The research team of the Noma Project is distinctly pluridisciplinary and bridges academia and practice. We are scholars, practitioners and advocates with expertise in the fields of noma, epidemiology, dentistry, maxillo-facial and plastic surgery, public health, human rights law, and humanitarianism.

An international law scholar, Dr Ioana Cismas teaches, conducts research and provides legal and policy advice in public international law, human rights law and related fields. She is a Reader at the York Law School and Centre for Applied Human Rights, UK. Prior to joining York, she lectured at Stirling Law School (2015-2017), was a Scholar-in-residence at Centre for Human Rights and Global Justice, NYU School of Law (2014), and a Research fellow at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights (2009-2013). 

Ioana consults with international and non-governmental organizations and governments. In 2013, she served as consultant to the UN Special Rapporteur on transitional justice at the OHCHR in Geneva.

From 2009-2012, she was legal advisor to a member of the Advisory Committee of the UN Human Rights Council. In this capacity, she drafted the Study of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee on severe malnutrition and childhood diseases with children affected by noma as an example - this was first-ever articulation of noma as a human rights issue. The Study and annexed Guidelines recommended the inclusion of noma on the WHO list of Neglected Tropical Diseases and were endorsed by the Human Rights Council in 2012.

PD Dr Mirko Winkler is Assistant Professor/Senior Lecturer (Habilitation) at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute. Trained in Environmental Sciences (MSc ETH), Epidemiology (PhD) and Clinical Tropical Medicine (DTM&H), he is the Head of the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) Research Group at the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health.

An environmental epidemiologist, Mirko is concerned with the study of environmental exposures and societal factors that contribute to adverse health conditions and wellbeing.

Mirko is specialised in epidemiological and environmental data collection in the frame of community health surveys, including participatory data collection, clinical studies and environmental sampling. His research in the field of HIA comprises the investigation of a wide range of diseases, ranging from common communicable and non-communicable diseases to neglected tropical diseases. Mirko has a particular interest in multi-method study designs that integrate systematic reviews, epidemiological data collection and trans-disciplinary approaches. Over the past decade, he has been involved in a wide variety of studies in numerous low- and middle-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and South America. He is an established international expert in the HIA field, having worked on 30 HIA for private and public sector entities.

Marie-Solène Adamou Moussa-Pham holds a masters degree in Political Sciences from the University of Lausanne (2008) and a masters in Asian Studies from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva (2010). Following her postgraduate education, she was involved in several research projects at the Graduate Institute.

Between 2013 and 2019, she was responsible for the largest humanitarian noma programme at the Sentinelles Foundation, a pioneer organisation in the fight against noma since 1990. Marie-Solène managed a local team of 25 people in Zinder, Niger and coordinated numerous activities to support children and adults affected by noma. Among them are: medical care activities at Sentinelles Care Centre in Zinder; the organisation of collaborative surgery in Niamey-Niger; qualitative socio-medical follow up with patients and their families; sensitization campaigns for the general public, governmental health representatives and health agents in several administrative regions of Niger; the coordination of medical visits to Switzerland for complex sequela of noma patients.

Denise Baratti-Mayer completed her studies, with a doctor degree, in both medicine and dental medicine. Her clinical practice includes general surgery, maxillofacial surgery and preventive dentistry. From 2016 to 2019 she completed a Master in Public Health at the Institute of Global Health in Geneva.

From 2001 to 2018, she was coordinator and scientific manager for the Geneva Study Group on Noma (GESNOMA). She carried out various research projects on the epidemiological and microbiological risk factors on noma. Denise is also involved in studies aiming to develop teaching programs on noma for primary caregivers. Her research’s activity is combined with teaching activities at the University of Geneva and at the Geneva University Hospitals. She collaborates as a noma expert with the WHO and Médecins Sans Frontières.

Dr Baratti-Mayer is author or co-author of several publications related to the topic. 

Leila Srour (1951, USA) is a pediatrician with a degree in public health and a diploma in tropical medicine. She has worked for eighteen years in Lao PDR training and supporting Lao pediatricians, with Health Frontiers and the Lao National University of Health Sciences. She published the first reported case of noma from Lao. She has searched for and recorded 50 noma survivors from within Lao, whom she linked with visiting surgical teams. Forty-five noma survivors have had facial reconstructive surgery with outcome follow-up. She has trained Lao health workers to recognize active noma and noma sequelae, to treat active cases and report and refer all cases.

Leila Srour is the author of articles and chapters about noma and has given presentations on noma nationally and internationally.

Dr. Peter Steinmann is a trained epidemiologist and public health specialist with a track record of work related to neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), WASH and public health in general. He holds a habilitation (Associate professor) title of the University of Basel.   

His technical expertise includes NTD research and control program implementation in China, Central and South-East Asia, Africa and Brazil, public health, water and sanitation, health systems, data quality and surveillance, and epidemiological surveys. He has been involved in consultancy and implementation research mandates pertaining to NTDs, WASH and data quality by international institutions, global funders and private industry, and has managed several of them. 

Peter’s research activities focus on the epidemiology, significance, diagnosis and control of intestinal helminths, on leprosy prophylaxis and transmission interruption, and WASH-related aspects of public health.  He has published extensively in international peer-reviewed literature and attends regularly scientific conferences and specialized meetings pertaining to NTD and public health.

Alice Trotter is a PhD student at the Centre for Applied Human Rights and York Law School, University of York (UK), writing a dissertation on the architectures of poverty and inequality. Alice holds an LLM degree in International Human Rights Law and Practice (2017-2018) from the Centre for Applied Human Rights, and a BA (Hons) in Geography from the University of Edinburgh (2012-2016).

Alice has studied and worked across a number of disciplines, undertaking both desk- and field-based social and socio-legal research. She has experience as a Research Assistant and Research Associate on several projects, and continues to develop her skills in both qualitative and quantitative social research methods.

Curdin Brugger is a scientific assistant at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) working on noma, pesticide exposure in sub-Saharan Africa and communication between research and policy makers. Curdin holds a MSc in Epidemiology from the Swiss TPH (2018-2020) and a BSc in Sport, Exercise and Health from the University of Basel (2015-2018).

For fieldwork and his Master thesis Curdin was stationed in Uganda for several months. His research focused on pesticide exposure and the information flow between pesticide sellers and users. His skills are centred around epidemiological study design, quantitative data analysis and project management.

Anaïs Galli is a PhD candidate at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) working on Water, Hygiene and Sanitation (WASH) in conflict zones with a special emphasis on handwashing. Anaïs holds a Masters Degree in Epidemiology from the Swiss TPH (2018-2020) and has previously completed a Bachelor of Arts in Social Anthropology and Biology and a Bachelor of Science in Biology at the University of Basel (2013-2017).

Anaïs has worked as a Research Assistant in different projects of the Swiss TPH Health Impact Assessment Unit based in Basel. For fieldwork and her MSc thesis she was also stationed in Côte d'Ivoire and Vietnam for several months. Anaïs’ research activities focused on WASH at schools, nutrition, pesticide exposure and health impact assessments. Her skills are centered around epidemiological study design, quantitative and qualitative data analysis and programme management.

Dr Emilien Jeannot holds a BSc in Environmental Biology from the University of Besançon, a Master of Public Health at the Nancy School of Public Health, a post-graduate diploma in epidemiological research and a PhD in global health.

Emilien is currently a scientific advisor and researcher at the Institute of Global Health and a lecturer for the Master of Advanced Studies in Public Health at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Geneva. He also works as a researcher at the University Hospital of Lausanne on addiction issues. Alongside his research and teaching activities, he was also a researcher at the Geneva High School Health, and consultant in statistics and epidemiology at the Youth Health Service in Geneva.

His areas of expertise include the epidemiology of infectious diseases and medicine addiction, monitoring of vaccination programs, and project management in health promotion.

Dr Moubassira Kagone, PhD, est socio-anthropologue de santé, avec une expérience de plus de 11 ans de recherche qualitative et quantitative à l’Institut National de Santé Public au Burkina Faso/Centre de Recherche en Santé de Nouna (INSP/CRSN). Le rôle joué au sein du CRSN consiste en la mise en œuvre des études qualitatives ; la conception et mise en œuvre des projets de recherche ; l’encadrement des jeunes chercheurs ; la participation à l’animation de la vie scientifique du CRSN ; la recherche de financement et de consultations pour le CRSN ; la dissémination des résultats de recherche. 

Moubassira a également une expérience de cinq ans dans le domaine de la santé communautaire avec les Organisations à Base Communautaire (OBC) en approches participatives, planification, gestion et suivi/évaluation de projets, en diagnostic de situation des enfants en difficulté. La mobilisation communautaire, prévention et le renforcement des capacités des OBC pour l’offre de services de qualité aux orphelins et enfants vulnérables, et leurs familles (Soutien aux patients VIH, communication parents-enfants en contexte de VIH).

Moubassira est nouvellement recruté comme Enseignant Assistant à l’Université Nazi Boni de Bobo-Dioulasso/Unité de Formation et de Recherche en Sciences Humaines, Lettres, Arts et Communication, en Mai 2020.

Maïna Sani Malam Grema est chercheur et évaluateur avec 7 ans d'expérience dans la recherche et le suivi et évaluation de programmes de développement au Niger et dans la sous-région. It est titulaire d’un master en anthropologie de la santé et une licence en sociologie; en préparation d’une thèse sur les dynamiques locales de sortie de crise de Boko Haram dans la région de Diffa.

Maïna Sani dispose d’une grande expertise dans la conception et la conduite d'activités de recherche qualitative et quantitative, ainsi que dans l'analyse politique et institutionnelle. Dans le cadre de ses fonctions, il a conduit à bien de nombreux projets de recherche et d’évaluation dans les domaines de la santé publique, du genre, de l’économie politique, de l’éducation, de la communication pour un changement de comportement social, des crises liées au terrorisme et de la résilience. Il a travaillé comme chercheur associé/consultant pour plusieurs organisations internationales telles que LASDEL, Marie Stopes International (MSI), le Centre de dialogue humanitaire (Centre HD), Medecin sans frontière (MFS), Overseas Developpment Institute (ODI), RESILAC.