Richard is a tropical parasitologist and disease control expert with 39 years’ experience in emergency public health and applied research. In Oct 2002, Richard founded The MENTOR Initiative which he led as its CEO until October 2024, when he took up the position as its Chair of the Board of Directors.
Since 1988, he has worked on malaria drug therapy development, rapid malaria and dengue diagnostic tests, and innovative tools for the control of multiple disease vectors from Lassa rats to mosquitoes. He first worked with Oxford University, then developed partnerships with LSHTM, LSTM, UCC, SWISS TPH, Nevada and other universities, and a network of private sector partners.
Since the start of the Rwanda crisis in 1994 Richard dedicated much of his time and efforts to developing disease control initiatives in conflict-based emergencies and natural disasters, working with Oxfam, Tearfund and Merlin until late 1999. Richard then became the Roll Back Malaria coordinator for complex emergencies with the Global Secretariat at the World Health Organization, where he served until late 2002.
Richard has established and developed emergency disease control programmes in most of the countries with humanitarian crises that have dominated our TV screens over the last three decades, including Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, DR Congo, Brazzerville Congo, Kenya, Somalia, Angola, South Sudan, Darfur-Sudan, Burundi, Afghanistan, East Timor, Indonesia, Burma, Yemen, Mozambique and northern Nigeria.
Richard is currently leading field studies into the control of outdoor biting mosquitoes and filth flies in refugee camp settings.