Professor John Reeder

Professor John Reeder is Director of TDR, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases since February 2012 and Director of the Research for Health Department at the World Health Organization in Geneva since 2019. 

He has deep experience leading international research organizations, having previously been Director of the Centre for Population Health and Head of the Office of International Health Research at the Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Australia’s largest infectious disease research institute. In Melbourne, he also held a National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia) Principal Research Fellowship and a professorship at Monash University. 

Before this, he was Director of the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research for 6 years, where he worked on translating scientific findings into policy for improved health. He substantially increased funding for the six core areas: mosquito borne diseases, respiratory disease, sexual health, disease surveillance, infectious diseases and therapies, and operational/implementation research, growing the programme to over 350 staff. When he left, he passed the leadership to a PNG national for the first time in its 35 year history. 

Professor Reeder began his career in medical microbiology laboratories in the United Kingdom and then moved to health training as a development volunteer in the Highlands of PNG, working with a world-renowned malaria research team at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. He made significant contributions to the study of the molecular basis of pathogenesis and the molecular epidemiology of the malaria parasite, and maintains active research interest in malaria and other agents of major global health significance, such as tuberculosis and HIV. 

A naturalized Australian, born and educated in England, he received his PhD in microbiology at the University of Manchester. He has published over 200 scientific papers that span basic laboratory research to large community- based field studies. 

In 2020, Professor Reeder received the Mitchell Humanitarian Award for his contribution to end the debilitating disease onchocerciasis.