The RAPID TRANSLATION AWARD honors a public-private partnership that has made a critical contribution to public health progress. This award is part of the suite of Outstanding Achievement in Public Health Awards, generously supported by Johnson & Johnson.

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) is a not-for-profit medical research organization that discovers, develops, and delivers safe, effective, and affordable treatments for neglected people. DNDi is developing medicines for sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, river blindness, mycetoma, dengue, paediatric HIV, advanced HIV disease, cryptococcal meningitis, and hepatitis C. Its research priorities include children’s health, gender equity and gender-responsive R&D, and diseases impacted by climate change. Since its creation in 2003, DNDi has joined with public and private partners across the globe to deliver 13 new treatments, saving millions of lives

Delali Attiogbe Attipoe joined DNDi as the Executive Director of DNDi North America in August 2023. Delali is an accomplished global executive leader and board member within the biopharma and health sector. Her 20-year plus career has focused on patient access from bench to bedside to address unmet medical needs and health inequities through her diverse work from manufacturing and clinical trial support to marketing, fundraising, and regulatory support across numerous disease areas. Prior to joining DNDi, she had served as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for 54gene, a life science, health tech start-up addressing disparities in genomics research for drug discovery as well as Head of Market Access in East Africa for Roche Pharmaceuticals and held various positions within Genentech, Inc. before her COO role.

Delali also sits on the board of ReSurge International, a global health, non-profit focused on training medical teams on life-saving reconstructive surgery and providing quality surgical care in low-and-middle income (LMIC) countries within Africa, Asia, and South America.

Delali holds a Bachelors of Science in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Rochester; a Masters in Biotechnology (MB) from the University of Pennsylvania; a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Babson College, F.W. Olin School of Business; and received a Certificate in Health Economics and Outcomes Research from the University of Washington.

She considers herself a global denizen having been born in the US to Ghanaian parents as well as lived in Canada, Kuwait and Kenya; and a global advocate having been fortunate to participate as a speaker and/or author at conferences, media outlets and through scientific journals. In her spare time, her other passions include creative writing and advising through her personal agency, R8 Collective, when she is not enjoying travels.