Uzbekistan Hepatitis Elimination Project (UHEP)

Homie Razavi, PhD – Principle Investigator

Managing Director, Center for Disease Analysis Foundation

Homie A. Razavi is the founder and managing director at the Center for Disease Analysis Foundation. Since 2008, Homie has led a team of epidemiologists and modellers to quantify the epidemiology of hepatitis, forecast the future disease burden and help countries/territories develop national strategies. His team has been responsible for the development of a number of mathematical models currently used by countries/territories to develop intervention strategies for hepatitis B & C. In addition, his team has developed the Polaris Observatory, which collects and reports HCV, HBV, and HDV epidemiology, and disease burden and treatment rates for all countries/territories. He has a broad background, which includes basic research, commercial development, portfolio management, and decision analysis. He has a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Colorado and an MBA from Washington University.

Erkin Musabaev – Principle Investigator

Director, Uzbekistan Research Institute of Virology

Erkin Musabaev is the Director of the Institute of Virology at the Ministry of Health in Uzbekistan. He is also a Senior Infectious Disease Expert at the Public Health Service of Uzbekistan, heading up of the Infectious Diseases Department at the Tashkent Institute of Advanced Medical Studies and serving as the Director of the National Reference Laboratory in Uzbekistan.

Previously, Dr. Musabaev was the director of the Tashkent City Fever Hospital. He was a researcher in epidemiology and deputy director on sciences at the Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Research Institute.

He received his PhD in 1983 and his MD in 1990 from the Epidemiology Research Institute of the Ministry of Health of USSR. He studied at the Tashkent State Medical Institute from 1973 to 1979 and then participated in advanced clinical studies and a post graduate course in epidemiology at the Microbiology and Infectious Disease Research Institute.

Rick Dunn – Project Leader

Senior Director, Center for Disease Analysis Foundation

Rick Dunn is the Senior Director for CDA Foundation, responsible for leading the foundation’s Global Procurement Fund (GPRO), whose mission is to expand access to affordable, quality assured hepatitis treatments and diagnostics. Rick has over 20 years of experience in commercial and technical leadership roles at innovation-based companies developing strategies for penetrating new markets. Much of his career has been spent at GE Analytical Instruments where he was most recently responsible for leading the growth strategy, business development, and product management teams. Rick is a former US Navy submariner, honors graduate of the US Navy Nuclear Power Program, and holds a Bachelor of Science summa cum laude in Biology from the University of Pittsburgh.

Shakhlo Sadirova, MD, PhD – Project Leader

Project Lead, Uzbekistan Research Institute of Virology

Dr. Shakhlo Sadirova currently is working as project manager for the pilot project “Elimination of viral hepatitis B and C in Tashkent, Uzbekistan” funded by the CDA Foundation (CDAF). Within this project she is responsible for management and coordination of all project stakeholders. She received her medical degree from Tashkent Pediatric Medical Institute, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and completed a residency program in Otolaryngology at Tashkent Pediatric Medical Institute. Shakhlo also completed Postgraduate education for Infectious diseases through the program at the Tashkent Institute.

Shakhlo has over 7 years of experience in marketing in the Pharmaceutical industry, where she was most recently responsible for developing marketing plans, analysis of market and competitors, segmentation and positioning of medications, preparation of advertising-information materials, and key messaging presentations. She has experience in organizing training programs for physicians, participation in congresses, developing and maintaining the relations with OL and KOL, as well as planning and control of budgets.

In 2020 Shakhlo received her PhD degree in Medicine from the Higher Attestation Commission of Uzbekistan.

Kimberly Murphy – IT Systems Leader

Senior Software Developer, Center for Disease Analysis Foundation

Kim holds a MSCS from USC and has over twenty years of experience developing software for government and private industry. She has extensive application programming expertise, with a strong background in algorithm analysis, database programming, and mathematical modeling. She holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science from Drake University, also studying Physics. Upon completing undergrad, she was selected for the Engineer and Scientist Development program where she created mission planning and tactical report management software for radar based systems. She was responsible for design, development, and testing of framework, data access, user-interface, and map-based analysis software including 3D cost scheduling tools. She received her Master’s of Science in Computer Science from the University of Southern California as a Navair Graduate Fellow, completing research in modeling and simulation with an emphasis in multimedia and creative technology.

Katie Razavi-Shearer – Procurement Manager

GPRO Project Manager, Center for Disease Analysis Foundation

As project manager of the Global Procurement Fund at the Center for Disease Analysis Foundation, Katie helps expand access to hepatitis treatment and diagnostics around the world. She manages the global supply chain and works with international pharmaceutical and diagnostic manufacturers to bring affordable treatment and diagnostics to low and middle income countries/territories including Uzbekistan, Uganda, Fiji, Nepal, Myanmar, Papa New Guinea, Tonga, Vanuatu, Mongolia and Ghana. Her work as project manager of the Global Procurement Fund has been an integral part of the Uzbekistan Hepatitis Elimination Program (UHEP) in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. She attends meetings with international stakeholders, business leaders and community members to devise an effective hepatitis elimination program in Uzbekistan. Katie holds a Master of Public Health in Leadership and Public Health Practice from the University of Colorado Anschutz.

Shokhista Bakieva, MD – Project Manager

Dr. Shokhista Bakieva, is a student of basic doctoral studies (PhD) at the Research Institute of Virology (RIV) under the MoH of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and, since 2016, has served as an infectious disease specialist at RIV. In addition, she is currently a project manager for the UHEP project.

Shokhista has 5 years of experience as a medical doctor in rural health departments and another 6 years as an infectious disease doctor at the RIV. She has a bachelor’s degree in general pediatrics of the Tashkent Pediatric Medical Institute in Uzbekistan, a master’s degree in professional accounting (CG – 28) of Central Queensland University (CQU) in Australia, and clinical residency in infectious diseases (clinical) at RIV.

Krestina Brigida, MD – Project Manager

Uzbekistan Research Institute of Virology

Dr. Krestina Brigida is a student of basic doctoral studies at the Research Institute of Virology under the MoH of the Republic of Uzbekistan and coordinator of the UHEP project.

Studying clinical residency at the Research Institute of Virology of the Republic of Uzbekistan 2012-2014, Krestina specializes in infectious diseases. In 2014-2015, she worked as an infectious disease doctor in a family clinic in Tashkent. From 2015 to the present, she has been working at the Research Institute of Virology of the Republic of Uzbekistan. She participated in grants on HIV and Viral Hepatitis and was the head of the youth scientific grant for HCC for viral hepatitis.