One of the leading global experts in disease prevention, Malick Diara, MD, MBA, MPH, has joined the School of Public Health faculty as an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology. Retired from a position as a public health manager and senior health expert at ExxonMobil, Diara is based in Houston, Texas, and will be available for consultation and visits to Pittsburgh as needed.
“His expertise in infectious disease is recognized internationally,” says Pitt Public Health Dean Maureen Lichtveld, MD, MPH, who first met Diara when the two served together on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s board on global health from 2017 to 2023. “We’re so honored to have him join us at Pitt,” Lichtveld adds.
A native of Senegal, Diara aspired to a career in medicine from an early age. “I don’t think I was even 10 when I told my parents I wanted to be a doctor,” he says, adding that his four siblings include two physicians, a nurse and an engineer he describes tongue-in-cheek as “one black duck.”
After graduating from medical school in 1987 (Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar, Senegal), Diara treated patients with diabetes at hospitals in Guadeloupe, French West Indies before moving on to complete a Master of Business Administration at the Institut Supérieur de Gestion in Paris (1991) and a Master of Public Health at the Tulane University School of Tropical Medicine and Public Health in New Orleans (1997).
In the ensuing years, he built a career at ExxonMobil focused on the development of infectious disease prevention and control programs in work sites as diverse as offshore drilling platforms, oil-and-gas exploration field camps in Papua New Guinea and corporate offices in Texas and Washington, DC. He also worked with nonprofit organizations and in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development and the World Health Organization and local health authorities to support the design, implementation and evaluation of global, national and local community and public health programs.
“Dr. Diara is highly skilled in partnership development and networking,” says Lichtveld. “His experience working at all levels in multiple public and private sectors will help to drive community and philanthropic engagement in Pitt’s public health mission, including connecting industry with communities.”
Diara’s deep understanding of and years-long dedication to the precepts of One Health also bode well for future success at Pitt, notes Suresh Kuchipudi, PhD, MVSc, MBA, professor and chair, Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology. “He is a global citizen with links to Africa, Asia, Europe and the U.S.,” Kuchipudi adds.
“I can be a resource to the department in coaching students because I have a different background from most of the people in academia,” Diara says. “I like to say that I’ve been a practitioner and an implementer – educating people from communities, corporations and agencies on how to work with different kinds of people for improved health outcomes.”
His notable past successes include streamlining corporate response procedures for infectious diseases like tuberculosis and malaria and outbreak management that were replicated throughout the oil-and-gas industry.
After taking part in the second annual meeting of the Pennsylvania One Health Consortium in June and meeting with department faculty members, Diara is already energized by what’s possible at Pitt. “The people in the department have exceptional capabilities and experience,” says Diara. “Now we need to package this expertise in a manner that can broaden the range of partners and develop the department’s portfolio.”
-Michele Dula Baum