Joe Fitchett | Senior Advisor
Institut Pasteur de Dakar

Dr Joe Fitchett is Senior Adviser for Biotechnology at the Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Senegal.

In this role, Joe is responsible for the IPD vaccine pipeline and oversees the strategy to launch new capabilities for the development and production of regionally-relevant countermeasures for epidemics as part of a newly established Dakar biotechnology hub. Joe is project sponsor for the technology transfer of the first measles/rubella vaccine to be produced in Africa and the IPD-CEPI 10-year partnering agreement for outbreak vaccines. Joe also helped establish the Advanced Vaccine Bioprocessing lab, clinical genomics program, and the Grand Challenges Sénégal innovation fund.

Joe joins Institut Pasteur de Dakar from Mologic, an innovative life science and biotechnology company transformed in 2021 to a not for profit: Global Access Dx.

IP Dakar and Global Access Dx are developing new diagnostics for epidemics, surveillance, and neglected diseases at the point of need, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UK government, Unitaid and FIND. Rapid tests include measles, rubella, yellow fever, Ebola, Marburg and COVID-19.

Previously, Joe was a program officer at the Gates Foundation, responsible for advancing bilateral partnerships with a number of EU donors, through joint investments and multilateral engagement.

Prior to the Gates Foundation, Joe joined Harvard University as a Frank Knox Fellow in public health and infectious disease epidemiology, focusing his doctorate on transforming the path for equitable access to innovative technologies for neglected epidemics.

At LSHTM, Joe helped establish the TB Centre, directed by Prof. Dave Moore, worked on the HIV self-testing Africa (STAR) initiative, led by Prof. Liz Corbett, and conducted research in TB immunology in Uganda and The Gambia, supervised by Prof. Hazel Dockrell and Prof. Stephen Cose.

Joe has trained in public health and infectious disease epidemiology (Harvard), clinical medicine (Imperial and Kings), and immunology of infectious diseases (LSHTM).