Lesley Drake is committed to child development issues and has focused her career on translating quality research into holistic and operational solutions for comprehensive school health and nutrition (SHN). Her work, in partnership with leaders from multiple sectors, has contributed to global efforts to achieve equitable Education for All (EFA).

With over 20 years’ experience in advancing global SHN, Lesley has managed the Partnership for Child Development (PCD) since 2007 while simultaneously leading the development of Deworm the World. Lesley currently acts as Deputy Director of the London Centre for Neglected Tropical Disease Research and continues to maintain her role as Executive Director of PCD.

PCD focuses on strengthening the evidence base on effective implementation of SHN programmes in support of governments in low and middle-income countries. Working in partnership with governments and global partners, PCD provides the needed technical assistance to enable scale up of nationally owned SHN programmes, so as to facilitate sustainable health interventions are delivered to millions of children around the world.

Lesley’s focus on evidence based decision making and programming stems from her strong research background. Lesley holds a PhD in Epidemiology/Parasitology from Imperial College London, where she analysed the scientific grounding of the inter-relationship between parasites and their human hosts and how this might be exploited in the quest for more effective drug and vaccine design.