lifecycle management strategies to optimize product value to patients, payers, and companies. Dr. Azie, a native of Nigeria, obtained her medical degree at the University of Nigeria. She did her medical/infectious diseases residency training at Indiana University, and obtained an MBA from Notre Dame University. Currently, she is the Global Chief Medical Officer for SymBio Pharmaceuticals

Biography:

Interim CEO and Director for LatAm Programmes

Juan Luis Rodríguez Tudela MD PhD was born in Madrid in 1958. He gained his MD from Complutense University of Madrid. He is a Specialist in Clinical Microbiology and studied for his PhD at the Autonomous University de Madrid.

Juan Luis was the founder of the medical Mycology Reference Laboratory of Spain at the National Centre for Microbiology of Instituto de Salud Carlos III. He served as Director National Centre for Microbiology of Instituto de Salud Carlos III from 2000 to 2003. His last position at National Centre for Microbiology of Instituto de Salud Carlos III was as Director of the Department of Bacteriology, Mycology and Parasitology. He has run a variety of research projects and scientific activities focused on fungal infections afflicting humans, early diagnosis of invasive fungal infections, standardization of antifungal susceptibility testing, resistance mechanisms, and taxonomy of fungal species.

Juan Luis has published over 230 original articles

Juan Luis has served as member of several international associations, ex-Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Antifungal Subcommittee of Antifungal Susceptibility Testing of the European Committee of Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (AFST-EUCAST) and advisor of the PAHO on the Antifungal Resistance Surveillance Network in Latin-America. He or members of its laboratory have run several workshops focused in diagnosis and resistance detection of fungi in different countries of American continent as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, and Mexico.

Juan Luis is a minority shareholder in next Level Diagnostics (Ukraine) and sits on the Board of 2 charitable foundations.

Biography:

Dr Skhumbuzo Ngozwana is CEO of Kiara Health, a South African based, Africa-focused healthcare company. He is an international expert on the African Pharmaceutical industry and has worked in both private and global public health organizations. He consulted to the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the United States Pharmacopeia Convention (USP). He co-authored the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan for Africa. The plan was the output of the extensive research and analytical work he conducted on the African pharmaceutical industry. He co-authored the Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Sector Strategy and Action Plan and the pharmaceutical sector strategies of several countries. He consulted for USP on their Africa strategy and authored a USP Thought Leadership Paper titled, The Next Frontiers for the Public Health Medicines Market: Rethinking Priorities for Improved Access to Quality-Assured Medicines for Universal Access. He is passionate about the development of the local pharmaceutical and medtech sector in Africa as a way to achieve health security and has written and spoken on the topic at leading local and international conferences.

Biography:

Dr. David S. Perlin is a highly accomplished biomedical researcher and chief executive who is well recognized for his innovative and entrepreneurial leadership in the biomedical sciences. He is the inaugural Chief Scientific Officer and EVP for the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI), which rapidly translates innovations in science to improve outcomes for patients with cancer, infectious diseases, and other acute and chronic disorders. Dr. Perlin has been engaged for >30 years in developing molecular insights and technologies to detect, combat and prevent deadly infections. He is an expert in drug discovery and drug resistance mechanisms, and he has helped develop novel therapeutics and diagnostics against high-threat bacteria, viruses, and fungi. He has published more than 340 papers and book chapters and has co-authored two books. His laboratory is supported by multiple grants from the NIH, Pharma and biopharma sectors. Dr. Perlin has served on advisory boards for the NIH, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, and numerous Pharma, biotech and diagnostic companies. Under Dr. Perlin’s leadership, CDI was named in 2020 the top Business Incubator in New Jersey and was further honored with a “Medical Technology Pioneer Health Care Heroes” award for their COVID-19 response. Dr. Perlin is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology (2018) and the New York Academy of Sciences (2006). He was named by RO1 a top 10 influencer in healthcare in New Jersey in 2019 and 2020; Outstanding Scientist in New Jersey by the Edward J. Ill Excellence in Medicine Awards in 2020, 2021; a top 25 National Innovator by Modern Healthcare in 2021, and in 2022 a top 25 Notable Health Care Leader by Crain’s New York Business. Finally, he received the 2023 Sol J. Barer award for Vision, Innovation and Leadership.

Biography:

Yasuaki Mori joined Infineon Technologies Japan K.K. as President in November 2000 and is a member of the executive management group.  Before joining Infineon, he moved to Japan in 1997 and became the head of sales & marketing for Advanced Micro Devices Japan.  Prior to this he was based in Europe and the US in various positions including business development, marketing, lobbying and strategy.
Born in Canada, raised in Switzerland, Yasuaki Mori earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering with specialization in digital communications in 1983 and a Masters in International Affairs in 1984 from Columbia University in New York City.  He is fluent in English, Japanese and French and also speaks German.

He is member of the Association of Japanese Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyoukai), German Chamber of Commerce, American Chamber of Commerce and ACCJ Growth Strategy Task Force where he contributed to policy papers for the Japanese government.

Yasuaki Mori is a Swiss Board member and a Trustee of GAFFI, UK.

No potential conflicts of interest.

Biography:

David Allmond is a passionate, life sciences professional, with a particular interest in strategy development. He has an impressive multi-national leadership background and in recent years has focused his career on clinical diagnostics in infectious diseases and commercialization of medicines to tackle severely underserved, debilitating cancers and orphan diseases. His most recent post was Chief Executive Officer for Novacyt Group, an international clinical diagnostics company.
Prior to this David has held a number of senior positions across the pharmaceutical industry:
Chief Business Officer for Amryt Pharma, a global pharmaceutical company focused on developing and delivering innovative treatments to improve the lives of people with rare and orphan diseases.
President EMEA for Aegerion Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for the EMEA P&L and was tasked with turning the business around to ensure it was fit to deliver profitable growth, after a challenging entry into the region.
General manager Celgene UK, responsible for setting up Celgene’s UK and Ireland operating company and subsequently Vice President EMEA Marketing and Market Access followed by his move to the US to assume the role of Corporate Vice President, Global Marketing for Celgene, where he played a pivotal role in defining brand and portfolio strategy.
David spent nearly 7 years on the board of Myeloma UK, a highly progressive patient group, supporting patients with Multiple Myeloma. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology from Imperial College, London.