Professor Padmashree Gehl Sampath is the i.Chief Executive Officer of the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation, a new pan African institution dealing with technology issues, in Kigali, Rwanda. Until recently, she was with the Berkman Klein Center, Harvard University, where she served as Director of the Global Access in Action Program since November 2021, and previously Senior Advisor from February 2017, apart from being a Fellow.
Professor Gehl Sampath is a well-respected thought leader in the field of development studies and global health, working on current challenges predominantly from a trade, technology and industrialization perspective. She is one of the original thinkers on new paradigms for international technology transactions that can better secure global public goods; with a focus on pharmaceuticals and health given the sector’s high global relevance. Her work in this area spans over two decades, focusing on understanding questions of access to technology and know-how, and how its absence impacts local production and by extension, the availability of drugs, vaccines and therapeutics at the firm, ecosystem, country, and the regional level, and stymies health care responses. She has also worked as Senior Scientific Advisor to the Africa Centres for Disease Control (Africa CDC) leading the work on a market shaping and pooled procurement system for Africa at the AU level until earlier this year. Since 2021, she has been the Chairperson of the Technical Advisory Group of the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (CTAP) of the World Health Organisation contributing with her expertise on technology transfer and technology licensing; has advised the German International Agency (GIZ) and the German Ministry of Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ) on accelerating vaccine production in Africa; and has been working with the African Development Bank Group on the conceptualization of the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation. She is an Honorary Professor at the University of Rwanda, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg, where she leads a large regional programme on building regional centres of excellence in Africa. She is also a member of the Trade and Industrial Development Advisory Council of the African Continental Free Trade Area.