David Williams Email & Phone Number

Country boy from rural Australia who grew up with a passion for reptiles that evolved into an interest in snake venoms, and eventually the impact that snakebite envenoming has on the poorest communities around the globe. I'm especially fortunate to have been able to see the impact of snakebite first hand in many countries, but particularly in Papua New Guinea where my colleagues and I designed a new antivenom and put it through clinical trials, while at the same time running a dedicated snakebite treatment clinic and PNG's first mobile intensive care ambulance service to save the lives of critically ill snakebite victims. I've also had the incredible opportunity to raise the profile of snakebite sufficiently that the WHO listed it as a Neglected Tropical Disease in 2016, and to help build the coalition of countries that worked to pass resolution 71.5 on snakebite envenoming at the 71st World Health Assembly in 2018. I helped to develop the WHO strategy for the prevention and control of snakebite envenoming that was launched by WHO in 2019, and I continue to support WHO work on snakebite around the world. Not bad for a kid from a small town in the Aussie bush!

Listed skills include Higher Education, Lecturing, University Teaching, Science, and 35 others.

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  Technical Officer (Antivenoms)

  World Health Organization

  Jul 2021 - Present - Geneva, Switzerland