Dr Lynsey Blair
Technical Director

Dr Lynsey Blair joined Unlimit Health in 2003 when the organisation then known as the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, and at that time based within the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, was in its first year of operation.  

Lynsey received a BSc (Hons) in Zoology from the University of Dundee, before completing a doctorate (DPhil) at the University of Oxford where she undertook innovative research to control parasitic disease transmission through a scholarship at St Hugh’s College. 

Lynsey has worked in the neglected tropical disease field for over 25 years across a range of distinct geographical and political environments in multi-country settings in sub-Saharan Africa. Lynsey currently sits on the Board of the Pediatric Praziquantel Consortium and the Steering Committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa’s (AFRO) Expanded Special Project for the Elimination of Neglected Tropical Disease (ESPEN). She is also a current Executive Committee member of the NTD NGO Network having previously served on the ExCo when Chair of the Schistosomiasis (SCH) and Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis (STH) Disease-Specific Group. She also sits regularly as an Invited Observer to the WHO Technical Advisory Group for SCH and STH, and ESPEN’s Regional Programme Review Group.  

Lynsey leads the multi-disciplinary Technical Team at Unlimit Health providing technical guidance to governments to reach their targets for disease control and elimination, focussing on data-driven decision-making to promote integrity and sustainability. As part of the Unlimit Health Leadership Team, she supports the strategic ambition and priority setting of the organisation and has a particular interest in evolving management processes to maintain efficiency, impact and transparency. 

In 2016, Lynsey contributed to a chapter with Professor Alan Fenwick and Dr Fiona Fleming called Control of Schistosomiasis in “Schistosoma: Biology, Pathology and Control”.

Lynsey loves travelling, reading, gardening, and attending live sports events with her family, from motorsport to rugby to cricket.