Professor Raffaella Ravinetto, PharmD, PhD, has a thirty-year experience in commercial and non-commercial clinical research, humanitarian programmes, pharmaceutical policies, and research ethics review. She holds a University Master Degree in Pharmacy from the University of Torino, Italy; a Postgraduate Diploma in Tropical Medical Biology from the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM), Antwerp, Belgium; and a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the KU Leuven, Belgium.

After a seven-year experience as Clinical Research Scientist in the private pharmaceutical sector, she worked as a pharmacist in humanitarian programs run by different NGOs in the Balkans and in Africa. In 2002 she joined Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), where she held different positions, focusing on access to/quality of essential medicines, while performing field assessments in Africa and Latin America. From 2006 to 2016, she was the head of the Clinical Trials Unit of the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) Antwerp, the coordinator of the Switching the Poles Clinical Research Network, and the scientific coordinator of QUAMED (Quality Medicines for All).

She is currently an associate professor at the Public Health Department of the ITM, in charge of a portfolio of research (H-Index 19), policy support, networking, education and advocacy in pharmaceutical public health. She is also the chairperson of the ITM Institutional Review Board; the chairperson of the MSF Ethics Review Board; an extraordinary professor at the School of Public Health, University of Western Cape, South Africa; and a senior editor of the BMC Medical Ethics.

Her main areas of interest include pharmaceutical policies and equitable access to quality-assured health products, with a particular focus on the context of low- and middle-income countries; and research ethics, particularly in relation to resource-constrained settings and vulnerable populations. She was the president of MSF Italy from 2007 to 2011.

I am regularly teaching within and outside ITM on subjects related to access to quality medicines and clinical research in developing countries. Furthermore, between 2010 and 20116, I organized three two-week trainings in Good Clinical Practices (GCP),  in Burkina Faso and  Indonesia; and I facilitated a similar t training organized by the Medical Research Council Unit in The Gambia. In 2015, I contributed to the conceptualization and implementation of the two-week workshop Ethics In International Health Researchat  ITM; in 2021, I was the co-lead, co-course developer and a member of the teaching faculty of the project “Strengthening the ethics review capacities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with focus on preparedness for research conducted in the context of outbreaks and other public health emergencies”. Starting 2021, I am the coordinator and a member of the teaching faculty of a 3-week short course hosted at the ITM, Antwerp, on “Pharmaceutical policies in health systems” (website: https://edu.itg.be/courses/pharmaceutical-policies-in-health-systems). 

Coaching master students: 

Christophe Perrin. “Quality assurance policy for the selection of medicines in place at three major international donors: The Global Fund, The World Bank & ECHO. Their impact on the quality of medicines procured with their funds in limited resource settings”. Master in Public Health - Disease Control, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, Belgium, 2010-2011. (Co-supervisor with Marleen Boelaert)

Aweke T Mahelet. “Farmaci di bassa qualita’: un’emergenza per la salute individuale e pubblica”. Corso di laurea magistrale in Farmacia. Universita’ La Sapienza, Roma, Italy, 2012

Clarisse Bougouma. “ Pharmacovigilance de la combinaison artesunate-amodiaquine dans le traitement du paludisme simple dans le district sanitaire de Nanoro au Burkina Faso».  Master en Santé Publique - Contrôle des Maladies, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, Belgium, 2012-2013

An Wauters. « Rabies burden in endemic settings: can health systems in low-resource countries implement primary prevention to minimize morbidity and mortality in children?”. Master of Science in International Health Disease Control, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, Belgium, 2013-2014

Ariadna Nebot Giralt. “Adhérence des distributeurs pharmaceutiques aux standards d’assurance qualité de l’OMS. Analyse d’un échantillon de distributeurs du secteur public et du l’aide au développement en Afrique subsaharienne et en Europe ». Master en Sciences de la Santé Publique. Politique et Management des Systèmes de Santé, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, Belgium, 2014-2015

Kerlijn Van Assche. “The quality of medicines of the private pharmaceutical distributors in Sub-Saharan Africa. A secondary quantitative data analysis from a sample of private distributors”. Master of Science degree in International Health. Thesis submitted to the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 2016

Sonia Marra. “L’applicazione delle Linee Guida etiche per la ricercar biomedica del WHO-CIOMS durante l’epidemia di Ebola nell’Africa occidentale : sfide e lezioni per il futuro ». Master di II livello in ricerca e sviluppo preclinico e clinico dei farmaci. Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Italy, 2015-2016

Valentina Riganti. “Universal access to innovative medicines for non-communicable diseases in low and middle income countries». Master di II livello in ricerca e sviluppo preclinico e clinico dei farmaci. Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Italy, 2015-2016

Tolotra Andriambelomiandra ANDRIAMPARANY. « Accès aux médicaments essentiels de qualité au niveau des soins de santé primaires : analyse du système pharmaceutique de Madagascar ». Master en Sciences de la Santé Publique. Politiques et Management des Systèmes de Santé. Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, Belgium, 2016-2017

Claudia Iobbi. “Community Engagement: an essential requirement for clinical research in low- and middle- income countries». Master di II livello in ricerca e sviluppo preclinico e clinico dei farmaci. Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Italy, 2017-2018

Valentina Pavanati. “Poor-quality antibiotics in low- and middle-income countries». Master di II livello in ricerca e sviluppo preclinico e clinico dei farmaci. Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Italy, 2017-2018

Eleonora Miele. “Poor-quality medicines in low- and middle-income countries. The case of antiepileptics». Master di II livello in ricerca e sviluppo preclinico e clinico dei farmaci. Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Italy, 2017-2018

Afoumbom Mildred Tita. “Factors associated with the adherence to ethical guidelines on informed consent during clinical trials involving antimalarial drugs in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review”. Mater of Bioethics, Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven, academic year 2019-2020. Main mentor prof. Kris Dierickx.

Federica Galliano. “Research & Development for Neglected Tropical Diseases: integrating innovation, regulation and global partnerships  to address health inequity”. Master di II livello in ricerca e sviluppo preclinico e clinico dei farmaci. Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Italy, 2019-2019

Valeria Cozzuto. “Biobanks in the context of international medical research: challenges and ways forward. Master di II livello in ricerca e sviluppo preclinico e clinico dei farmaci”. Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Italy, 2018-2019

Marta Lettieri. “A comparison of the key-elements of pharmaceutical regulatory systems across six sub-Saharan African countries”. Master in Tropical Medicine and Global Health, University of Florence, Italy. 2018/2019

Serena Frau. “Training programs to improve access to opioid analgesics for medical use: a review in Western and Central Africa’’. Master in Tropical Medicine and Global Health. University of Florence, University of Brescia and Ospedale Sacro Cuore - Don Calabria di Negrar (Verona) Italy. 2019/2020

Gioia Ambrosi. “The development of fexinidazole for sleeping sickness: an innovative collaboration approach to R&D”. Master di II livello in ricerca e sviluppo preclinico e clinico dei farmaci”. Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Italy, 2019-2020

Maria Chiara D’Alessandro. “Controlled Human Infection Challenge Studies for the development of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines: ethical issues”. Master di II livello in ricerca e sviluppo preclinico e clinico dei farmaci”. Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Italy, 2019-2020

Feyissa Gowe. “Assessment of Ethiopian Local Pharmaceuticals Manufacturers and Pharmaceuticals Importers Quality Assurance System Compliance Level: A Cross- Sectional study”. Addis Ababa University. School of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Pharmacognosy 2021. (Co-adviser; prof. Ayenew Ashenef was the main supervisor).

Lotte Hellinckx. Master thesis proposed to achieve the degree of master in medicine "Use of fixed-dose combination in low and middle income countries". Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven, Belgium, 2022. (External evaluator. Promotor: Prof. dr. Jan Jacobs)

Giada Refosco. “Present and future of rabies vaccination in endemic countries: achievement and challenges of clinical research”. Master di II livello in ricerca e sviluppo preclinico e clinico dei farmaci”. Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Italy, 2020-2021

Elisa Zeni. “THE CHALLENGES OF CONDUCTING CLINICAL RESEARCH ON NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES IN LOW AND MIDDLE INCOME COUNTRIES”. Master di II livello in ricerca e sviluppo preclinico e clinico dei farmaci”. Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Italy, 2020-2021

Maud Brijs, Khane Ibrahim, Jolien Louis. Race and ethnicity in clinical trials. ‘Drug Life Cycle project”, an assignment to first year students of the Master of Drug Development at KU Leuven. (External expert. Mentors: prof Minne Casteels, Prof Peter De Witte, Ruth Storme).

Eugene Bangwen Ndim, « NATIONAL LABORATORY POLICIES AND AVAILABILITY OF ESSENTIAL DIAGNOSTICS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN COUNTRIES». Master of Science in Public Health. Health Systems and Disease Control. Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, Belgium, 2022 (Co-supervisor. Main supervisor: Vera Kuhe)

Hashta Meyta, “REVIEW ON IMMUNIZATION FINANCING AND BUILDING AN EFFECTIVE VACCINE PROCUREMENT SYSTEM in the Context of Gavi Assistance Implementation in Indonesia”. Master of Science in Public Health. Health Systems and Disease Control. Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, Belgium, 2022

Carlotta Perucca Orfei. “Substandard and falsified medicines and their impact on low and middle-income countries: the case of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol contaminations in pediatric cough syrups”. Master di II livello in ricerca e sviluppo preclinico e clinico dei farmaci. Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Italy, 2021-2022

Giovanni Tangherlini. “The WHO Prequalification Program: impact, limitations and future perspectives”. Master di II livello in ricerca e sviluppo preclinico e clinico dei farmaci”. Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Italy, 2021-2022

Doctoral Committees / Juries

External member of the Doctoral Committee of Dr. Yves Lula, Doctoral School of Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Antwerp (Belgium). Promoter Prof. Dr. Jean-Pierre Van geertruyden. Title of the Doctoral Research: “Safety of medicines used in infectious medicines (cases of antimalarials and antituberculosis agents)”. [Ongoing]

External member of the PhD Thesis Jury of Mrs NDAGIJE Byomire Helen Ndagije, candidate for the degree of Doctor in Public Health Sciences at UC Louvain, Louvain, Belgium. Promotor: Prof. Niko SPEYBROECK Niko. Title of the Doctoral Research: “Monitoring safety of medicines in Uganda: Strategies for pharmacovigilance systems in resource-limited settings”.

External member of the examination board for the doctoral dissertation of Sileshi Belew Yohannes, “FUNCTIONAL QUALITY OF SELECTED ANTIMALARIAL AND ANTHELMINTIC MEDICINES”, candidate for the degree of Doctor in Pharmaceutical Sciences at Ghent University. Administrative promoter: prof. dr. Bart De Spiegeleer.

Examiner of the doctoral thesis of Jingying Xu, candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) of the University of London, at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK. Thesis title: “A Social Constructivist Analysis of China’s Policy Responses to Substandard and Falsified Medicines (1978-2021)”. Supervisor: Dr Preslava Stoeva. Co-examiner: Professor Simon Rushton (University of Sheffield)

Examiner of the doctoral thesis of Hye Lynn Choi, PhD candidate for the Doctoral Program (PhD) in Biomedical Sciences, Global Health Track, Institute of Global Health, University of Geneva. Thesis title: “Improving access to quality-assured and safe medicines and diagnostics for Neglected Tropical Diseases ―through coordinated procurement mechanisms and development of a strategy for regulatory pathways”. Supervisor: Professor Bettina Borisch, Institut de Santé Globale, Université de Genève

Member of the  Doctorate Committee for the doctoral thesis of  Alex Fehr, at the Faculty of Science of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Thesis title: “The socio-cultural and ethical aspects of participation in a mass drug administration trial for malaria elimination in The Gambia: A transdisciplinary study”. Supervisors: dr. T. Zuiderent-Jerak, dr. A. Bardaji Alonso.

Co-promoter of the doctoral research of Gwen Lemey, at the Faculteit Geneeskunde en Gezondheidswetenschappen, University of Antwerp (Belgium). Provisional title: How can a (Non-) Related Adverse Events policy improve the ancillary care approach in global health research?  The case of  DR Congo.  Main promoter Prof. Dr. Jean-Pierre Van geertruyden, Universiteit Antwerpen [Ongoing].