| Kampala, Uganda - June 29th, 2015
The Infectious Diseases Institute, which is an integral part of the College of Health Sciences at Makerere University, has announced that Richard Brough PhD is the new Executive Director. He takes up the mantle from Dr. Alex Coutinho who served the Institute with distinction from 2008-2014.
The Infectious Diseases Institute has announced that Richard Brough PhD has been appointed as the new Executive Director of the Institute. Richard Brough has been the Head of Strategic Planning and Development at IDI since 2005 and Acting Executive Director since late 2014. In his role as Head of Strategic Planning at Development at IDI, he was responsible for strategic planning, resource generation, grants management, and M&E. He led the production of IDI's first and second Strategic Plans and has supported a substantial expansion of the IDI funding base through the acquisition of projects which are in keeping with IDI's Mission, but also contribute to the sustainability of the whole organisation. He also developed and mentored a strong grants management and M&E team at IDI and has led the team in the training and mentoring of other organisations in Uganda. Richard Brough's professional background is operational research (PhD from University of Warwick, UK) followed by management consultancy in London. Since 1992, he has worked full-time in the planning and management of health services, as well as institutional development, in the South Pacific, Philippines, India, and Uganda for a range of development agencies; and in both Government and NGO sectors.
In making the appointment, the IDI Board recognised the outstanding performance of the outgoing Executive Director, Dr. Alex Coutinho. Dr. Coutinho provided inspirational leadership and positioned IDI as an outward-looking organisation, with a strong and varied research portfolio, and a wide range of capacity building activities for health care workers and researchers. He developed the IDI outreach programme in both rural and urban areas, and guided the IDI clinic to provide care especially for People Living with HIV who have developed complications of one sort or another. His passion for HIV prevention is evidenced through the current IDI capability in voluntary male medical circumcision. Dr Coutinho also pressed for maintaining a high quality standard in all that IDI does and stressed the importance of ethical behaviour by all staff at all times. Dr Coutinho was a great innovator and strategist who cared deeply about the impact IDI had on the health and lives of Ugandans.
At the launch of the new IDI McKinnell Knowledge Centre at Makerere University, the Vice Chancellor of Makerere University, Prof. John Ddumba-Ssentamu recognized Dr. Coutinho's notable achievements attained during his leadership tenure and welcomed Richard Brough into his new role as Executive Director. "We wish Richard Brough the very best as he takes up the mantle of Executive Director of IDI".
About IDI: The Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) is a Ugandan not-for-profit organisation, established within Makerere University, whose Mission is to strengthen health systems in Africa, with a strong emphasis on infectious diseases, through research and capacity development. IDI's strategy is based on an unwavering commitment to support Government and University policies, strategies and priorities.
The Institute began activities in 2002 and currently provides care and treatment services to over 110,000 people living with HIV in urban and rural settings in Uganda (directly, and in partnership with government and non-government health facilities) which amounts to about 13% of the national effort. IDI also provides extensive prevention services (including medical male circumcision) and is a national referral centre for complicated HIV cases.
IDI has trained over 17,000 health workers from Uganda and 27 other African countries. Training covers: HIV/AIDS and TB co-infection, malaria, lab services, pharmacy, systems strengthening (data management, monitoring and evaluation, proposal writing, grants management), research capacity building, and more recently, the management of extremely dangerous pathogens with potential for bioterrorism like Ebola, Marburg and Congo Crimean fever.
IDI has a research programme comprising over 40 current projects (with nearly 400 articles in published in peer-reviewed journals to date), and is also committed to major long-term outreach programmes to build capacity across Uganda. IDI houses a lab certified with the College of American Pathologists in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University; and also manages a translational lab in partnership with the University of California, San Francisco. | 
