Ehab Atia

 Review and develop technical specifications and requirements for medical devices to ensure completeness and appropriateness. Advise requesting country offices on technical matters relating to the commodity of specialization. Clarify inadequate specifications, proposing substitute or alternative items as necessary.
 Collaborate with Programme Division and/or other UN agencies in promotion and improvements in use, availability and appropriateness of products and services.
 Establish list of potential pre-qualified suppliers for the requisition and forwards it to the commercial unit for purchasing action.
 Conduct market research, provide analyses, background information, recommendations for improving the suitability and range of products within specialized area, resulting in more appropriate equipment, better delivery and lower costs. Investigate world markets, maintain resource files on a global basis, recommending new areas of purchase.
 Manage and monitor multiple projects, ensure timely execution of deliverables, analyze data, develop final report and ensure that key performance indicators are met.
 Support the supply function in field offices by assisting in preparation of country supply analyses and of supply components of country programmes, or of special projects that arise.
 Evaluate supplier performance historical acceptability and delivery record, and general information including financial, historical and managerial.
 Support the supply function in field offices by assisting in monitoring and evaluation of supply inputs to UNICEF programmes.
 Responsible for material ownership of all essential devices, including sourcing and screening of supplier applications.
 Research, evaluate, and promote development of new technologies when appropriate, to meet programme requirements.
 Supervise, guide and train support staff and evaluates performance.
 Increase awareness of UNICEF's activities within the Safe Injection Equipment Market. Create a healthier and sustainable supply base of affordable, quality assured safe injection supplies. Develop training material for injection safety.
 Perform technical evaluation of different suppliers' products to ensure procurement of the appropriate compliant product. Evaluate relevant ISO standards certificates for products and manufacturers.
 Provide input to amend ISO standards for auto disable syringes used for immunization to ensure early activation of the disabling mechanism to ascertain industry compliance for optimum and safe immunization practice.
 Liaise with international standard organization to update technical specifications for medical devices.
 Update technical specification of medical devices based on thorough market research to ensure compliance with current standards and technology.
 Participate in ISO working groups to update specifications of medical devices used for child and maternal health care.
 Liaise with manufactures to ensure that personal protective equipment used for high threat pathogens containment are manufactured according to the relevant ISO standards.

 Provide input on activities being conducted in laboratory system strengthening and Influenza surveillance and response. This work contributed to implementation of the Partnership Contribution Implementation Plan of the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework (PIP) for the sharing of Influenza viruses and access to vaccines and other benefits.
 Strengthen country capacities to detect Influenza outbreaks, monitor seasonal Influenza and produce and share information on Influenza in the WHO European Region.
 Participate in and contribute to WHO Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS).
 Provide virological and public health expertise to the work of the High Threat Pathogens Programme in surveillance, preparedness and response. Provided virological and public health expertise in preparedness and response to outbreaks of non’seasonal Influenza and other emerging respiratory pathogens.
 Provide expertise to the development of training materials for laboratory courses. Provided expertise to the joint European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control/WHO Regional Office for Europe, Flu News Europe weekly Influenza update for issues wk01-wk39 and surveillance outputs by analyzing virological surveillance data including virus characteristics by type and subtype, attribution to genetic groups and to antigenic categories as well as susceptibility to antivirals.
 Provide expertise to the writing of the weekly Flu News Europe Bulletins and other surveillance outputs. Contributed to the development of country virological surveillance profiles.
 Manage and monitor multiple projects, ensure timely execution of deliverables, analyze data, develop final report and ensure that key performance indicators are met.

 Provide expertise to the development of the technical notes for reporting of virological surveillance data to Flu News Europe. Contributed virological expertise to the writing of the weekly Flu News Europe Bulletins and other surveillance outputs.
 Coordinate external quality assessment programmes for influenza molecular detection, antigenic and genetic characterization for 50-member states in the WHO European Region.
 Provide trainings in laboratory quality management and the WHO laboratory quality stepwise implementation tool.
 Assess laboratory capacity for national influenza laboratories according to the WHO laboratory assessment tool and liaise with WHO headquarter in Geneva to recognize national laboratories as WHO recognized national influenza centres.
 Develop reports for assessment missions and follow up with national laboratories to ensure that they comply with relevant criteria and standards to attain the WHO recognition status.
 Provide laboratory mentoring to enable laboratories to attain ISO 15189 accreditation as part of the better labs for better health initiative.

 Principal investigator of multiple disease surveillance projects in the Middle East and West Africa to determine the prevalence of various pathogens as well as performing advanced characterization of infectious agents associated with various diseases.
 Conduct complex genomic testing of Influenza and other respiratory pathogens and analyze the resulting data using sophisticated computer programs.
 Review the scientific landscape for new technologies and optimize new techniques to meet projects requirements and deliverables.
 Risk assessment for public health gaps and threats through identification of possible factors which might impact the health integrity. Provide comprehensive situational analysis to monitor health threats.
 Monitoring and evaluation of global emerging and re-emerging pathogens through a meticulous literature search to assess the risk, collect and analyze data.
 Present scientific findings to the scientific community through detailed manuscripts, abstracts and live lectures.
 Establish and maintain relationships and communications with public health officials and scientists in West Africa, Middle East, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and United States.
 Organize several workshops to train scientists and collaborators from different countries on viral diagnostics, sequencing and bioinformatics tools inside and outside NAMRU-3 that benefited nation’s public health officials. I trained over 300 scientists and collaborators from 37 countries, a work that involved preparing presentations explaining the premise behind the technology and its application.
 Provide technical assistance and suggested relevant control measures to different countries to enhance their capacity to develop their mitigation strategies to contain outbreaks.
 Organize workshops in laboratory biosafety and biosecurity to ensure safe working environment and proper storage of infectious agents to prevent accidental access or theft of biohazard agents.
 Have competent skills in the epidemiology as well as the detection and characterization of Influenza viruses, Corona viruses, ParaInfluenza viruses, Enteroviruses, Rhino viruses, Human Metapneumovirus, Dengue viruses, Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, Rift Valley Fever Virus, Hepatitis viruses, Herpes viruses, Human Papilloma Viruses, ZIKA virus, Measles virus, Mumps virus, other Alfa and Flaviviruses and others.
 Supervise 4 research associates, assigning tasks and ensuring timely reporting.
 Develop detailed standard operating procedures for laboratory assays to ensure optimum results.
 Submit scientific proposals to get essential funds to execute surveillance studies, managed to get funds from the Global Emerging Infectious Diseases Surveillance Program (GEIS) and the U.S Department of States.
 Respond to outbreaks in various locations in the Middle East, Central Asia and Eastern Europe, being a pivotal member of an outbreak response team working under the umbrella of the WHO to assess the situation, confirm the outbreak and implement necessary interventions to contain the outbreak.
 Generate detailed sequence analysis reports of Influenza viruses to different collaborating countries, comprising comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of circulating strains to determine genetic clades and lineages, pointing out amino acids differences from vaccine strains as well as markers of antiviral drug resistance, and predicting alteration in antigenic and cleavage sites.
 Establish reliable diagnostic laboratories in countries of limited amenities, this endeavor includes: designing the laboratory layout, ordering the biological safety cabinets and diagnostic platforms, training the staff on the basics of Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) and principles of biosafety and relevant diagnostic assays.

 Teaching pharmacy students’ methods of preparation of different pharmaceutical dosage forms and drug delivery systems in a prudent manner to ensure the delivery of the calculated dose of the active ingredient via the proper route of administration to the site of action.
 Training the students on patient counseling to make sure that the drug gives the required safe therapeutic effect without possible drug-drug interactions and incompatibilities.

Contributed to the global meeting of the WHO-recognized National Influenza Centres.
•November 2016