ANDI appoints Nigerian as executive director

THE United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the Board of the African Network for Drugs and Diagnostics Innovation (ANDI) has jointly announced the appointment of health expert, Dr. Solomon Nwaka, as Executive Director of ANDI.

      He has officially assumed the leadership of the organization now hosted by UNOPS in Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia.

The newly appointed Executive Director is expected to pursue the much needed vision of supporting developing countries to take leadership in fighting the diseases that affect them the most.

   Dr. Nwaka who is from Imo state in Nigeria and vastly travelled was a foundational staff member of the Medicines for Malaria Venture based in Geneva in Switzerland, where he served as director of Drug Discovery and Innovation.

    He, has also worked and trained at various academic and research institutions around the world including USA, Japan, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Nigeria, and Canada where he worked in the biopharmaceutical sector.

 He has published broadly on health innovation systems, public-private partnerships, networks, and capacity building and utilization in developing countries.

   In a statement made available to The Guardian, Director of UNOPS Ethiopia Operational Hub, Bamidele Ilebani said, “we are excited to have Dr. Nwaka join UNOPS as the Executive Director of ANDI, his doggedness and interpersonal skills made the transition of ANDI to Africa under the administrative framework of UNOPS possible. On behalf of the UNOPS Executive Director, I wish Solomon well in his new position.”

   Prior to joining UNOPS, Dr. Nwaka served as the acting Executive Director of ANDI, and headed different research and development units at the World Health Organization’s Special Programme for Research and Training in tropical diseases (WHO/TDR), such as Drug Discovery Research for Infectious Tropical Diseases, and Innovation for Product Development in Developing Countries.