During the TEPHINET Program Directors’ Meeting held in Madrid, Spain from June 27-29, 2016, the FETP directors of the TEPHINET network voted unanimously to appoint Carl Reddy as the new Chairperson of the TEPHINET Advisory Board.
Any representative member of the FETP in good standing may qualify to run for the position of Chairperson by presenting a petition to the TEPHINET Secretariat, based in Atlanta. At least two member programs must support his or her nomination. If elected, the nominee must agree to serve for a three-year period.
Dr. Reddy currently serves as the Director of the South African Field Epidemiology Training Programme (SAFETP) at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS). He is the first TEPHINET Chairperson representing the African region.
As Chairperson, Dr. Reddy will provide support in the supervision, evaluation and direction of TEPHINET, particularly in its technical aspects. A fluent speaker of English, Afrikaans, Spanish, and French, Dr. Reddy has previously served in various technical positions in South Africa and Switzerland.
Dr. Reddy succeeds TEPHINET’s former Chairperson, Dr. Dato Fadzilah Kamaludin, Director of the Institute for Medical Research of the Ministry of Health of Malaysia. Dr. Kamaludin served as Chairperson from 2013-2016.
Q&A with Dr. Reddy
Q: What excites you most about your new role as TEPHINET Chairperson?
A: It’s a unique opportunity to forge deeper engagement and collaboration between programs on the African continent via AFENET with other programs around the world.
Q: What do you see as the biggest challenge and opportunity facing TEPHINET?
A: The board has to be creative and innovative in order to ensure the sustainability and relevance of TEPHINET.
Q: Can you share with us something we don’t already know about you?
A: I really enjoy salsa – not the edible type, but the dancing, singing type! Actually, I used to teach salsa!