Honorary Membership

The title of Honorary Member of The Union is granted to a person who has become distinguished through active participation in The Union's activities and the fulfilment of its goals. These members serve as informal advisors to The Union.

This prize has now been combined with the Union Medal.

Dr Rajita R. Bhavaraju (United States of America)

Deputy Director at Global Tuberculosis Institute at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA. Dr. Bhavaraju was the Chair of The Union’s Coordinating Committee of Scientific Activities (2010-2014). Since 2016, Dr. Bhavaraju has been a reviewer for the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.

Professor Anneke Hesseling (South Africa)

Distinguished Professor in Pediatrics and Child Health at the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, where Prof Hesseling is also the Director of the Desmond Tutu TB Centre. In 2016, Prof Hesseling was appointed as the first South African National Research Foundation SARChi chair in Paediatric Tuberculosis.

Dr Muhammad Amir Khan (Pakistan)

Chief Coordinating Professional of the Association for Social Development in Pakistan. Previously, Chief Research Fellow at the Nuffield Institute for Health in the United Kingdom. In 2015, Dr Khan achieved a fellowship at the Faculty of Public Health in the United Kingdom.

Dr Ying Zhang (China)

Professor at State Key Laboratory for the Diagnosis & Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, China. Previously, he was Professor at the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, USA. Prof Zhang is a pioneer in identification of TB drug resistance genes and has been an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease for many years.

Prof Oumou Bah-Sow (Guinea)

Professor of Pneumo-Phtisiology, President of the National Committee of Ethics for Health Research. Founding member and President of the Guinean Association of Biosafety and Biosecurity. Member of the National Scientific Council for COVID-19 Response.

Prof Xiexiu Wang (China)

Professor and Honorary Director General, Tianjin Centers for Disease Control and prevention in China. Immediate past President of the Chinese Anti-TB Association. Director of TB Experts' Committee of the Ministry of Health in China. Immediate past President of The Union Asia Pacific Region.

Prof Dean Schraufnagel (United States of America)

Professor of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Director of Tuberculosis Control for DuPage County. Member of The Union since 1991. Union Board member from 2004 to 2013 and Vice President from 2008 to 2013. Represented The Union on the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS).

HIH Princess Akishino of Japan

HIH Princess Akishino of Japan was awarded the title of Honorary Member of The Union, in recognition of her active participation in The Union's mission and the fulfilment of its goals, and her lifelong commitment to ending TB.

Professor Bertie Squire (UK)

Professor Bertie Squire is a long-standing member of The Union, but most recently served The Union in its highest membership role, as President of the organisation from 2008 through 2011, and then continued to serve on the Board as the Immediate Past President form 2011-2016. He has been active in numerous activities of The Union - from conference participation to leading consultations in many scientific aspects.

Dr Joseph Amolo Aluoch (Kenya)

Dr Joseph Amolo Aluoch has been active in The Union since the mid-1970s when he was the Coordinator of the National TB Control Program in Kenya from 1975-1980. He was the African Congress President of The Union (called IUATLD at that time) in 1978-80. He has been named the “Father of Respiratory Medicine” in Kenya. He is clearly a long-term friend to The Union and advocate for the mission of The Union. 

Prof Christopher Kuaban (Cameroon)

Prof Christopher Kuaban has played a significant role in the development of the National Tuberculosis Programme in Cameroon for more than 20 years. He successfully launched a modern TB control programme in 1996 where previously there had been limited drugs, diagnostic and reporting. He has also been a pioneer in the fight against MDR-TB. In 2008, he demonstrated great courage in launching an observational study using a 12-month regimen, very similar to the Bangladesh regimen. This was a time when very few people thought it was possible to reduce the length of MDR-TB treatment. That 12-month study served to convince the other countries of Francophone Africa to join in the nine-month observational study. This was all crucial evidence leading to the World Health Organization’s recommendation earlier this year for a nine-month regimen.

Prof Nulda Beyers (South Africa)

Prof Nulda Beyers, with her husband Prof Robert Gie, started the Desmond Tutu TB Centre at Stellenbosch University in 1990 with the dream of helping people with TB. Under her guidance as Director, the centre has grown to having a staff of over 400 conducting wide-ranging research in TB and HIV. A professor in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Heath, Prof Beyers and her husband are also credited with bringing attention to the neglected area of childhood TB. Prof Beyers has received many awards and honours for her TB research, including the Gold award from the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC). She has published close on 200 book chapters, supplements and manuscripts and served as Editor in Chief (tuberculosis) for The Union’s International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease from 2003 to 2010.  She believes that an essential element of research is empowerment of communities and building capacity in Africa and encourages her research team to spend five per cent of their time on activities, such as getting involved with the care of orphans.

Prof Donald A Enarson (Canada)

Prof Donald A Enarson was made an Honorary Member in recognition of his distinguished career, including 18 years as The Union’s Director of Scientific Activities, decades of service as an editor of the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease and his role as founding editor of Public Health Action. Prof Enarson played a central role in overseeing the expansion of The Union’s TB technical assistance, education and research activities to include other major public health challenges, including HIV, tobacco control, asthma, and child lung health. Under his leadership, The Union TB clinical trials Study A and Study C were completed, and he fostered the growth of operational research. He has published more than 20 books on issues such as tuberculosis, lung cancer and asthma, as well as hundreds of chapters and articles. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada; a Member through Distinction of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine, Royal Colleges of Physicians, UK; and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. In 2013, Prof Enarson was awarded The Union Medal, The Union’s highest honour, for his outstanding contributions to TB and lung health.

Prof H Simon Schaaf (South Africa)

Prof H Simon Schaaf is one of the world’s leading experts on MDR-TB in children. He was am early pioneers in the study of TB drug resistance, focusing on child TB diagnosis and surveillance. His research pointed up the need to carry out drug-susceptibility testing on children with culture-confirmed TB and has led to a greater understanding of how to handle dosages of first- and second-line TB drugs for children. Prof Schaaf is a Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health at the Stellenbosch University and Desmond Tutu TB Centre. He treats children at the Tygerberg Hospital, Brooklyn Chest Hospital and through outreach programmes in Khayelitsha and Scottsdene near Kraaifontein, as well as consulting on cases all over the world. Author of more than 200 papers, he is chief co-editor of widely used textbook, Tuberculosis: A Comprehensive Clinical Reference. In 2014, he received the National Order of Mapungubwe (silver), South Africa’s highest honour, which recognises citizens for excellence and exceptional achievement to the benefit of South Africa and beyond. A longtime Union member, Prof Schaaf is currently the chair of the Adult & Child Lung Health Scientific Section and represents the section on the Board of Directors.

Prof Andrew Nunn (UK)

Prof Andrew Nunn is Associate Director and Senior Statistician at the Medical Research Council’s Clinical Trials Unit at the University College London. He has been a statistician for the MRC for close to 40 years. He originally worked under the leadership of Prof Wallace Fox and served as senior statistician for the landmark trials in East and Central Africa, Hong Kong and Singapore that led to the international adoption of short-course chemotherapy for tuberculosis.  In 1995, he joined the HIV Clinical Trials Centre and recommenced his involvement in tuberculosis research. During this time his work coincided with initiatives in drug development launched by the TB Alliance.  He was also the statistician/investigator on The Union’s major clinical trials, Study A and Study C, and he is currently co-chief investigator on the Union-sponsored multi-centred STREAM trial, assessing the 9-month regimen for the treatment of MDR-TB. Prof Nunn has been an associate editor of the International Journal of Tuberculosis & Lung Disease since 2009 and is a widely sought-after lecturer, consultant and advisor.

Dr Lee B Reichman (USA)

Dr Lee B Reichman is a world-renowned international expert in the field of tuberculosis and lung health. He was the Founder and, until June 2014, Executive Director of the Global Tuberculosis Institute at Rutgers University and Professor of Medicine, Preventive Medicine and Community Health at the New Jersey Medical School. Prior to joining the faculty at Rutgers in 1974, Dr Reichman served as Director of the Bureau of Tuberculosis Control and Assistant Commissioner of Health at the New York City Health Department and chaired several committees for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr Reichman has been involved with The Union for 40 years, and has served internationally as Chair of the Executive Committee and Council, regionally as President of the North America Region.  He has published over 200 articles, scientific reviews and book chapters on tuberculosis and other infectious lung diseases. Among his other honours, he received the highest award from the American Lung Association, the Will Ross Medal.