The CoMO Advisory Council

Brian Nambale is a palliative care clinician and clinic manager at the Medicure Trauma Centre-Nabumali, located in Mbale District in Eastern Uganda.

He is also an Honorable District Councilor for Mbale District representing Nabumali Town Council in the Lukhobo house; Clinical Instructor at Mbale college of Health sciences (Nursing); and chairperson of the committee for social services (Health, Education and Gender issues) for Mbale District.

He is a columnist of the national newspaper New Vision and publishes on health and wellness weekly.

Jane Plumb MBE is the Chief Executive of GBSS, which she founded in 1996. GBSS supports UK families affected by group B Strep and health professionals by providing relevant, evidence-based information and education about group B Strep.

​Jane is Women’s Voices Lead at the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists and chair of their Women’s Network, a member of the Pregnancy & Baby Charity Network and a member of the World Health Organization’s Extended Technical Taskforce on defeating meningitis by 2030. She has worked on NICE guidelines and quality standards, including the Antibiotics for Neonatal Infection, Preterm Labour & Birth and Neonatal Infection guidelines. She is currently a coapplicant on several GBS research trials.​

Christine started the Meningokockfonden (Meningitis Foundation) in Sweden when her son Mathias died in the summer of 2019 after contracting meningitis and septicemia. She set up the Foundation after becoming aware of how little information and understanding on meningitis there is in Sweden. The primary goal with the foundation is to share information and raise awareness to the public about the symptoms and the possibility of getting vaccinated so that other children and young people can be saved in the future. 

​Christine has a professional background as a CFO and top-level manager including board positions, with experience of working on strategic issues, overseeing processes, making decisions, evaluating business cases, creating and evaluating budgets etc. Read Christine’s story.

Dr Ghulam Mustafa is Professor of Paediatrics and the Chairman department of Paediatrics at Nishtar medical university, Multan, Pakistan. He is Chief Executive Officer of the Helping Hands Foundation (HHF), a not-for-profit organisation working on health, education and community empowerment in Pakistan. 

​He has been proactively involved in vaccination campaigns for children, through print & electronic media, to prevent meningitis and other infectious diseases. HHF have organised activities to mark World Meningitis Day every year for the last few years.

Pete has a career spanning strategic management, governance and business improvement. He is currently a Trustee of the Meningitis Foundation Aotearoa, New Zealand, and has been an avid supporter of meningitis charities since 2003, when his son, Gareth, lost his life to meningococcal septicaemia at the age of 16, while at boarding school in the UK.  

To support the charities and raise awareness of this devastating disease, he has undertaken a series of extreme challenges including rowing the North Atlantic Ocean unsupported, running a seven-day ultra-marathon event across the Gobi Desert, and supporting a team skiing to the Magnetic North Pole, raising considerable funds. He has championed the cause and presented to royalty, government leaders, religious leaders, blue chip companies, medical professionals and educational facilities.

As if being affected by the disease once was not enough, his daughter Sian contracted viral meningitis at the age of 32, in 2017, for which she is still in the recovery process. His passion remains to see a world rid of meningitis.  

One of the lucky ones, John is a survivor of meningococcal disease. In 1998, as a sophomore at Texas Tech University, he was a typical healthy student. Life seemed to be following an ordered path until one day, he woke up in a hospital bed. Miraculously, eight days prior, a friend had found John unconscious on his bedroom floor.

Neurological dysfunction and blindness are permanent reminders of his battle with meningitis. To spread awareness John shares his unique survival story and journey through life with sight loss and invisible disabilities on his podcast, Destiny is Debatable.

Suelen is the president of Associação Brasileira de Combate à Meningite (the Brazilian Association to Combat Meningitis / ABCM). She began her fight against meningitis in 2017, when her son João Marcos contracted the disease and had to have one of his legs amputated below the knee, half of the other foot and eight distal phalanges.  Suelen is a social entrepreneur focused on disseminating information to raise awareness of vaccine-preventable diseases. She is a pastor and has always been an active participant in community and social support work. She has fifteen years of experience in commercial representation within the civil construction industry.

​Antonio Carlos is the Director of Organizational Relations and Projects at ABCM. He has always been active in coordinating people and leadership, valuing respect for human beings. A businessman focused on mentoring people and on business consultancy, he has 22 years of national and international experience as an executive in a large company. He was also president of a large sports association, and currently leads community and social support work.​Antonio has a degree in Electrical Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration.

Antonio Carlos is the Director of Organizational Relations and Projects at ABCM. He has always been active in coordinating people and leadership, valuing respect for human beings. A businessman focused on mentoring people and on business consultancy, he has 22 years of national and international experience as an executive in a large company. He was also president of a large sports association, and currently leads community and social support work.​Antonio has a degree in Electrical Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration.