Institution

Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute

Based in

Switzerland , Allschwil

Languages

English French German

Short Bio

Work experience: Dr Léchenne is a veterinary epidemiologist and One Health expert. She works as a project associate in the "System Strengthening and Health Promotion" unit at the Swiss Center for International Health and in the “Human and Animal Health” unit of the Swiss TPH's Department of Epidemiology and Public Health. She holds a federal veterinary diploma from the Vetsuisse faculty in Bern, obtained in 2009, and a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Basel, obtained in 2015. Dr. Léchenne has over 10 years' experience working on One Health topics, particularly for rabies control. Her work on rabies covered animal and human vaccination, surveillance, transmission dynamics and public awareness. From 2016 to 2018, she coordinated a large-scale study to estimate the burden of rabies and the need for human vaccine for post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) in West and Central Africa. From 2018 to 2020, she worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Exeter's Institute of Environment and Sustainability to study the ecology of domestic dogs in Chad in relation to the occurrence of Guinea worm in this species. Currently, Dr Léchenne is based in Chad, working on various Swiss TPH projects in Central Africa, with a focus on One Health approaches. Dr Léchenne's particular skills lie in building bridges between cultures and disciplines. She applies systems thinking and transdisciplinary methods to solve complex, interrelated public health problems.

Research interests:
- Improving human health and animal wellbeing through improved understanding of the dynamics between animals, their owners, veterinary services and zoonotic diseases.
- Strengthening surveillance of zoonotic diseases in Africa through a One Health approach based on new technologies and facilitated interdisciplinary communication.

Other Expertise