Welcome to Morten Ruhwald

Dear FIND colleagues, partners, friends,

I am very pleased to share the news that Dr Morten Ruhwald will be joining FIND in June as our new Head of Tuberculosis. Morten comes from the Center for Vaccine Research at Statens Serum Institute, Denmark, where he was Chief Medical Officer and Head of Human Immunology. He has led development of several diagnostic tests for latent M.tb infection, including specific skin tests and new simpler in vitro diagnostics in the IGRA family. It is an exciting time in TB, with the energy of the community directed squarely towards the End TB global goals, and I am confident that Morten’s experience and expertise will be a great asset as we continue our quest to develop and deliver the TB diagnostics that are so urgently needed to finally end the epidemic.

Morten steps into the shoes of Dr Claudia Denkinger, who formally leaves us in May to become Director of Tropical Medicine at the Center of Infectious Disease at the University of Heidelberg, Germany – although she will remain a valued consultant to FIND. I would like to take this opportunity to wish her the very best, both professionally and personally.

While we eagerly await Morten’s arrival, Dr Daniela Cirillo, Head of the Emerging Bacterial Pathogens Unit at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, Italy, has kindly stepped in as FIND Interim Head of TB. Daniela and I have worked closely together for many years – as many of you will know, she and I co-chair the Stop TB Partnership New Diagnostics Working Group together. We greatly appreciate her continued support.

Catharina