Career Compass 2024

Ioannis Karagiannis is an epidemiologist working as a consultant with WHO EURO. After completing his fellowship, he was head of the Foodborne Diseases Unit at the National Public Health Institute in Greece before working as an EPIET coordinator and a UK-FETP senior scientific coordinator. He later worked as an field epidemiologist with the SIREN study in the UK before moving on to the Western Pacific Region Office and then the European Region Office of WHO to work with SARS-CoV-2 in the human-animal interface, food safety and the current mpox Public Health Emergency of International Concern as pillar lead for collaborative surveillance in the WHO European Region. He has been the president of EAN since 2023.

Bojana Mahmutović is an experienced medical doctor with a specialization in epidemiology, bringing over 10 years of expertise in public health, epidemiology, and communicable disease control at the Institute of Public Health Krapina-Zagorje County. With 12 years of experience in primary healthcare, a background in project management, and fellowship training in applied epidemiology (EPIET), she has developed extensive skills in communicable and non-communicable disease surveillance, vaccine procurement and distribution, public health policy, and health communication. Proven track record of leading teams, managing public health crises, and collaborating with government agencies and media outlets.

Marc-Alain Widdowson worked for the Department for International Development (DFID) in Zimbabwe and Bolivia and completed his EPIET fellowship in the Netherlands. He later worked at the US working on global epidemiology and prevention of epidemic viral gastroenteritis, influenza and Ebola. He later directed the CDC Kenya office as Director of Global Health Security working with Zika, MERS-CoV and other epidemic viruses of global health security concern. In 2019, he was appointed the Director of the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp and, in 2023, he joined WHO as the lead of High Threat Pathogens at WHO-EURO.

Ricardo Mexia is a Public Health Doctor and Epidemiologist and completed his EPIET training in Norway and has served as a vice president of EAN. He is a Field Epidemiologist working mostly in infectious disease surveillance. He is currently the President of the Infectious Disease Control Section of the European Public Health Association (EUPHA-IDC), and the chair for the European Public Health Conference in 2024, taking place in Lisbon. He is also a Member of the ECDC Advisory Forum, EU Health Task Force Advisory Group and of HERA Civil Society Forum (representing EUPHA). At the Epidemiology Department of the National Health Institute Doutor Ricardo Jorge (INSA), he works mostly in Surveillance systems and Preparedness. His experience ranges from international projects (EPHESUS, PANDEM2, EuroCigua2) to national surveillance systems (Gripenet, EVITA). He also has been involved in Mass Gathering Surveillance at national and international events. He teaches Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Epidemiology and Healthcare Management and Ethics at different universities in Portugal. He is currently the President of the Lumiar “Junta de Freguesia” (a 46k inhabitant community in Lisbon).

Tanja Charles is an epidemiologist and public health professional with a background in critical care nursing and with field experience through projects with Médecins Sans Frontières in several countries. She has worked in surveillance and research in the Department of infectious diseases at the Robert Koch Institute and has been a Scientific Coordinator in the ECDC Fellowship Programme and the German Postgraduate Training for Applied Epidemiology (PAE) since 2020. In August 2024 she joined ECDC to continue working on coordination in the Fellowship Programme.

Natalie Fischer is an epidemiologist in the core deployable team of the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST), as well as Assistant Professor in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In her current role she engages in research, capacity strengthening, outbreak response and surveillance in international public health emergencies. In 2024, she spent 2 months on mission at UNRWA to support the Israel-Gaza conflict, 1 month in South Africa at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases and 1 month at Africa CDC in DRC to support the national and continental mpox outbreak response, respectively. She holds a PhD in microbiology and worked in academic and clinical research before joining the EUPHEM Fellowship at Sciensano in Belgium in the cohort 2019. Here she supported the Covid-19 crisis team in the set-up of the daily national surveillance bulletin at the beginning of the pandemic and overall worked closely with the surveillance unit of respiratory pathogens in Belgium. She worked for WHO in various functions and GOARN deployments (Ebola in DRC 2020, Mpox in Europe 2022, Cholera in Mozambique 2023), including one year as technical officer for global cholera outbreak monitoring with the cholera technical team at WHO in Geneva. She is still a member of the Global Task Force on Cholera Control and supports the surveillance working group activities. Natalie continues to facilitate for the ECDC fellowship modules and EAN mini modules and greatly enjoys mentoring and teaching.