Rana Saifi
Rana Saifi is the Regional Manager for the Eastern Mediterranean at WFH since 2015. She is based in Montreal, Canada and travels frequently to the region. When she first started with WFH, she was also responsible for the Africa region.
Ms Saifi has a background in International Development. Before moving to Montreal, she worked in the region with international NGOs, the Canadian Embassy in Amman and the British Embassies in Jordan and Yemen. She also worked as a Middle East Social Development Adviser with the UK’s aid ministry – the Department for International Development in London.
She holds a BSc Business Administration and an MSc in International Development form the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, UK
Alexandra Heumber Perry
Alexandra is a global health public affairs professional with 20 years’ experience at international, European and national levels in government relations and multi-stakeholders’ partnership building, based in Geneva. She has a deep-rooted conviction in patient advocacy, multilateralism and diplomacy to improve global health. She has dedicated her entire career to contribute improving healthcare policies to benefit people living with diseases.
She is the founder & CEO of AHPConsulting, a consultancy specializes in global health public affairs, whose the mission is to support actions of global health actors by facilitating impactful and thoughtful policy changes.
Currently working with the World Federation of Hemophilia, among other global health groups, Alexandra is representing WFH in Geneva, providing strategic oversight regarding the advocacy and engagement strategies of identified Geneva-based stakeholders and contributing to increase awareness of bleeding disorders to help WFH achieve its advocacy goals in line with its overall mission.
Ekawat Suwantaroj
Ekawat Suwantaroj (45), Bangkok, Thailand I was diagnosed with severe Hemophilia A when I was just four months old. I am a Graphic Designer and owner of a graphic designs company in Bangkok. I have been a part of the Thai Hemophilia Society for 20 years. Currently, I am Vice President of the Thai Hemophilia Patient Club and Committee member of the National Hemophilia Foundation of Thailand. Moreover, I have been working with other chronic diseases to set-up a patient group such as the Thai Rare Disease Foundation. I have also joined several international workshops with the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) and I volunteer as a co-option committee of World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH). Present: – Co-option committee of World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) – Vice President of Thai Hemophilia Patient Club (THPC) – Committee of National Hemophilia Foundation of Thailand – Vice President of Healthy Forum (Chronic diseases group) – Committee of Asean Hemophilia Networks (AHN)
Juan Andrés Pereira de Souza
Juan Andrés Pereira de Souza is a 43-year-old person with severe haemophilia type A. He is a teacher and teacher-trainer of English in Uruguay, South America. He holds an MA in Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Apart from education, he is a Head of Department of Administration and Logistics at a state company in his country. He started working as a volunteer for the Uruguayan Haemophilia Association (AHU) in 2010 and the next year he was appointed vice president. For the following 2 years, he acted as surrogate president. In 2017, he co-founded the youth group of AHU. He is currently Secretary of the AHU for the period 2021-2023 and still acts as mentor of the Youth Committee, which has served as a source of generational change in the main board of the AHU. In 2020, he was invited to join the Coalition of the Americas in the role of Coordinator of Education.
Cesar Garrido (Chair)
President
World Federation of Hemophilia
Cesar Garrido was born in Caracas, Venezuela. He has two sons, one of whom has hemophilia A, which was the impetus for him becoming a committed member of the bleeding disorders community—a commitment which began over two decades ago.
In 1996, Garrido became a member of the Venezuelan Association for Hemophilia (AVH). He has held a number of roles in that organization, including being a member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer and Project Manager. At the AVH, he has been key member of several endeavours, including the creation of new diagnostic laboratories in Venezuela, and campaigns for testing and diagnosis of people with hemophilia (PWH) in Venezuela and Latin America. He was also part of national programs which increased access to factor, developed outreach and identification campaigns, increased access to education, and set up regional medical workshops for PWH.
At the international level, Garrido was an Advisory Board member of the International Alliance Patient Organization (IAPO) and has been a member of HERO (Haemophilia Experiences, Results and Opportunities) since 2010. He was also a development manager for a strategic alliance of 27 countries from the Americas—called the Coalition of the Americas (CoA)— that was set up to influence public policies.
The WFH has been a big part of Cesar Garrido’s life since 1999. He was a member of the Board of Directors from 2002 to 2010 and was most recently lay member from 2014 until his election as President in 2020. He has held a number of important roles at the WFH, including chair of the Accreditation Committee, chair of the Hemophilia Organization Twinnings (HOT) Committee, co-chair of Capacity Building Committee, national member organization (NMO) Vice President, and member of the President’s Strategic Council.
Cheikh T. NIANG
Cheikh T. NIANG is the WFH Western Africa Regional Manager since 2021 and is based in Dakar, Senegal. He is a medical doctor with a master’s degree in public health and has over 15 years experience in various health development programs : Health systems strengthening, Sexual and reproductive health, governance, M and E, Health insurance and nutrition. He worked with Senegal MoH and other international development agencies and NGOs. He loves to contribute to improvement of patient care and wellbeing.
Guadalupe Lagrada
Guada initially joined the WFH in 2020 as the Regional Manager, Southeast Asia and Western Pacific, and is currently, the sector Head, Regional Development within the WFH Global Development department.
Guada has about 30 years of experience in national and international non-for profit sector with focus on civil society capacity building and organizational development programs. Before joining the WFH, she has managed regional programs with reputable international organizations such as Save the Children and Amnesty international, as well as the USAID’s Mekong Partnership for the Environment (MPE) project under Pact, Inc., among others.
Guada also holds a Master’s degree in Community Development and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology.
Faber Jean-Claude
He graduated as medical doctor from the University of Bonn in Germany and received his specialisation in
biologic haematology and transfusion medicine in Germany, the US, Canada, France and Netherlands.
For 25 years, he was the medical director of the Blood Transfusion Service of the Luxembourg Red Cross.
He is a member of WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Transfusion Medicine (World Health Organisation, WHO), founding president of the International Haemovigilance Network (IHN).
For many years he has been involved in works with the Council of Europe (as member of the Group of Experts in Blood Transfusion and Immunohaematology), the European Commission (as national and scientific expert in blood transfusion) and the European Blood Alliance (as vice-president).
In his home country, he is serving the National Haemophilia Association as president.
His main areas of interest are haemovigilance, quality management in blood establishments,
self-sufficiency (blood and plasma/fractionation) and voluntary non-remunerated blood donation.
His favourite activities are assistance projects in blood transfusion in developing countries (such as Ecuador, Nicaragua, Haiti, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Pakistan, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar).
Together with Prof. De Vries, he has co-authored the textbook on Haemovigilance, published in 2012.
He has received several international awards: in 2008, the ISBT Award (Award of the International Society of Blood Transfusion, granted to a person who has contributed significantly to blood transfusion and transfusion medicine, mainly in educational aspects), and in 2010, the IHN Award (Award of the International Haemovigilance Network, granted to a person who has contributed significantly to haemovigilance).
Jan Blatny
Jan Blatný, MD, PhD
University Hospital Brno and Masaryk University
Brno, Czech Republic
Jan Blatný, MD, PhD, is Consultant Haematologist at the Department of Paediatric Haematology, Centre for Thrombosis and Haemostasis and Director of the Haemophilia Comprehensive Care Centre of University Hospital in Brno, Czech Republic. He is an Associate Professor of Paediatrics at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic. Currently he also serves as an adviser to the Czech Minister of Health.
His research interests encompass paediatric haematology, thrombosis and haemostasis, and life-threatening bleeding. Dr Blatný is a member of numerous national and international haematology organizations. Among others, he serves on the steering committee of the Czech National Haemophilia Programme, is a Vice-president of EAHAD (European Association for Haemophilia and Allied Disorders) and member of MAG (Medical advisory group) of EHC (European Haemophilia Consortium) or a member of the PedNet. He is also a member of the Working Party on population PK of the ISTH SSC Subcommittee on Factor VIII and IX and Rare Bleeding Disorders
From November 2020 till April 2021 he served as a Minister of Health of The Czech Republic.
To Dr Blatný’s publication credit are 9 book chapters and over 100 articles published in peer-reviewed journals.
Julia Chadwick
Julia Chadwick is currently the Education Materials Manager at the WFH. Julia has a Master of Science of Public Health from McGill University in Montreal, and has spent much of her career in medical education. Since joining the Research and Education department of the WFH in 2020, Julia has worked on hemophilia and von Willebrand disease guideline educational materials and translations, the PACT Advocacy Academy, as well various educational webinars for the bleeding disorder community.