Two of The Union’s MDR-TB experts have been chosen by the Stop TB Partnership for leadership positions in the global fight against drug-resistant TB. Dr Chen-Yuan Chiang will serve on the Core Group of the Global Drug-Resistant TB Initiative (GDI) and Dr Raimond Armengol is the new chair of the regional Green Light Committee for the Americas Region. As a regional chair, Dr Armengol will also be part of the GDI Core Group.
The GDI is a working group of the Stop TB Partnership that aims to ensure universal access to care and appropriate treatment for all drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) patients and to facilitate a patient-centred approach for all DR-TB patients within existing services. Core Group members contribute to policies and procedures, identify current bottlenecks and challenges in PMDT expansion, provide recommendations and share their technical experience.
Dr Chen-Yuan Chiang completed his medical training in Taiwan, specialising in pulmonary medicine and holds an MPH from the University of California, Berkeley, and a DrPhilos from the University of Bergen, Norway. He joined The Union as a consultant in TB and lung diseases in 2003 and became director of the Department of Lung Health and Non-Communicable Diseases in 2007. He has provided TB technical assistance to more than 15 countries in Asia and Africa and has coordinated or facilitated numerous Union courses on the clinical and programmatic management of MDR-TB. Author of more than 80 publications, he serves as an Associate Editor for both the International Journal for Tuberculosis and Lung Disease and Public Health Action. He was formerly a member of global Green Light Committee and is a permanent member of the Global Fund’s Technical Review Panel.
Dr Raimond Armengol has worked in the field of tuberculosis for more than 30 years, with the last 10 years focused on international technical assistance in DOTS expansion, MDR- and XDR-TB and related issues. A native of Spain, Dr Armengol completed his medical and post-graduate training in Venezuela and advanced training in Cuba, Argentina, Latvia and Switzerland. He worked with the Ministry of Health in Venezuela and served as a Technical Officer for PAHO/WHO in El Salvador and Washington CD prior to becoming a Union consultant in 2008. For The Union, he has provided TB and MDR-TB technical assistance in more than 15 countries in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. He has also taught widely and authored 43 publications.