Our Judging Panel
The following experts will review shortlisted entries and recommend the solutions that will progress through the prize.
The Judging Panel is composed of international experts who can collectively speak to the prize's judging criteria. This includes individuals with global and regional experience in the fields of snakebite, global health, innovation, medtech, and scaling.
Priscilla Banda
Priscilla Banda a global health development leader focused on public health issues affecting sub-Saharan Africa.
She contributes to the public good through supporting governance structures that are socially and environmentally effective.
Priscilla is currently serving as board Chair for Amref Health Zambia and the International Board Human Resources and Remuneration Committee as Chair. In addition to serving on mothers2mothers, Spirit Health Foundation as Trustee.
She remains active on University of Liverpool alumni and is a Ford Foundation Fellow supported by Yale and Columbia Universities.
Nicklaus Brandehoff
Dr. Nicklaus Brandehoff is the Executive Director of the Asclepius Snakebite Foundation. He is board-certified in emergency medicine, medical toxicology, and addiction medicine. He specializes in envenomation research and treatment. He serves as Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Colorado and Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Safety. An award-winning educator and published author, he is currently pursuing an MPH in Epidemiology at Harvard University.
Matthew Coldiron
Matthew Coldiron is Director of the Manson Unit, a medical and research support unit of MSF-UK and serves as Deputy Medical Director of MSF-Operational Center Amsterdam. After completing an AB at Princeton, he received MD and MPH degrees from Emory University, and completed postgraduate medical training in Internal Medicine at NYU-Bellevue Hospital in New York.
He has worked extensively in humanitarian contexts with MSF since 2010, providing medical care and leadership in MSF projects, and designing and leading observational studies and clinical trials.
Matthew’s areas of expertise include meningococcal meningitis, malaria and malnutrition in the African Sahel, the treatment of snakebite in resource-limited settings and emerging infections.
Yogesh Jain
Yogesh Jain has an MD in Paediatrics but is a public health physician in practice in India.
He has been primarily involved in ‘primary health care'- through running community health programmes in central India in some of the poorest parts of the world. He has been involved in understanding technical and political issues through clinical care, observational research and training.
Yogesh is a strident believer in the state as the primary provider of healthcare and also that unbridled privatisation is not the way forward in an unequal world in which we live.
Kirthika Kumar
Kirthika is a Regional Associate Manager for Business Development Strategy at Zimmer Biomet, covering the APAC region. She holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from NUS and brings 8+ years of experience spanning clinical research, translational innovation, and venture strategy.
She has validated medical devices through clinical trials, built go-to-market strategies across emerging markets, and mentored clinician-innovators.
Kirthika’s work focuses on identifying and scaling healthcare solutions that address unmet clinical needs in under-resourced APAC settings, bridging technical innovation with commercial viability.
Elvis Nekehforba
Elvis Nekehforba, MPH, is a Public Health Specialist and Data Manager with the Neglected Tropical Diseases Unit of Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Health.
He specialises in epidemiology, health research, data management, monitoring and evaluation, and statistical analysis. He has supported disease control and elimination programmes, published peer-reviewed research, and mentored young researchers.
Elvis’s extensive field experience in rural communities and health facilities has strengthened his expertise in snakebite management and antivenom access.
Vikram Paradkar
Dr Vikram Paradkar is the Executive Vice President of Technical Operations at Biological E Limited, Hyderabad, India where he heads the product development and clinical & commercial manufacturing operations of all the vaccines and equine anti-sera against snake venoms, scorpion venoms and bacterial toxins. Biological E is fully integrated and one of the largest supplier of multiple types of Snake AntiVenoms based on Equine Anti-Sera technology and has developed products targeting Snake Venom species in India, South East Asia and various regions of Africa.
He received Ph.D. Chemical & Biochemical Engineering from University of Iowa, USA followed by 34 yr professional career in leading Biotech companies such as Monsanto (USA), Bayer Biological Products (USA), Wyeth BioPharma (USA) and Reliance Life Sciences (India) and last 13 years at Biological E (India).
Manuela Pucca
Manuela Pucca, Ph.D, is a Professor at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Brazil, and Principal Investigator of the Immunology and Toxicology Laboratory (ITox-Lab). She leads interdisciplinary research at the interface of immunology, biotechnology, toxinology, and translational medicine, developing next-generation diagnostic and therapeutic platforms for snakebite envenoming and other neglected tropical diseases.
Her research integrates recombinant antibody engineering, phage display, immunodiagnostics, biosensors, RNA therapeutics, and artificial intelligence to advance precision diagnostics and improve clinical decision-making. She has received multiple awards recognising her scientific excellence and contributions to translational research.
She leads international collaborative research programs and has authored more hundred peer-reviewed scientific publications. Beyond her scientific achievements, Dr. Pucca is dedicated to advancing health equity in the Brazilian Amazon, particularly among Indigenous peoples and other underserved communities.
Joao Vissoci
Joao Vissoci, MSc, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Neurosurgery, Global Health, and Biostatistics and Bioinformatics at Duke, serving as Chief of the Division of Translational Health Sciences, co-Director of the GEMINI Research Center, and Associate Director for Education of RDAC at DGHI.
A Brazilian native, Joao joined Duke in 2017 after a DGHI fellowship, focusing on data-driven, mixed-methods research to improve health access, equity, and translate evidence into practice in low-resource settings.
Doãn Uyên Vy (Vanessa)
Vanessa is a highly experienced Medical Toxicology specialist with a distinguished 16-year career at Cho Ray Hospital. Her initial self-directed interest in the field led to advanced training, including a three-month scholarship at PCC-Taiwan in 2014, followed by a full ICDF scholarship for a two-year Master's degree in International Health, with a concentration in Medical Toxicology.
Her clinical focus centers on chronic and unusual poisoning cases, particularly traditional herbal and heavy metal toxicities. Her broad research portfolio includes occupational toxicology, biguanide poisoning, snakebites, and marine toxicity.
From 2021 to 2023, Dr. Vanessa played a pivotal role by running the Poison Center and managing the outpatient clinic for chronic toxic diseases. She currently operates the vital Poison Help hotline for physicians across Southern Vietnam.
Darryl Wood
Darryl Wood is an Emergency Medicine physician based at Queens Hospital in London. Prior to relocating to the UK, he served as Chief Specialist for Emergency Medicine in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where he led regional initiatives in snakebite management and research.
His doctoral research focused on the clinical aspects of snakebite envenoming in South Africa, contributing to the evidence base for the management of this neglected tropical disease.
Darryl’s research interests include emergency care systems, resuscitation, trauma, toxicology, and snakebite envenoming. He currently serves as NIHR Research Delivery Network (RDN) Research Specialty Lead for Trauma and Emergency Care in North London and is an Associate Professor with the NIHR & Royal College of Emergency Medicine. His work spans clinical research, research leadership, and the translation of evidence into practice to improve outcomes for patients with acute illness and injury.
We mitigate conflicts through a robust process.
Given the specialised snakebite R&D landscape, organisations associated with judges and assessors remain eligible to enter the prize.
Judges and assessors must submit a Conflict of Interest statement in advance and recuse themselves from reviewing or discussing any entries involving their affiliated organisations. This allows us to leverage top expertise while maintaining integrity and fairness throughout the prize’s selection process.