LuxOR Team

Amrish Baidjoe, LuxOR Director

Amrish is an infectious disease Epidemiologist and Microbiologist specialised in humanitarian health emergencies and is engaged in bridging the needs between operational humanitarian organisations and other partners such as academia. He worked in different larger humanitarian crises around the world. He obtained his PhD from Radboud University Medical Centre and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In 2017 he completed his EPIET (Field-Epidemiology) and EUPHEM (Public Health Microbiology) training at the European Centre of Disease Prevention and Control and was based at Institut Pasteur in Paris. He holds an honorary Assistant Professor at the LSHTM in the department of infectious disease epidemiology. He previously worked in the WHO Health Emergencies Department, the International Committee and Federation of the Red Cross and was part of the outbreak investigation taskforce at Institut Pasteur (Paris) as well as the outbreak analytics Liaison at Imperial College (London). Since 2021, he’s the Director of the LuxOR Unit.

In his current capacity, Amrish provides strategic direction for Operational Research (OR), particularly focusing on the development and implementation of vision and policy. He is actively involved in OR capacity building and training initiatives, and plays a coordinating role in designing the structural epidemiology infrastructure within MSF OCB Operations. His primary research interests lie in malaria, vector borne diseases and infectious disease outbreaks, with a broader commitment to promoting proper bioethics, diversity, equity, and inclusion in Global Health.

Temmy Sunyoto, Senior Operational Research Advisor

Temmy is a medical doctor by training (MD, University of Indonesia), with a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and Master of Public Health (Disease Control). She holds a PhD in International Health, focusing on access to care for neglected diseases, especially leishmaniasis in Asia and Africa. She joined MSF in 2004, being based in different missions both in emergencies (response to epidemics, natural disasters and conflict) and stable contexts (South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, India and Indonesia). She held different roles working as doctor, project medical referent and medical coordinator. She has also worked with the World Health Organization, the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp and the Global Health Centre of the Graduate Institute in Geneva.  

Her research experience encompasses multiple methods and disciplines (medicine, epidemiology, immunology etc). Since joining LuxOR in 2020, Temmy holds a diverse research portfolio, including different domains. She focuses on infectious diseases (specifically on Neglected Tropical Diseases and emerging diseases, such as Lassa fever), diagnostics, Research & Development and access to care, nutrition, and health systems strengthening. In her current role, she supports, trains, mentors and provides technical advice in Operational Research projects in these domains to improve evidence generated and used by MSF. She is also the focal point for case series and research agenda development in the unit. She remains interested in neglected needs, neglected populations, neglected diseases and research integrity.  

Umberto Pellecchia, Senior Qualitative Research Advisor

Umberto holds a PhD in Anthropology of African Societies from the Università degli Studi di Siena, based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork in Western Ghana. While collaborating with different NGOs and public institutions as a medical anthropologist on migration health, he taught courses in political anthropology at the same university.Umberto a rejoint MSF en 2010, travaillant sur plusieurs missions humanitaires jusqu'en 2017 (Soudan du Sud, Malawi, Égypte, réponse à l'Ebola au Liberia, Italie, Zimbabwe).

Umberto joined MSF in 2010, working in several humanitarian missions until 2017 (South Sudan, Malawi, Egypt, Liberia Ebola response, Italy, Zimbabwe). In 2020, he joined LuxOR as Research Advisor on Qualitative Methodologies and Social Sciences. His work entails providing guidance, support, training, and mentoring on these methods and disciplines throughout all phases of a research project. His research interests encompass social aspects of outbreaks and epidemics, socio-political determinants of health, migration, climate change and environmental degradation, community engagement, research ethics, and medical anthropology. Umberto actively collaborates with different universities and research institutes on shared research projects and as co-supervisor for Master and PhD candidates. 

Wilma van den Boogard, Operational Research Advisor 

After ten years of intensive care nursing in the Netherlands, Wilma embarked on her first humanitarian aid mission in Indonesia as a volunteer before deciding to join MSF in 1993.  Since then, she has been deployed to various emergencies -initially as a nurse supervisor, then as nutrition assistant and medical team leader. Subsequently, she pursued further education, obtaining a Master's degree in Health Promotion, which led her to start working in regular projects as a health promoter and field coordinator. In 2001, as she started a family, Wilma assumed her first assignment as a medical coordinator. 

Wilma worked and lived in more than ten countries on long term missions, mainly in Africa but also in Asia. After completing her second Master’s degree in Public Health in 2010, she started working in the LuxOR Operational Research (OR) unit, initially as the Program Officer and later as an Operational Research advisor in qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. She provides technical support through field visits, dedicated OR trainings (SORT-IT courses) and online coaching and mentoring. Her main research domains are Sexual and Reproductive Health, Migration Health and Mental Health. Whenever possible, Wilma takes on a field detachment to fill gaps for in medical coordination positions. 

Sylvia Lim, Operational Research Advisor

Sylvia holds a Master of Public Health in Global Health and a Master of Arts in Anthropology from the University of South Florida. She joined MSF in 2018 as Epidemiology Advisor for MSF’s regional hub in Amman, Jordan, supporting field epidemiologists, outbreak responses, operational research, assessments, and data-related needs for missions in the Middle East and Asia. Prior to that, she has worked for various NGOs and a UN agency in the Middle East and North Africa region, and was a former journalist in the United States. As Operational Research Advisor, Sylvia provides technical advice, training and field support for studies related to infectious diseases, specifically vaccine-preventable ones. She is interested in mixed-methods approaches, and understanding how medical humanitarian responses impact people in outbreaks and complex emergencies.

Pilar Garcia-Vello, AMR Operational Research Advisor

After completing a Master of Science (MSc) in Pharmacy from the Cumplutense University of Madrid and a second MSc in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Pilar obtained a PhD in Chemistry through the Marie Curie program. Throughout her studies, she held a focus on antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Before joining MSF, Pilar worked at the University for Development Studies of Ghana, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the World Health Organization (WHO), building evidence and providing advice to tackle AMR. 

Currently, Pilar is the focal point for Operational Research on AMR, focusing on infection prevention and control (IPC), antimicrobial stewardship (AMS), diagnostics, surveillance, microbiology laboratory, outbreaks, and transversal activities. Her main interests include the integration of cutting-edge technologies to analyze trends and investigate outbreaks.

Anthony (Tony) J Reid, Medical Editor

Tony is a physician currently based in Canada and working for LuxOR as a medical editor. In addition to medical training at the University of Toronto, he pursued a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology from McMaster University. Besides attending his clinical activities, he was involved in primary care research in Canada. Between 1973-75 and 1981-83, Tony worked as a medical officer in rural settings in Malawi and Papua New Guinea with a Canadian NGO. For eleven years, he was the scientific editor of Canadian Family Physician. 

Tony joined LuxOR in 2006, when the unit had just been established. His main responsibilities entail editing manuscripts prior to journal submission, supporting the development of research protocols, acting as the team’s focal point with the MSF Ethics Review Board, and teaching SORT IT (Structured Operational Research Training Initiative) courses. Tony is also a member of the newly established MSF’s Operational Research Committee. Outside his MSF working hours, he saves a few lives in the local hospital. 

Lekha Rathod, Research Process Coordinator

Lekha is a physician (General Medicine) and holds a MSc in International Health (Vrije University Amsterdam), focusing on epidemiology, disasters, and humanitarian medicine. She holds a Diploma in Tropical Medicine from the KIT Institute in Amsterdam. She complemented her education by completing a short course on Humanitarian Project Cycle Management at the Geneva Centre for Humanitarian Studies. Prior to joining MSF in 2023, Lekha gained experience at an academic medical center, various NGOs, and her local municipal hospital, conducting research at both academic and field levels. In her free time, she champions better environmental health policies and practices concerning junior doctors. 

In her current role in LuxOR, Lekha is the focal point for establishing and implementing the newly revised Operational Research (OR) Framework, including setting up an OR Committee (ORC). She coordinates ORC activities, identifies legal requirements for medical research, and supports knowledge management for OR and epidemiology. Additionally, she assists in various OR activities and internal communications. Her research interests are primary care and noncommunicable diseases, operational adaptation and response to disasters, environmental health, and research ethics. She is the ethics, diversity, and inclusion focal point of the team. 

Iro Evlampidou, Epidemiology and Operational Research Advisor

Iro is a physician (General Medicine, Public Health & Social Medicine) and holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health (University of Crete) and a Diploma in Field Epidemiology (EPIET - Public Health England, UK & ECDC). Since 2001, she has worked with MSF in multiple roles (medical doctor, project medical referent, field coordinator, medical coordinator and epidemiologist) and different projects in Africa, Asia and Europe. She holds regular collaborations as a researcher with different academic and public institutions in Europe (ISGlobal, Barcelona, University of Athens, etc.), teaches and mentors health professionals and students and organizes educational courses. Before joining LuxOR in 2022, she was as a Scientific Coordinator of MediPIET, an advanced training programme on field epidemiology. 

In her current role as Epidemiology and Operational Research Advisor, Iro provides technical support to MSF’s operations in South Sudan, Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Haiti for regular and emergency projects. Her support entails performing epidemic intelligence activities, providing epidemiological and technical advice, supporting the epidemiologists’ pool, building epidemiology capacity and knowledge management, while she is also involved in Operational Research studies. Her professional interests are related to infectious diseases surveillance and outbreak control, health emergencies and needs assessments, surveys, research methodology, nutrition and key populations (migrants, refugees, neglected populations).