The Public Health Panel

In order to inform and guide the campaign, the World Hepatitis Alliance has recruited a group of medical experts from diverse regions of the world with significant experience in hepatitis and/or large public health campaigns.

The Public Health Panel acts as an advisory board or expert reference group to the World Hepatitis Alliance. The Panel does not meet in person, but is a ‘virtual group,’ which provides expert counsel to the work of the World Hepatitis Alliance. This year, the panel members will be supporting the global and country launches of World Hepatitis Day and providing messages of support for the campaign.

The members of the panel are:

Prof Driss Jamil

Prof Jamil is a specialist in hepatitis B and C epidemiology at the Department of Medicine, University of Casablanca, Morocco. He is a former Director of the Moroccan National Hospital and the founder of Fédération SOS Hépatites in Morocco, which aims to support patients with hepatitis. In 2005, SOS Hépatites led the establishment of the Maghreb Hepatitis Forum, in collaboration with similar patient groups in Algeria and Tunisia. In October 2007, the creation of the Foundation SOS Hépatites Maghreb was announced and includes representatives from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya in order to unify the fight against Hepatitis in North Africa. Prof. Jamil’s ongoing research focuses on the hepatitis B and C viruses and access to diagnosis and treatment in North Africa.
Prof Gamal Esmat

Prof Esmat is Professor of Hepatology & Tropical Medicine, and Director of the Schistosomal Liver Unit at the Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University , Egypt. He is the current President of International Association for the Study of the Liver (IASL). His ongoing research projects include the epidemiology of HCV in Egyptian children for which he is the Principle Investigator and the treatment of HCV genotype 4 patients and noninvasive markers for detection of hepatic fibrosis.
Prof Jean-Michel Pawlotsky

Dr Pawlotsky is Professor of Medicine at the University of Paris XII and Director of the Department of Virology and of the French National Reference Centre for Viral hepatitis B, C and D at the Henri Mondor University Hospital. In addition to being the Secretary General of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), Dr. Pawlotsky is a member of the Scientific College of the French National Agency for AIDS and Viral Hepatitis Research (ANRS).
Prof Hui Zhuang

Prof Zhuang is currently a Professor at the Department of Microbiology, Peking University Health Science Centre, China. He is the Honorary Chairman of the Chinese Society of Hepatology and a member of the WHO Regional Commission for Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication in Western Pacific. He also serves on the Expert Advisory Committee on Viral Hepatitis for the Chinese Ministry of Health. He is a member of Chinese Academy of Engineering, which is the highest academic title and a life-long honour.
Prof Baruch Blumberg

Prof Blumberg was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1976 for "discoveries concerning new mechanisms for the origin and dissemination of infectious diseases" and specifically, for the discovery of the hepatitis B virus. In 1993, he was elected to the National Inventors Hall of Fame for the invention of the hepatitis B vaccine and the diagnostic test for hepatitis B. Prof Blumberg currently holds the post of Distinguished Scientist at the Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, Professor of Medicine and Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, and President of the American Philosophical Society, USA.
Prof Greg Dore

Associate Professor Gregory Dore is Head of the Viral Hepatitis Clinical Research Program, National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, University of New South Wales and an Infectious Diseases Physician at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, Australia. He has been involved in the areas of viral hepatitis and HIV for many years, in academic research, clinical, and public health policy capacities. Professor Dore is a member of various public health advisory boards including the Australian Government Hepatitis C Sub-Committee.
Dr Miguel Garassini

Prof Garassini is Professor of Clinical Gastroenterology at the “Luis Razzetti” School of Venezuela’s Central University and is also affiliated with Gastroenterology Services at University Hospital, Caracas. He is currently President of the Latin American Association for the Study of the Liver (ALEH) and an active member of the Venezuelan Gastroenterology Society (SVG), the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) and the American Association for the Study of the Liver (AASLD). Prof Garassini is also Associate Editor of GEN, the offical journal of the Venezuelan Gastroenterology Society and is a member of the Editorial Board of the Annals of Hepatology, the oficial journal of the Mexican Hepatology Association.
Dr João Silvia de Mendonça

Dr Mendonça is Director of the Infectious Diseases Service, Hospital do Servidor Público Estadual de São Paulo, Brazil. He is currently the Scientific Coordinator of the Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases (2008-09) and a member of the Advisory Committee of the National Program on Viral Hepatitis, Health Surveillance Secretary, Ministry of Health, Brazil. He is also a member of the Advisory Committee of the Immunization Division, São Paulo State Secretary of Health.
Dr Leonardo Pinchuk

Prof Pinchuk is currently Consultant Professor at the University of Buenos Aires Faculty of Medicine and the Gastroenterology Department at José de San Martin Hospital, Argentina. He was formerly President of the Argentine Gastroenterology Society; Vice-President of the Argentine Foundation for the Study of Hepatic Diseases; President of the Argentine Hepatology Association; and President of the Latin American Association for the Study of Liver Disease. For many years he also served as Editor of the Argentine Archives for Diseases of the Digestive Apparatus.
Prof S P Singh

Prof Singh is the Head of the Department of Gastroenterology at the S.C.B. Medical
College, India. He is founder of the Kalinga Gastroenterology Foundation and Hepatitis B Eradication Day. In 2004, he launched the free access journal Hepatitis B Annual dedicated to dissemination of knowledge about Hepatitis B amongst the medical fraternity of the developing world. He was a member of the 2007 World Digestive Health Day Committee of the World Gastroenterology Organisation [WGO].
Prof Stefan Zeuzem

Prof Zeuzem is Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Department of Medicine, at the J.W. Goethe University Hospital, Frankfurt, Germany. Professor Zeuzem is a member of numerous professional associations and has co-authored manuscripts, book chapters and reviews encompassing varied aspects of internal medicine. His current research interests include cellular physiology, molecular biology of hepatitis viruses, viral kinetics, the role of hepatitis C in hepatocarcinogenesis, and the stratification and optimization of antiviral treatment.

“Viral hepatitis: Be alert: millions are silently infected!”

Dr João Mendonça
Member of the World Hepatitis Alliance Public Health Panel