Abhilasha Karkey

Assistant Professor Abhilash Karkey is the Clinical lead for the Epidemic Intelligence project. She is a medical microbiologist specializing in enteric infections and antimicrobial resistance at the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Kathmandu, Nepal, which is associated with the Patan Academy of Health Sciences within Patan Hospital. Her research encompasses multiple aspects of infectious disease diagnosis, treatment and management including enteric fever, central nervous system infections, hepatitis E, tuberculosis, and antibiotic resistance. Her research focus is aimed at understanding nosocomial infections and antibiotic resistance patterns within the population, as well as molecular epidemiology of enteric fever within the study population in Kathmandu.

Andrew Carey

Andrew Carey is the Programme Manager for the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine- Birat Nepal Medical Trust collaboration which includes Epidemic Intelligence, IMPACT TB, TARGET TB, ASCOT and TB RECOVERY projects. He obtained a Masters in international politics from the University of Glasgow and has been managing complex multicounty development projects in the fields of health and education for the past 10 years, including European Union, Wellcome Trust and UK FCDO funded programmes in Africa and Asia.

Bibha Dhungel

Bibha Dhungel is the Public Engagement Officer at Birat Nepal Medical Trust, based in Kathmandu. She is a creative and enthusiastic individual who believes in hard work and sincerity. She joined BNMT in 2016 and is currently responsible for developing all the branding and dissemination materials of the organization, including the Annual report and strategic plan. She is also active member of the grant writing team, contributing significantly to many successful applications, including Amplify change, TB REACH and Global Fund projects. She also leads in developing, managing and updating all of the organizational websites and social media platforms (Twitter and Facebook).

In the Epidemic Intelligence project, she is responsible for managing the website and sharing project activities through social media updates.

She is MBA from Ace Institute of Management and has previous experience of managing administration in BTC Pvt. Ltd. She enjoys singing, dancing and art.

Dr. Bimal Sharma Chalise

Dr. Bimal Sharma Chalise is the Chief Consultant Physician of Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, Teku, Kathmandu. He leads the coordination and monitoring of the project implementation at the hospital including the COVID-19 laboratory unit. He is also involved in stakeholder liaison, integration with government response programmes and wider dissemination of project findings.

Bimal earned MD in Internal Medicine, from National Academy of Health Sciences, Bir Hospital, Kathmandu in 2006. He is actively involved in research and has published a number of scientific publications in various national journals.

Dr. Buddha Basnyat

Professor Buddha Basnyat is Co-PI of the Epidemic Intelligence study and Director of the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit Nepal. He is an Infectious Diseases consultant who leads a broad spectrum of clinical research on infectious diseases, including typhoid vaccine and treatment trials, tuberculosis diagnosis and prevention, enteric infections. He is also a specialist in high altitude medicine and the Medical Director for the Travel and Mountain Medicine Center and The Himalayan Rescue Association. Buddha is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and also a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh). He has published over 300 research papers in international journals and contributed to numerous clinical textbooks, policy and treatment guidelines.

Dr. Chuman Lal Das

Dr. Chuman Lal Das is the Chief Medical Superintendent of Koshi Hospital, Morang, Province 1. He is the Co-PI of the project, leading the coordination and monitoring of the project implementation at Koshi Hospital (Eastern site) including the COVID-19 laboratory unit. He is also involved in stakeholder liaison, integration with government response programmes and wider dissemination of project findings. Dr. Chuman is MBBS and MPH degree holder, with a strong track record in government service and extensive experience in medical service delivery at different districts and zonal hospitals. He is the holder of health service award 2059 from government of Nepal and ministry of health and population in 2059.

Gangaram Budhathoki

Gangaram Budhathoki is the Regional Manager in BNMT Nepal, positioned at Nepalgunj Regional Office in Banke district. He is supporting the Epidemic Intelligence project via regional coordination and loose liaison with the Bheri hospital and government stakeholders.

Gangaram is an experienced public health professional, having more than 20 years’ experience in this field. Previously he worked as a government employee in various government health institutions and then shifted to I/NGOs. During his tenure with Government health institutions and I/NGOs, his roles were focused on facilitation (in training, meeting & workshop), coordination, proposals development, program design, planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluation and support in research activities. Gangaram has been working in BNMT since 2017 engaged in various roles. He currently manages ‘TB Recovery project’ where he is responsible for program planning, managing, coordination and monitoring & evaluation within the regional and project districts. He holds a MPH degree from State University of Bangladesh and Bachelor’s Degree in Health Education from Tribhuvan University, Nepal.

Gyanendra Shrestha

Gyanendra Shrestha is the Project Manager for the Epidemic Intelligence project and Eastern Regional Manager. He is an experienced public health professional and project leader, starting as a Statistical officer for Government of Nepal in the year 1997, and later joining BNMT as a drug scheme In-charge, progressing as a district programme coordinator and project manager. He has a deep understanding of the implementation and factors driving successful delivery of community based public health programmes in Nepal. He is responsible for ensuring successful implementation of project; establishing good coordination and networking with project partners, government authorities, major hospitals, health offices, and other development partners.

Gyanendra holds a double master’s degree in Public administration and Population and Rural Development.

Laxmi Prasad Dahal

Laxmi Prasad Dahal is the Chief Finance Officer of BNMT Nepal based at head office Kathmandu. He is responsible for overseeing the finances and accounting operations, financial planning and management of BNMT Nepal. He has worked at BNMT for over 15 years and will coordinate his finance team to ensure transparent and accurate financial management and reporting of Epidemic Intelligence, in compliance with all the requirements of the funder Wellcome Trust.

He earned his Masters’ degree in Commerce at Nepal Commerce Campus Kathmandu. He has over 17 years’ of professional experience in finance, accounts, taxation and audit matters.

Manisha Subedi

Manisha Subedi is the Procurement Manager at CMDN/INPL since May 2009. She is responsible for overall logistic management at CMDN. She holds a Master’s Degree in Social Science from the Tribhuvan University, Nepal. With more than 10 years’ professional experience in procurement management, Manisha has gained expertise on developing procurement strategies that are innovative and cost-effective, negotiating with suppliers and vendors to secure advantageous terms, building and maintaining long-term relationships with vendors and suppliers, controlling the procurement budget and promoting a culture of long-term saving on procurement costs, and preparing procurement reports. Throughout her career, she has continued her professional development with numerous national-level trainings, and workshops.

Dr. Maxine Caws

Maxine Caws is the Principal Investigator of Epidemic Intelligence Project and a senior infectious diseases researcher at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK.

She has been based full time with Birat Nepal Medical Trust (BNMT) in Kathmandu since 2017.

She leads a multidisciplinary Tuberculosis (TB) research programme which includes the optimization of community based active case finding strategies, drug resistance, molecular epidemiology, health economics and a pioneering drone transport network for rural healthcare. Prior to coming to Nepal she was Head of the TB Research Group at Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Vietnam for 11 years.

Parmananda Bhandari

Mr. Parmananda Bhandari is the Senior Medical Technologist at Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, Teku, Kathmandu. He is assigned as the focal person of the hospital for the Epidemic Intelligence project. Previously, Parmananda worked as a Medical technologist at Siddhartha Children and Woman Hospital (AMDA Nepal Butwal for 3 years and Lab Technician at TUTH and SCWH).  He was actively involved in establishing lab at Human Organ Transplant Centre, new molecular and general clinical Lab at Aarogya foundation, Bhaktapur and in Civil service hospital, Kathmandu.

Parmananda has the rich experience of operating and maintaining different lab instruments such as Luminex platform; Qiagen manual and automated molecular platform; Vitreous bio and immune platform; Roche Immuno and biochemistry platform; BD fax automated blood culture system; Sysmex; Beckman; analytican; Human, ERBA, Hematology platform; Medica, ERBA Biochemistry platform; BD flow cytometry platform.

He earned MA in Political Science from TU in 2010; BMLT from Institute of medicine Maharajgunj Campus (TU) in 2002 and completed CMLT from same institute in 1998.

Dr. Pradip Gyanwali

Associate Professor Pardip Gyanwali is co-PI of the Epidemic Intelligence project. He is Executive Chief of the Nepal Health Research Council. He is a clinical pharmacologist with an MD and MBBS from the Institute of Medicine, Kathmandu. He will ensure the project aligns with government initiatives and policy developments in the rapidly evolving context of the COVID pandemic and provide expertise to ensure integration and adaptation with the government response and strategic planning. He is involved in several COVID-19 research projects, including randomized controlled trials and seroprevalence studies.

Prajwol Manandhar

Prajwol Manandhar is the Senior Bioinformatics Specialist at CMDN/Intrepid and a dedicated leopard researcher. He has been leading the bioinformatics department for six years at CMDN, along with development of wildlife genetics programs. With the advent of the global COVID pandemic, he began   working in genome sequencing analysis of SARS-CoV-2 using Illumina/Nanopore technologies at CMDN to strengthen the Nepali response to the crisis.

He has a strong focus on one-health dynamics and specializes in 16s and shotgun metagenomics, whole genome resequencing, phylogenetic, while evolutionary biology and population genetics of wildlife biodiversity are his major field of expertise. He has been studying the evolutionary history of leopards (Panthera pardus) along with their ecology, diet, population genetics in the Nepalese Himalayas using various genomics-based tools to understand human-leopard interaction dynamics and contribute to leopard conservation. He has received MSc in Bioinformatics from University of Tampere, Finland where he gained his bioinformatics skill training. He has published multiple papers in ecology, population genetics, molecular forensics, gut microbiota, phylogenetic and evolutionary biology of various wildlife biodiversity of Nepal and travelled across various terrains of the Himalayas for his field expeditions.

Dr. Prakash Bahadur Thapa

Dr. Prakash Bahadur Thapa (MS, Orthopedics) is the Medical Superintendent at the Far Western recruitment partner site- Bheri Hospital, Nepalgunj, Banke. During his 13 years of service for the government of Nepal, he has worked as a Medical officer in Doti district for two and half years. After graduating in Orthopedics and Traumatology in 2009 he joined Bheri Hospital. As a consultant in his department, Dr. Thapa played a vital role in strengthening the services and improving the quality of care. Two months before the first case of Covid19 was detected in Nepal, he was conferred as the Medical Superintendent of the hospital. With his team’s relentless efforts, the hospital managed both waves of COVID-19 efficiently. Bheri Hospital is now acclaimed nationally and internationally for unmatched performance in managing COVID-19 despite resource constraints, under his leadership.

He has been awarded Prabal Janasewa Shri (Chaturtha) Padak by the President of Nepal in 2021. He also received Swasthya Darpan Rastriya Health Award 2077, Michiyo Takumi Yonezawa Award for the best paper presentation at ORTHOCON 2012, best student award during residency at National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS) and National award for best social contribution in the care and treatment of people living with HIV\AIDS in the far-western region of Nepal.

In Epidemic Intelligent project, he is co-PI, responsible for the Western site, clinical and laboratory management at Bheri hospital and coordination with the broader research team and dissemination of the findings to stakeholders.

Pranav Kumar Yadav

Pranav Kumar Yadav is the Senior Medical Technologist, at Covid-19 PCR Lab, Department of Pathology, Koshi Hospital, Morang. Pranav is the B.Sc. MLT and M.Sc. Clinical Microbiology (Gold Medalist) level degree holder, working in government services from 2018. He was awarded with Nepal Vidhya Bhusan Padak “KHA” by the President of Nepal in 2018. Previously he worked at Udayapur District Hospital, Gaighat & NPHL, Teku.

He received training in fungus culture and chromatography, mice inoculation for drug sensitivity testing against Mycobacterium leprae and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) & SDS-PAGE electrophoresis of Mycobacterial DNA and training on blood collection, blood grouping, transfusion transmitted infection testing, compatibility testing, blood component preparation, storage and supply from Nepal Red Cross Society, Kathmandu, Nepal.

In the Epidemic Intelligence project, his major role will be to supervise the swab collection, labelling, data collection, transportation, aliquoting and storage of the specimens, perform RNA extraction & RT-PCR of the sample, and liaise with BNMT and CMDN teams to ensure sample quality and standardized operating procedures.

Mr. Prasanna Mishra

Mr. Prasanna Mishra is the in-charge of laboratory department in Bheri hospital, Banke district. He has 14 years’ experience working in this field from private sector to the government. He is responsible for overall management of the hospital laboratories, including administration and technical aspects,  along with high volume molecular diagnosis of COVID19 in RT-PCR lab.

Prasanna started his job in government sector from 2014, placed in district health office, Bardiya as district laboratory supervisor and from 2016 also the department of statistics. He completed his bachelor degree in laboratory science (BSC. MLT) from H.N.B. Gharwal University, Dheradun, India in 2006 and completed his Masters in Public Health from Northern University Dhaka, Bangladesh. He has received TOT (training of trainers) of laboratory management system conducted from National Public Health Laboratory. He is also trained in early infant diagnosis of HIV and in sample storage and transport of biological hazard sample compliant with IATA guidelines.

In this project, Prasanna will supervise the swab collection, data collection, labelling, transportation, aliquoting & proper storage of the specimens, perform RNA extraction & RT-PCR of the samples from Bheri hospital and liaise with CMDN and BNMT teams to ensure sample quality and standardized operating procedures.

Raghu Dhital

Raghu Dhital is the Executive Director of BNMT Nepal. Raghu has worked in community based public health with BNMT for twenty years and has diverse experience across multiple sectors, including infectious diseases control programmes, WASH and disaster response and recovery. He has a strong passion for working with communities to identify priorities and facilitate solutions together. Throughout his career, he has worked in partnership with government health services and NGO networks to augment existing services and contribute to the development of Nepal.

His main responsibilities are to oversee the overall activities of BNMT; develop strategies, plans and activities for the all the programs of BNMT; establish good coordination and collaboration with government authorities, District Health Offices, NGO partners and advocates and facilitate the successful implementation of Tuberculosis Control Program.

Before taking this role, Raghu served as the Deputy director of BNMT. He previously worked as Project Manager for IMPACT TB phase I from 2017-2019. He was involved in Britain Nepal Medical Trust as a TB REACH Project Manager from February 2012 to June 2014 and has successfully implemented TB REACH WAVE- 2 project in Nepal. He has also been involved in Active Case Finding through systematic mobilization of community health volunteers including initiation of microscopic camps in hard to reach areas of Nepal.

Rajesh Kumar Yadav

Rajesh Kumar Yadav is the Epidemic Intelligence District Program Coordinator for Banke district, liaising closely with Bheri Zonal hospital. His role includes the planning, coordination, and implementation of the project within the District. Rajesh has completed MPH with specialization in Public Health Service Management from Pokhara University and received a PG research grant from Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC). His MPH topic was the “Health Related Quality of Life and Factors Associated with Medication Adherence among Tuberculosis Patients of Gandaki Province of Nepal”. He has a keen interest in infectious disease and public health implementation research. He has published 16 original and review articles in peer reviewed journals. He is currently a reviewer of various journals and has experience of working as a member of Epidemiological Data Audit of COVID-19 Pandemic in Province No. 2, representing NHRC.

Rajesh Man Rajbhandari

Rajesh Man Rajbhandari is a research professional at the Centre for Molecular Dynamics Nepal (CMDN) /INPL, working in the areas of Public Health, Disease Surveillance, Social Health, One Health, Biomedical Research and Environmental Research at both the genetic level in the lab and the field.

In the last 14 years of working as the Program Director in CMDN, he has had the privilege of being part of many major successfully implemented projects. He was involved in major research projects such as PREDICT project- an emerging disease pandemic threat assessment project funded by USAID,  Nepal funded Nepal Tiger Genome Project (USAID Vaccine Exemplars Project-funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, National Tuberculosis Prevalence Survey, Acquired HIV DR Survey and various rounds of Intergraded Biological and Behavioral Surveillance Survey in different key populations (PWID, FSW, Labor Migrants and MSM) . He coordinates and collaborates with governmental, non-governmental, private, and public institutes in research and programs.

Rajesh Parajuli

Rajesh Parajuli is the Human Resource and Administration Manager of BNMT, Safeguarding Officer and a member of the Senior Management Team. He has worked with BNMT since April 1994. He is responsible for overall human resources management and administrative management of the organization including legal compliance, liaison with authorities and government ministries for all project related approvals and reporting, development of organizational policies, and long-term staffing strategies, logistics and procurement management. Rajesh has a Master’s Degree in social science from Tribhuvan University and continued professional development training with various professional courses at national level and international level. He has successfully represented the organization in different national and international level meeting, workshops and seminars.

Rajindra Napit

Rajindra Napit is the Lab Manager and Molecular Genetics Researcher at Centre for Molecular Dynamic Nepal (CMDN) /INPL. He designs, executes and manages molecular genetics based research across a broad spectrum of topics. His has an MSc in Biotechnology with specialization in Molecular biology. His area of focus is whole genome sequencing, 16s metagenomics and shotgun metagenomics with emphasis on its implication for public health from a One- Health perspective. Currently, he is primarily focusing on genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 analyzing environmental and clinical samples; development of large scale SARS-CoV-2 detection and characterization using Miseq/MinION as an alternative to classical diagnosis using RT-PCR with variant level detection perspective. His previous experience includes work on novel virus discovery in USAID-PREDICT, AMR genes and typhoid prevalence using environmental surveillance in Gates foundation-funded typhoid prevalence study in collaboration with MIT.

Additionally, he is also involved in vaccine development and production in BIOVAC Nepal Pvt. Ltd, developing thermostable vaccines against Newcastle disease virus for poultry.

Ram Prasad Koirala

Ram Prasad Koirala is the District Program Coordinator for the Epidemic Intelligence project, based in Morang, liaising closely with Koshi Zonal Hospital for patient recruitment, informed consent, follow-up data collection and sample transport to CMDN laboratory in Kathmandu. He is also responsible for stakeholder engagement, coordination and liason within the district, including government and community partners.

Ram has more than 25 years of experience in public health implementation and program management, co-ordination with district, concerned stakeholders at the palika and provincial level, participatory planning, implementation and monitoring of projects.

Prior to joining the Epidemic Intelligence project he led the BNMT implementation of the Global Fund National TB Programme project in Illam and Jhapa districts for BNMT.  He has previously worked as a Consultant of Post Disaster TB Project for early TB detection and cure of internally displaced people of Nepal with International Organization of Migration (IOM); and as a Team Leader in Drinking Water, Health and Sanitation project (WASH) funded by Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Fund Development Board (2016) in Sagarmatha Community Development Centre (SCDC) Biratnagar.

Reshu Parajuli

Reshu Parajuli is the District Programme Coordinator for the Epidemic Intelligence project, based in Kathmandu and liaising loosely with Sukaraj Tropical and Infectious Diseases Hospital. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Public Health from Chitwan Medical College and is currently perusing MSc. PRD at Center of Population and Development, Morang. She joined BNMT as an intern in 2017, working on the Global Fund TB Programme and progressing to a district project coordinator role for Udayapur district, from October 2018 to March 2021. She is a dynamic and committed, enthusiastic learner dedicated to improved health and well-being of Nepalese people.

Dr. Sagar Kumar Rajbhandari

Dr. Sagar Kumar Rajbhandari is ex-director of Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, Teku, Kathmandu. In Epidemic Intelligent project, he is supporting in stakeholder liaison, integration with government response programmes and providing technical assistance in wider dissemination of project findings among the concerned stakeholders.

Sagar completed MDGP from Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in 2005/06 and DTCE from RIT, Kiyose Japan in 1998 as well as completed MD from OSMU, Ukraine. Before being assigned in Sukraraj Hospital, he worked as a director of National Tuberculosis Control Center in 2019-20. He has rich experience of serving in different government hospitals in the past such as Dhaulagiri Zonal Hospital, Chautara Hospital, Parbat hospital, Baglung hospital, Myagdi hospital, Salyan Hospital, Lumbini Zonal hospital, MOHP, Parasi Hospital, and Rangkhani healthpost.

Sameer M. Dixit, PhD

Sameer M. Dixit, PhD is the Co-PI of the Epidemic Intelligence project. Sameer is a biomedical research scientist working in the public health sector of Nepal, focusing on infectious diseases. His strength lies in planning and implementing field and laboratory based (biomedical) research in infectious diseases of public health importance in developing countries. His postgraduate and Doctorate degrees are in Immunology and Recombinant DNA technology from Australia. His experience in public health research is over 10 years and over 17 years’ in basic/applied science.  He has been actively involved in various forms of academic and programmatic research of public health importance- usually as Team Leader/ Principle Investigator.  His work experience has allowed him to develop working relationships with various national and international organizations. Currently, he works as the Chairperson and Founder Director of Research in Intrepid Nepal Pvt Ltd (INPL) and Vice-Chairperson and Founder Director of Research, Center for Molecular Dynamics Nepal (CMDN). He also holds an honorary board position at Nepal Public Health Foundation.

Shanti Maharjan

Shanti Maharjan is the Finance Manager of CMDN/INPL Nepal. She is responsible for financial management, monitoring, planning, yearly budgeting and accounting operations of the organization.  She has 13 years of working experience in this field. She holds a MBA Degree and has participated in different national and international finance and account related trainings during her professional career.

Dr. Stephen Baker

Dr. Stephen Baker is Director of Research For Global Health in the Department of Medicine at the University of Cambridge and Honorary Faculty at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. He is a molecular epidemiologist whose career has been focused on understanding how infectious diseases in humans in low-middle income countries evolve and spread. He was previously located at the Wellcome Africa- Asia programme in Vietnam for 12 years, where he established an internationally recognised programme of research on enteric (gastrointestinal) infections. His research focuses on the phylogeography of enteric bacteria, looking more closely at evolutionary adaptation and clonal replacement of pathogens in endemic settings through cohort studies and hospital surveillance.

Dr. Suman Pant

Dr. Suman Pant is a co-investigator of the Epidemic Intelligence project and a Research Officer at the Nepal Health Research Council. He graduated in Bachelor of Medicine and bachelor of Surgery from Dali University, China and has a Masters in Public Health from Thammasat University, Thailand with a specialisation in Global Health. He has a strong drive to generate high quality evidence through clinical research which informs patient management and improves outcomes. He is also a passionate advocate for equity in population health with a keen interest in social determinants of health and the interconnectedness and interdependence in addressing global health challenges. He is a contributing author to the Nepal National Guideline for Strengthening Evidence Generation on COVID-19 and is involved in multiple COVID-19 related research projects in Nepal, including  randomized controlled trials, seroprevalence surveys and vaccine safety.

Swastika Shrestha

Swastika Shrestha  is the Monitoring and Evaluation officer of the Epidemic Intelligence project. She is a graduate with a Master’s degree in Global Health from the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin.  She was previously engaged as a Research Officer in the BNMT project- Breaking the Stigma: An alternative approach to cervical cancer screening in Nepal.

Having had a couple of years of clinical experience as a dental surgeon, she developed an interest in the field of public health after which she pursued her Master’s in Public health. Her previous experience of working in university hospitals piqued her interest in research driven tasks. She enjoys working with and learning from people from different walks of life.

Dipendra Panday

Dipendra Panday is the ‘District Program Coordinator’ in Epidemic Intelligence project positioned in Banke district of Nepal. His is responsible for planning, coordination, implementation and monitoring activities for Epidemic Intelligence Project, and supporting the TARGET TB Project and TB Recovery Project within the district. Dipendra has previous experiences of working at BNMT as the District Coordinator for multiple projects such as ‘Enhancing community health in Nepal’ project funded by Big Lottery Fund and ‘National TB Program’ funded by Global Fund/Save the Children. He has completed Community Medicine Auxiliary(CMA), Health Assistant (HA) from CTEVT and BPH from Tribhuvan University (TU). He has received different training such as; CB-IMNCI, IMAM, TB Modular, MToT on Golden Thousand Days, MToT on TB management & e-TB, DHIS-2, M-health, life skill training.