CEO & Co-Founder

Christophe leads APOPO's team, with many years of management experience in East Africa. Christophe holds a Msc in Product Development & Development Sciences, and developed much of APOPO's technical apparatus.

Swiss Director

Anna has a 7 year business development background in the humanitarian/social entrepreneurship sector and is overseeing the Swiss and European development of APOPO. Anna started her career at UNIDO in operational follow-up and technical coordination of field offices, before joining Ashoka, a global network of social entrepreneurs, where she supported the development of their fledgling foundation in Switzerland, and their program to promote hybrid economic models.  In 2014, she met Ashoka fellow and APOPO founder Bart Weetjens and became passionate about the project. She joined the organization to support and promote APOPO’s detection technology, strengthen its European anchor and initiate international partnerships. Anna holds an MA in Corporate Strategy & Finance from Science Po Strasbourg (FR) and the University of Sussex (UK).

Head of Training & Behavioral Research

Dr. Cynthia Fast holds a Ph.D. and Master’s degree in Psychology specialising in Learning and Behaviour and Behavioural Neuroscience from UCLA. Cindy has more than ten years of experience conducting behavioural research with a variety of species including rats, mice, pigeons, hermit crabs, and horses.

Head of Mine Action

Håvard has a long and varied mine action background, with involvement in almost all aspects of mine clearance over the past 26 years. He graduated from the Military Officers Academy in Norway after which he went on to become the Head of the Norwegian Engineering component to United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). After his career in the army he joined the Norwegian People's Aid (NPA) and set up their programs in Mozambique and Angola. Håvard served as Head of Operational Methods and also briefly as Head of Mine Action and Human security for the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD). Håvard joined APOPO in 2016 as Head of Mine Action.

Mine Action Advisor

In 2019 Ashley took on a new role with APOPO as Mine Action Advisor. Prior to this Ashley served APOPO in a global role as Director of Grants and Contracts, and in regional role as Grant & Regional Manager supporting APOPO's mine action programmes in Angola, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Otherwise, since joining APOPO in 2013 Ashley has held progressively responsible posts in APOPO's Mine Action Mozambique Programme. Before joining APOPO, Ashley worked in NGO Management in the United States and Germany, and in the private sector executing international development and aid projects. She holds a masters degree in International Relations.

Program Manager MA Cambodia

Michael joined APOPO as Program Manager of the Cambodian Mine Action Program in April 2018. He brings several years of experience working in Mine Action in Israel and Palestine. After a 10-year career in the Engineering Forces of Israel, he played a key role in establishing a Civilian Mine Action Program there.   In the last 7 years Michael managed and supervised many NTS, TS and Clearance tasks, and also wrote the National Operational Standards, built Training and Accreditation areas, tested equipment, machines and animals, built the Quality Management Operational Setup, and established the Demining R&D Program.   In the last 4 years Michael was in charge of developing and promoting the clearance of the minefields in the West Bank, working closely with Palestinian people and stakeholders. As the person responsible for the international activities in the authority he worked in close cooperation with international organizations, donor countries, associations and other mine action centres.

Program Manager MA Angola

Manuel "Manu" Joao Agosthino with 20 years of mine action experience, joined APOPO in January 2019 as the new Mine Action Program Manager for Angola. Previously Manu worked for for mer partner Norwegian People's Aid (NPA) for 15 years where he eventually became Deputy Program Manager. He then continued on to take up a Degree in Law while also working part time for UNDP and CNIDAH on mine action related issues. On completing his studies and graduating as a lawyer, Manu worked as a liberal professional lawyer whilst also teaching law at University level in Luanda, before accepting to become our full time Program Manager in Angola. 

Head of Tuberculosis

Lena joined APOPO in July 2017 as Head of Tuberculosis. She is trained as an infectious disease epidemiologist (PhD) and veterinarian doctor and has substantial practical experience in TB epidemiology, surveillance and epidemic control gained through her work at the Robert Koch Institute, the national public health institute in Germany, and through WHO consultancies and research stays in various African countries. Her special interest lies in improving TB case finding, linkage to care, and prevention of spread through innovative approaches.

Program Manager TB Tanzania

Dr. Georgies Mgode is a Research Fellow specializing on zoonotic diseases including tuberculosis (TB). He is among the pioneer researchers at APOPO TB. He pursued his doctoral degree on TB detection using rats at Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Germany, and identified Mycobacterium tuberculosis odour volatiles detected by rats. He received a Presidential Medal of Invention and Scientific Research, from H.E. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of Tanzania. He has broad research experience and expertise through training at renowned institutions such as the Royal Tropical Institute (Netherlands); Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology (Germany); Marseille University (France); and Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences (Belgium). He has described a new Leptospira serovar Sokoine causing human and animal leptospirosis. He is a member of the National Steering Committee for Public Health Pesticides, and National Malaria Vector Control Sub-committee.

Program Manager TB Mozambique

Robert Burny joined APOPO in July 2018 as Program Manager for the TB operations in Maputo, Mozambique. Robert holds a Masters degree in Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation and has substantial program management experience with highlights in health and social development. In his PM capacity, Robert will contribute further to the fight against TB and make linkages between services and communities, diagnosis, treatment and cure.

Program Manager TB Ethiopia

Negussie has a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry and M.Sc. in Public health with ample experience in biomedical sciences research. He served an Assistant Professor at Addis Ababa University, Head of Regional Health Research Laboratory and Lecturer of Clinical Chemistry in Ethiopia. He has conducted research in Austria, South Africa, Spain and Tanzania. Negussie managed APOPO's Tanzania TB program and chemistry laboratory for seven years. He recently assumed the Program Manager post for APOPO's TB Operation Program in Ethiopia.

Executive Secretary

Esther has a Bachelors degree in Social Work and a Masters degree in Communication. She is the Executive Secretary at the administrative headquarters of APOPO in Belgium since March 2019. Her contribution to APOPO involves a combination of communication, fundraising, HR and administration of our office in Antwerp. With her experience in the civil society sector and her track record in communications, HR and administration, she is perfectly qualified to shape the secretary position.

Public Fundraising

Chris is now helping fundraising at APOPO, drawing on years of experience in the SaaS market. Chris previously led digital strategy and marketing at CuriosityStream from inception to over a million users. Chris studie at the University of Maryland and is also currently a Forbes contributor.

Head of IT

Bastian Van Mierlo is lead on APOPO’s IT architecture. Bastian, a German national, has an academic degree in computer science and has worked in the IT sector since 1999. Since 2011, he has been working for one of the leading German NGO’s, managing global projects and interacting with many different cultures.