L. Alonso Dr Pedro L. Alonso, Director of the who

Dr Pedro  

L. Alonso

Dr Pedro L. Alonso, 

Director of the WHO 

Global Malaria 

Programme

Dr Pedro L. Alonso is the Director of the WHO Global Malaria 

Programme in Geneva, Switzerland. The Global Malaria 

Programme is responsible for the coordination of WHO’s 

global efforts to control and eliminate malaria and sets 

evidence-based norms, standards, policies and guidelines to 

support malaria-affected countries around the world.

A national of Spain, Dr Alonso has spent over 30 years in 

public health. His scientific research work has focused on 

key determinants of morbidity and mortality in the most 

vulnerable population groups. He has published over 300 

articles in international peer-reviewed journals – primarily on 

malaria treatment, vaccine trials and preventive therapies 

– and has served on several national and international 

committees. He is committed to capacity building of both 

institutions and individuals, primarily in Africa.

Before taking up the WHO position, Dr Alonso was Director 

of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), 

Professor of Global Health at the University of Barcelona, 

and President of the Governing Board of the Manhiça 

Foundation and the Manhiça Health Research Centre  

in Mozambique.

RONALD ROSS MEDALLISTS

5

Ronald Ross Medallists 

Professor 

Peter Smith 

CBE

Peter Smith trained in 

mathematics and statistics 

and for over a decade 

worked predominantly on 

studies of the epidemiology 

of cancer. However, after two formative years at Makerere 

University in Uganda, including research establishing the link 

between the African childhood cancer, Burkitt’s Lymphoma, 

and the Epstein Barr virus, and a trial showing the protective 

effect of BCG vaccination against Mycobacterium Ulcerans 

disease (Buruli Ulcer), he joined the London School of 

Hygiene & Tropical Medicine to head the MRC Tropical 

Epidemiology Group in 1979.  There he sought to employ 

the methods developed in studies of cancer epidemiology 

to infectious diseases, promoting the use of the case-

control methodology to measure the protective effect of 

BCG vaccination against tuberculosis and, in a ground-

breaking study with Cesar Victor in Brazil, used the same 

methodology to show the strong protective effect of breast 

feeding against infant deaths. 

Subsequently he developed a specific interest in large-scale 

intervention studies and played a major role in two major 

studies in Ghana showing that vitamin A supplementation 

administered to children and the use of insecticide-

impregnated bed-nets each reduced childhood death rates 

by a fifth. He also played a key role in the invention of the 

“stepped-wedge” trial design, used to evaluate the long-

term impact of the introduction of hepatitis B vaccine in The 

Gambia. Throughout his career he has worked closely with 

the World Health Organization, including major involvements 

in the design and conduct of field trials of vaccines against 

HIV, leprosy, leishmaniasis, HIV, pneumococcal disease, 

malaria, dengue and Ebola. The authoritative book, which he 

co-edited with Richard Morrow and David Ross, now in the 

3rd edition, “Field Trials of Health Interventions: a Toolbox”, 

has been very widely used by researchers conducting trials in 

low and middle-income countries over the past two decades.

1931

Sir Wilson Jameson 

appointed first Dean 

of London School of 

Hygiene & Tropical 

Medicine

Major Greenwood, 

Professor of 

Epidemiology and 

Vital Statistics, 

gives a speech on 

the ambitions of the 

School at the Royal 

Society of Arts

1933

Dame Cicely Williams 

recognises kwashiorkor 

as a disease

1934

HRH The Prince of 

Wales becomes 

patron of London 

School of Hygiene & 

Tropical Medicine

The Ross Institute 

is incorporated into 

London School of 

Hygiene & Tropical 

Medicine and its 

hospital becomes 

the Ross Ward of 

the Hospital for 

Tropical Diseases 

1935

Research into the 

bacterial grading and 

pasteurisation of milk 

by Sir Graham Wilson 

is published

1936

Major Leeson 

leads an expedition 

to East Africa to 

research malaria

1937

His Majesty King 

George VI becomes 

patron of London 

School of Hygiene  

& Tropical Medicine

WHO/ Mathilde Missioneiro

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