The DeZi team brings together internationally recognised leaders in arbovirus research, public health, and capacity building, with decades of collective experience in protocol development, laboratory and field‑based research, and community engagement.
Spanning Africa, Asia, Europe, the Pacific and the Americas, the network aims to follow Zika’s footsteps.
Our team has played a central role in developing and implementing diagnostic, surveillance, and genomic protocols during major dengue and Zika epidemics, while working closely with ministries of health, WHO, and affected communities. Our long‑standing commitment to equitable partnerships, local leadership, and translational science underpins our approach to strengthening surveillance and public health impact across epidemic and endemic settings.
Our Team
DeZi network
Dengue, Zika & emerging arboviruses — … partner institutions across … locations.
Workpackage and Task Leads
Prof. Nuno R. Faria (ICL/USP) (Lead)
Professor of viral evolution and genomic epidemiology, with expertise in real-time phylodynamics of dengue and Zika across Latin America and Africa.
Dr. Eve Lackritz (Co-lead)
Paediatric infectious disease specialist with WHO and CDC experience in global health, vaccine implementation, and international research partnerships.
Prof. Eva Harris (UBerk) (Co-lead)
Expert in dengue immunology and pathogenesis, with extensive experience in community‑based research and capacity building in the Americas.
Prof. Bireshwar Sinha (SAS) (Co-lead)
Senior public health leader with expertise in epidemic preparedness, health systems strengthening, and international health diplomacy.
Prof. Lee Ching Ng (NEA) (Co-lead)
Expert in arbovirus surveillance and vector‑borne disease control, bridging research, policy, and public health across Asia. Lead of the UNITEDengue initiative.
Jocelyne Vasconcelos (CISA) (Co-lead)
Public health research lead focused on infectious disease surveillance, laboratory capacity strengthening, and policy‑relevant research in Angola.
Prof. Placide Mbala (INRB) (Co-lead)
Expert in emerging and re‑emerging viral infections in Africa, with leadership roles in outbreak investigation, diagnostics, and national surveillance.
Prof. Ernesto Marques (Pitts) (Co-lead)
Virologist and immunologist specialising in flavivirus biology and vaccine‑related immune responses, with extensive work across the Americas.
Prof. Thomas Jaenisch (Colorado)
Expert in coordinating multicentric clinical research on dengue and Zika, with extensive work on pregnant women and child cohorts in Latin America.
Prof. Ilaria Dorigatti (ICL)
Mathematical epidemiologist focused on improving control strategies for dengue and Zika. Co-develops Arbomap and co-leads the xSTAR project.
Prof. Andrew Rambaut (UEdin)
Expert in viral molecular evolution and phylogenetics. ARTIC2 Network co-lead, and WHO TAG member on Virus Evolution. BEASTx developer.
Prof. Philippe Lemey (KULeuven)
Pioneered the field of Bayesian phylogeography and developed several widely-used computational tools implemented in the BEASTx package.
Dr. Aine O’Toole (UEdin)
Expert in genomic epidemiology and software development (e.g., civet, grinch, pangolin, snipit, racoon) for standardising sequencing data analysis.
Prof. Marc Suchard (UCLA)
Expert in high-performance statistical computing, with a focus on inference of stochastic processes for phylodynamics.
Dr. Leah Katzelnick (NIH)
Expert in dengue and Zika antigenic variation and immunity. Leads the Viral Epidemiology and Immunity Unit at NIH (NIAID/DIR).
Gurjeet Bhangal (ICL)
DeZi Central Programme Manager, based at the School of Public Health, Imperial College London (UK).
Our Partners
Asia and the Pacific
Dr. Tedjo Sasmono (Eijkman)
Dengue researcher leading a molecular epidemiology group in Indonesia, with expertise in arbovirus transmission, vaccine clinical trials, and diagnostics.
Dr. Erik Karlsson (Cambodia)
Head of the Virology Unit at Institut Pasteur du Cambodge and Director of Cambodia’s National Influenza Center and WHO regional/reference laboratories.
Prof. Shyam Prakash Dumre (Nepal)
Associate Professor of Microbiology at Tribhuvan University, Nepal, with international affiliations including George Mason University and ASM.
Dr. Dev Pandey (Everest Int. Clinic)
Leading clinical virologist specialising in dengue and other arboviruses, former director of the Epidemiology & Disease Control Division in Nepal.
Dr. Rahman (icddr,b, Bangladesh)
Senior Director of the Maternal and Child Health Division at icddr,b in Bangladesh. Leads research on preterm birth, stillbirth, and maternal health.
Prof. Jamal I-Ching Sam (UM)
Head of the Diagnostic Virology and Advanced Molecular Diagnostics Unit at the University of Malaya Medical Centre, Malaysia.
Dr. Shuzhen Sim (NEA)
Principal investigator at the Environmental Health Institute (Singapore), specialising in vector-borne diseases and arbovirus research.
Prof. Yoke-Fun Chan (UM)
Professor of Virology and award-winning researcher specialising in emerging viral pathogens, including chikungunya, and genomic surveillance in Malaysia.
Dr. Chanditha Hapuarachchi (NEA)
Principal Scientist in Molecular Biotechnology at Singapore’s Environmental Health Institute, specialising in microbiology and molecular epidemiology.
Prof. Swapnil Mishra (NUS)
Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore, specialising in infectious disease modelling, and co-lead of the UNITEDengue initiative.
Prof. LakKumar Fernando (CCMDDHF)
Sri Lankan paediatrician and expert on dengue at the Centre for Clinical Management of Dengue & Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever in Negombo, Sri Lanka.
Ms. Boon Yee Lim
DeZi Assistant Manager for Asia, Scientific Programme Management Department, Environmental Health Institute (EHI), Singapore.
Prof. Aresha Manamperi
Head of the Molecular Medicine Unit, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, focusing on the development of new in vitro diagnostic technologies.
Prof. Sharifah Syed Omar (UM)
Infectious diseases physician and Associate Professor in the Dept. of Medicine, University of Malaya, with expertise in dengue and tropical medicine.
Dr. Joshua Teo (NEA)
Senior Scientist in Virology at Singapore’s Environmental Health Institute, specialising in microbiology and molecular epidemiology.
Prof. Cao-Lormeau (French Polynesia)
Director of the Laboratory of Research on Infectious Vector-borne Diseases in French Polynesia. Led seminal work on the 2013 Zika outbreak.
Prof. Eggi Arguni (Universitas Gadjah Mada)
Pediatric infectious disease specialist, lecturer, and researcher based at Universitas Gadjah Mada and Dr. Sardjito Hospital in Indonesia. Her work focuses on dengue and immunology, with strong involvement in public health research.
Africa
Dr. Maria da Luz (INSP, Cape Verde)
President of Cape Verde's National Institute of Public Health (INSP), Ministry of Health, led in-country investigations of dengue and Zika.
Dr. Bonifacio Souza (INSP, STP)
Director of the National Centre of Endemic Diseases at the Ministry of Health of São Tomé and Príncipe, coordinating activities in the country.
Dr. Thierry Kalonji (INRB, DRC)
Medical doctor and public health expert in the DRC, with a focus on disease surveillance, outbreak response, and One Health investigations in the DRC.
Baltazar Cá (INASA, Guinea-Bissau)
Public health researcher at the National Institute for Public Health in Guinea-Bissau working on pathogen genetic diversity.
Silvania Leal (INSP, Cape Verde)
Laboratory coordinator and medical parasitologist leading vector-borne disease research on malaria, and arbovirus surveillance.
Isaías Baptista (INSP, Cape Verde)
Bioinformatician and medical entomologist, leading insecticide resistance studies and sequencing activities.
Dr. Francis Mutuku (TUM, Kenya)
Public health researcher working on dengue and other arboviruses, with +10 years' expertise in disease surveillance, outbreak response.
Laboratory Coordinator and public health researcher at the Instituto Nacional de Investigação em Saúde (INIS), Ministry of Health, Republic of Angola.
Amilton Sério (INIS, Angola)
Aracelli Acevedo (INIS, Angola)
DeZi Project Manager for Africa, Instituto Nacional de Investigação em Saúde (INIS), Ministry of Health, Republic of Angola.
Prof. Nicaise Ndembi (IVI)
Deputy Director General, Inaugural International Vaccine Institute (IVI) Regional Africa Office, and Head of Mission, IVI Rwanda.
Americas
Prof. Ester Sabino (IMT-FMUSP)
Immunologist with +20 years' expertise in serosurveillance of blood donor cohorts across the Americas, with a focus on Brazil.
Prof. Coloma (Berkeley/USFQ)
Public health scientist coordinating clinical, epidemiological and community-based research across the Americas, particularly Ecuador.
Prof. William de Souza (Kentucky)
Expert in arbovirology bridging epidemiology, evolution, climate change and immune responses for arboviruses across Latin America.
Prof. Charlie Whittaker (Berkeley)
Expert in mathematical modelling , integrating serological and genomic data to understand transmission and severity.
Prof. Zé Modena (UNICAMP, Brazil)
Virologist leading research on dengue, Zika, and chikungunya; expert in viral pathogenesis and host-pathogen interactions in Brazil.
Dr. Gabriel Trueba (USFQ)
Director of the Microbiology Institute at Universidad San Francisco de Quito, co-coordinating dengue and Zika research activities in Ecuador.
Dr. Angel Balmaseda (CNDR, Nicaragua)
Head of Nicaragua's Centro Nacional de Diagnóstico y Referencia and Director of the Nicaraguan Virology Program at the Sustainable Sciences Institute.
Prof. Nathan Grubaugh (Yale-SPH)
Leader in genomic epidemiology and phylodynamics, developing sequencing protocols and travel surveillance for dengue and Zika.
Claudia Sanchez Martin (Berkeley)
Project Manager in the Eva Harris lab specialising in molecular virology of RNA viruses, with extensive expertise in dengue and antiviral discovery.
Dr. Mars Stone (Vitalant, US)
Expert on transfusion-transmitted viruses, blood screening, and diagnostic assays, leading multicenter clinical and translational studies.
Dr. Ingra Claro (UNICAMP)
Biomedical scientist specialising in real-time genomic surveillance of emerging viruses, with leading contributions to SARS-CoV-2, Zika and metagenomics.
Dr. Livia Sachetto (UNICAMP)
Virologist at UNICAMP specialising in molecular epidemiology of emerging arboviruses, including yellow fever, Zika, dengue and arbovirus X.
Mairead Whelan (Calgary)
Researcher at the Centre for Health Informatics and Co-Lead at SeroTracker, leading the development of the ArboTracker tool.
Dr. Sandra Bos (Pitts)
Research Assistant Professor specialising in flavivirus virology and immunology, with research focused on dengue cross-reactivity.
Europe
Dr. Libia Zé-Zé (INSA)
Arbovirologist at Portugal's National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge specialising in arbovirus epidemiology, diagnostics, and travel surveillance.
Prof. Ana Abecasis (IHMT)
Molecular epidemiologist at Portugal's Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, specialising in training and evolution and genomics of arboviruses.
Dr. Emma Hodcroft (UBasel)
Computational biologist specialising in real-time viral genomic epidemiology, co-developer of Pathoplexus for tracking pathogen evolution
Dr. Joshua Quick (UBirm)
Expert in developing rapid sequencing technologies who developed the ZiBRA and ARTIC sequencing protocols used worldwide and PrimalScheme.
Prof. Nick Loman (UBirm)
Expert in real-time sequencing and bioinformatics, designer of the CLIMB infrastructure and pioneer of genomic surveillance for Ebola and Zika.
Dr. Jesse Waggonner
Infectious disease physician and molecular diagnostics researcher specialising in PoCs and RT-PCR for dengue, Zika, and other arboviruses.
Prof. Jane Messina (Oxford)
Geographer coordinating the International Research Consortium on Dengue Risk Assessment, Management and Surveillance.
Dr. Michael White (Pasteur)
Director of the Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Analytics (IDEA) G5 Unit at Pasteur, with expertise in multiplex assays for serology.
Dr. Oliver Ratmann (ICL)
Infectious disease modeller focusing on pathogen transmission dynamics, co-leads the Machine Learning & Global Health Network.
Dr. Chantal Reusken (RIVM)
Virologist at the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, leading European arbovirus surveillance and diagnostic preparedness.
Prof. Oliver Brady (LSHTM)
Lead of the Dengue Mapping and Modelling Group, and the ArboRiskMap, applying advanced Bayesian statistical and mechanistic models to map arbovirus risk.
Dr. Darlan Candido (ICL/USP)
Genomic epidemiologist, with expertise in real-time phylodynamics of SARS-CoV-2, poliovirus and arboviruses. Lead of the Genomic Epi Workshop (2026).
Collaborating Networks
xSTAR Project
xSTAR (multiplex Serology Testing and Analysis Platform)