Dr Adrian Hopkins

Other roles: Former Director Mectizan Donation Program (2008-2016)

Adrian hails from England and completed his medical training in Scotland in 1971. Four years later, after surgical and other training, including the DTM&H at Liverpool, he moved to what was then Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) to work in a rural Baptist Mission Hospital in an area of tropical rain forest called Pimu. Pimu was once described by a group of visiting public health specialists as “too rural for rural health care.” He remained there for most of 17 years with some brief spells in Kimpese and Yakusu in Zaire, and some time in England to complete his Diploma in Ophthalmology. 

In 1993, Adrian became technical advisor to the Central African Republic Ministry of Health for the National Programme for Onchocerciasis Control and Prevention of Blindness, working with the Christoffel-Blindenmission (CBM). In 1999, in spite of the ongoing civil war, he returned to the Congo, to Kinshasa, to establish the Training Centre for Ophthalmology for Central Africa (CFOAC), which is a centre for training mid-level personnel in eye care. For twelve years from 1995 he was Medical Advisor for CBM for the Central African Region and has also been their advisor for onchocerciasis control which involved continuous oversight of programmes in CAR, DRC, Sudan and Burundi. The latter programme is now being transformed into a Programme for Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases. 

He also served for four years on the Technical Consultative Committee of APOC and completed four years as chairperson of the NGDO coordination group for onchocerciasis control and has been involved in the NGDO LF Network and the Africa Regional Programme Review Group for LF. He has also been very involved in national planning and implementation of the WHO/IAPB Vision 2020 programme to eliminate avoidable blindness, mostly in French-speaking regions of Africa.

In January 2008 Adrian was appointed as Director for the Mectizan Donation Program (MDP), located at the Task Force for Global Health in Decatur, Georgia (USA).

Contact details:

Tel: +(0)474 748730
Email: adrianhopkinsconsulting [at] gmail [dot] com
Address: c/o GAELF Secretariat
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Pembroke Place
Liverpool L3 5QA