Meet the PeerLINC Team
Dr. Irene Flores
Head of PeerLINC and Clinical Lead
Dr Flores was initially trained as a Family Medicine specialist and practiced within the communities in the Philippines for more than 10 years. This foundation helped Dr. Flores immensely in her work in tuberculosis. Her dedication to this work resulted in her appointment as Chair of the Central Luzon Regional TB Medical Advisory Committee (TBMAC) and as a member of the National TBMAC. Dr. Flores was asked by the National TB Program to be the principal investigator of the BPaL Operational Research — a multi-country study to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of the BPaL regimen in treating drug-resistant tuberculosis, which helped build the global evidence base for the treatment. In her role at PeerLINC, Dr. Flores is responsible for designing and delivering clinical training and capacity building packages for countries to help their TB programs implement new treatments.
Ms. Donna Mae G. Gaviola
Project Manager and Partnership Coordinator
With 18 years of experience in public health, Donna Mae Geocaniga-Gaviola brings a wealth of knowledge to her role as Project Manager and Partnership Coordinator for PeerLINC. She has worked extensively with TB patients, providing psychosocial services before moving to monitoring and evaluation for the National TB Control Program. During her time at the Department of Health she managed recording and reporting, planning, monitoring and evaluation, research, and digital tools. Her notable projects include coordinating the 2016 National TB Prevalence Survey, the 2016 Catastrophic Cost Survey, and transitioning reporting from paper to an electronic platform. At PeerLINC, Donna draws on her expertise to develop and execute plans efficiently. She leads coordination with staff and partners to ensure success of the initiative.
Mr. Anthony Geronimo
Laboratory Support Lead
A TB Laboratory expert with more than 15 years of experience in TB diagnosis and research, Mr. Geronimo is the Laboratory Support Lead for PeerLINC and the Laboratory Manager for Tropical Disease Foundation, Inc. His expertise spans a wide range of laboratory techniques used in the diagnosis and characterization of tuberculosis, including sputum smear microscopy, culture-based methods, molecular diagnostics, and drug susceptibility testing. He has a comprehensive expertise in biosafety protocols and quality assurance procedures essential for maintaining high laboratory standards. In his role at PeerLINC, Mr. Geronimo is responsible for designing and delivering laboratory training and lab capacity building packages for countries to help their TB programs implement new treatments.
Dr. Mamel Quelapio
Programmatic Implementation Lead
An Infectious Disease specialist by training, Dr. Quelapio began her work on tuberculosis in the Philippines in 1999, when she helped establish the first globally approved DOTS-Plus public-private clinic at the Tropical Disease Foundation (TDF). As a Programmatic Management of Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (PMDT) expert, she assists high TB/drug-resistant -TB (DR-TB) burden countries in the uptake of more patient-friendly treatments and other advancements by working closely with National TB programs. She was a fulltime Technical Officer in WHO-Western Pacific Region (WPR) where she helped set up and chaired the Regional Green Light Committee, WPR. She is currently a member of the WHO-TB Strategic and Technical Advisory Group (STAG) and programmatic implementation lead for PeerLINC. In her role at PeerLINC, Dr. Quelapio supports countries in developing plans and strategies to implement new treatments in their TB programs.