Our History

Around the globe, academic institutions have been helping to achieve the vision of a malaria-free world, primarily through malaria research, education, and training programs. In 2012, a consortium of academic partners led by long-time collaborators and malaria experts Professor Pedro Alonso of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Professor Dyann Wirth of Harvard University, and Professor Marcel Tanner of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) leveraged the breadth and depth of expertise of their global scientific networks to create an innovative leadership course focused on the complex problem of malaria eradication. From 2012 to 2022, academic partners in Europe and North America convened the leadership course, “Science of Eradication: Malaria,” each year on a rotating basis at their respective campuses. Two regional editions were held in El Salvador and Brazil in 2013 and 2015.

Over a decade later, in 2023, the leadership course was renamed “Science of Defeating Malaria” to mark its transition to African academic leadership. Today, the leadership course is led primarily by African academic partners, including alumni from its inaugural edition. The course has been convened in Senegal (2023), Ghana (2024), and Rwanda (2025); its goal remains consistent: to offer a multidisciplinary perspective on malaria, equipping a new generation of leaders with the knowledge and skills to tailor interventions to specific local contexts and advance global efforts towards a malaria-free world.

It is an internationally recognized leadership development course on malaria, with a benchmark curriculum rooted in science, global health policy, and public health practice.  Alumni leaders from “Science of Eradication: Malaria” (2012-2022) and “Science of Defeating Malaria” (2023-2025) are its greatest assets; its founding faculty and partnering institutions serve as the indispensable backbone of its legacy and ongoing success.

The curriculum, pedagogy, and participant selection for “Science of Defeating Malaria” are overseen by a Faculty Planning Committee composed of academic consortium representatives, alumni, and global malaria experts. The leadership development course is nomination-based. Organizers independently solicit nominations from a diverse cross-section of the global health and malaria communities, including experts, partners, and collaborators from the academic, business, public health, government, and biomedical research sectors. 

As a result of this competitive global nomination process, course participants are selected to reflect the future leaders of local, national, and international malaria efforts. The diverse range of professions represented in the course indicates the breadth of fields and sectors that need to work together to achieve malaria control and eradication. 

The nomination phase for the 2026 edition of the leadership course begins in November 2025. Unsolicited applications will not be accepted.

Using a framework of mutual learning and exchange (as coined by Professor Marcel Tanner), combined with an interdisciplinary and participatory teaching format that includes classroom lectures, case studies, expert discussions, and debates, participants explore the scientific and technological underpinnings of malaria, as well as the historical, political, social, and economic contexts in which control, elimination, and eradication efforts occur.

Faculty instructors include technical experts from the global malaria community, former/current government and business leaders, alumni, members of the Faculty Planning Committee, and global thought leaders. To maximize resource sharing, course materials (e.g., faculty presentations, case studies, problem-solving exercises, and other resources) are made available to course participants and alumni from all course editions (upon request). 

To support the wider global health community, faculty created “MalariaX,” a free, open access curricular companion to the leadership course. This “public good” has been accessed by more than 57K learners with transcripts available in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese languages. Visit the edX Online Learning Platform here to enroll. 

• The leadership course brings together a diverse body of global health/malaria professionals with varied experiences and backgrounds.  Organizers also maintain a network of world-class faculty experts, global health thought leaders.
• Coming Soon – a list of select course alumni; complete information regarding all past participants from 2012-2022, including alumni from the El Salvador regional edition of the course convened from February 16-24, 2014, and the Brazil regional edition from September 22-October 2, 2015.