Members of NCDA Board of DIrectors 2021-2023, Geneva, May 2022.
Members of NCDA Board of DIrectors 2021-2023, Geneva, May 2022.

NCD Alliance General Assembly elects new President-Elect and Board of Directors for 2023-2025

17th May 2023

NETWORK RELEASE 

17 May 2023 Geneva (Switzerland) – Today, at the NCD Alliance (NCDA) virtual General Assembly, the President-Elect and Board of Directors were elected for the 2023-2025 term. The NCDA General Assembly is held every two years, convening NCDA’s 402 members as the supreme governing body of NCDA.  

At the meeting, Leslie Rae Ferat was elected as NCDA’s President-Elect for the 2023-2025 term. Ferat is Executive Director of the Global Alliance for Tobacco Control (GATC, formerly Framework Convention Alliance) and has served on the NCDA Board for the last two years.  
 
NCDA members also elected eight Board Directors for 2023-2025, who join the four appointed representatives of the Founding Members, the President and President-Elect on the NCDA Board for the next two years. The NCDA Board comprises a group of 14 outstanding individuals from various backgrounds, geographies, and areas of expertise across the NCD field.  
 
The NCDA General Assembly also officially marked the end of Anne Lise Ryel’s term as NCDA President and welcomed Dr Monika Arora as NCDA President for 2023-2025.  
 
Dr Arora is the Executive Director of HRIDAY (Health Related Information Dissemination Amongst Youth), a founding member of the Healthy India Alliance (India NCD Alliance) and a public health scientist working on health promotion and advocacy on NCDs. She has served as President-Elect since 2021 and has been an NCDA Board member since 2019.  

The NCD Alliance Board for the 2023-2025 period is as follows:

  • Dr Monika Arora, NCDA President, Executive Director of HRIDAY, 
  • Leslie Rae Ferat, NCDA President-Elect, Executive Director, Global Alliance for Tobacco Control (GATC, formerly Framework Convention Alliance) 
  • Pubudu Amarajith Sumanasekara, Executive Director and President, NCD Alliance Lanka, Sri Lanka; Consultant for RESET Alcohol Initiative, Vital Strategies
  • Beatriz Champagne, Executive Director, Coalition for Americas' Health/Coalición Latinoamérica Saludable (CLAS)
  • Marie Hauerslev, Past-Chair, NCD Child
  • Ishu Kataria, Senior Public Health Researcher, Center for Global NCDs, RTI International
  • Guy Marks, President and Executive Director, The International Union Against TB and Lung Disease 
  • Eva Njenga, Founder Director, NCD Alliance Kenya (NCDAK); Consultant Physician/Endocrinologist, DIAMED Centre, Kenya Diabetes Study Group 
  • Bo Norrving, Senior Professor in Neurology, Lund University and Past President and Past-President, World Stroke Organization (WSO) 
  • Kaushik L Ramaiya, Honorable Secretary and CEO, Tanzania NCD Alliance (TANCDA)
  • Peter Schwarz, President-Elect, International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and Head of the Division of Prevention and Care of Diabetes at Universitätsklinikum Carl Gustav Carus 
  • Saunthari Somasundaram, Former Union for International Cancer Control Board Member and President and Medical Director, The National Cancer Society of Malaysia  
  • Laura Tucker-Longsworth, Board Member, Healthy Caribbean Coalition; President, Belize Cancer Society
  • Liesl Zühlke, World Heart Federation Board Member and Vice President, South African Medical Research Council.

NCDA President Dr Arora said: “I am committed to strengthening NCDA’s global position as a convener of NCD civil society, a thought leader in NCDs, and promoting the meaningful involvement of people living with NCDs. As the NCD community looks towards the UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs in 2025, the next two years will be especially critical in shaping the NCD agenda and accelerating progress towards a world that puts health first and leaves no one behind. We, the NCD movement, have the solutions to meet global NCD targets and I look forward to maximising this important opportunity to drive positive change for people living with NCDs around the world.” 

Outgoing NCDA President Ryel said: “I am incredibly honoured to have served as the NCDA President over the past two years. It has been a privilege to work alongside the Board, our diverse membership, and the NCDA team to drive positive change for people living with NCDs. The NCD Alliance is such a unique organisation, and I believe over the last two years we have advanced the NCD response, strengthened the NCD community, and made a real impact. I am particularly proud that we have set the foundations for the next Global NCDA Forum in Rwanda in October 2024, and to have acheieved WHO official relations. I have every confidence Monika and the new Board will continue to build upon our successes and further solidify NCDA as a powerful voice for civil society in the NCD space." 

NCDA is extremely thankful to Ryel and the outgoing NCDA Board for their leadership, guidance and oversight, and to all the member organisations that actively participated in the General Assembly.