Dr. Elizabeth Dager Turresson

Beth Turesson is a global public health professional, with 20+ years of experience working with international health programs funded by USAID, CDC, DoD, and the NIH. Working in the US, sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Central and South America, she has directed, team-designed and implemented health research and health programs in infectious diseases, healthcare-associated infections, laboratory services and clinical research trials. She has managed and provided technical assistance PEPFAR-funded HIV/AIDS programs, work with antimicrobial resistance, TB, Ebola, Marburg virus and Covid-19. She has managed global HIV/AIDS clinical trials for the AIDS Clinical Trials Group and the US DoD, optimizing HIV treatment regimens in 13 countries. She has also worked to set up DoD-funded clinical trials in sepsis and an investigational new drug against Ebola at a site in Fort Portal, Uganda.

She has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and has been heavily involved in laboratory strengthening efforts for the DoD, CDC and USAID programs internationally, supervising steps toward accreditation, workforce development, sample handling and transport, biosafety and biosecurity, external and internal quality assurance and control, laboratory information management systems, and all other laboratory-related services. She has supervised US staff (government and NGO) at headquarters as well as large teams of in-country staff in the field to implement programs, prepare donor-required reports and other materials as well as regular interface with and presentation to contractors and US government personnel regarding program design, implementation, program monitoring, successes and milestones.