Dr. John Otokoye Otshudiema, MD, MPH, is a distinguished medical
epidemiologist and public health professional with over 20 years of
experience in global health security. A graduate of the University of
Kinshasa and the United States Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention's (U.S. CDC) prestigious Epidemic Intelligence Service,
he currently serves as a Health Emergency Officer at the World Health
Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa. He holds multiple
critical positions, including WHO African Region (AFRO)
Dengue Incident Manager, Deputy Incident Manager for both Mpox and
Diphtheria, and serves as one of the WHO AFRO climate-change and health
focal points. His extensive field experience includes coordinating
responses to major disease outbreaks around the world
with WHO, U.S. CDC, FHI360, and USAID, notably in Guinea, Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Cameroon, Burundi, Chad, and Yemen. Dr.
Otshudiema has received numerous awards, including the Knight of the
USAID Okapi's Order and multiple U.S. CDC Honor
Awards for his leadership in responding to Ebola and yellow fever
outbreaks. His research portfolio includes over 20 peer-reviewed
publications in journals such as JAMA Pediatrics and The Lancet Global
Health. Fluent in French and English, he maintains an
active role as a researcher at the Kinshasa School of Public Health
while managing public health emergencies across 47 African countries in
the WHO African Region.