The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) is a 
patient-needs driven, not-for-profit research and development (R&D) organization that develops safe, effective, and affordable medicines for the millions of neglected patients across the world. DNDi focuses on developing new treatments for the most neglected patients suffering from diseases such as human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, filariasis, paediatric HIV, mycetoma, and hepatitis C. The initiative’s primary objective is to deliver a total of 16 to 18 treatments by 2023 and to establish a strong R&D portfolio for these diseases. The R&D strategies developed by DNDi since its inception aim to address the immediate needs of patients by improving existing therapeutic options in the short term, whilst undertaking longer term research to identify and develop entirely new compounds which will be valuable adapted tools, particularly for elimination targets set by the World Health Organization. In 2013, DNDi began building a new consortium in Latin America (LOLA), providing support and mentoring for young scientists in the region. The consortia conduct hit-to-lead and lead optimization activities for visceral leishmaniasis and Chagas disease via a decentralized virtual model, and the talk focus will be the innovative R&D model and the efforts aiming at strengthening research capacities in the region. Jadel Kratz joined DNDi in June 2016 as Lead Optimization Latin America Coordinator focused in drug discovery projects in the region. He supports both the global and local R&D teams, and promotes the expansion of a regional consortia of scientific partners. Prior to joining DNDi, Dr. Kratz participated and coordinated academic research projects across various areas. Recently, he worked as R&D Coordinator at Cristália, a Brazilian-based pharmaceutical company. Dr Kratz is a pharmacist, and earned his PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences (2011) at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil, with a visiting researcher period at the Uppsala University, Sweden. He completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Innsbruck and the University of Vienna, Austria.
