Professor Sileshi Gudeta Weldesemayat is an Ethiopian national with over 25 years of experience in agricultural research for development (AR4D) in Africa. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Since 2017 he has also been Deputy Coordinator of Design, Performance and Evaluation of Experiments in the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO). He is also a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Forest Ecology and Management. He holds a BSc degree in Biology, MSc degree in Agriculture and PhD degree in Ecology. Previously he worked as a Lecturer at the Alemaya University of Agriculture in Ethiopia (1987-1997), Research Associate at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Kenya (2000-2001), a Scientist (2002-2011) at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) based in Zambia and Malawi. From 2011 to 2014 he was the regional representative of ICRAF for the southern Africa region, where he managed the Malawi Agroforestry Food Security Programme and he developed a vibrant multi-stakeholder AR4D program called Building a Large Evergreen Agriculture Network for Southern Africa implemented in Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Botswana and South Africa. He was nominated as AAS Fellow in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development of Fertilizer Trees and his exemplary leadership in promoting green technologies to counter land degradation, climate change impacts and improving productivity and food security in Africa. He has authored over 200 peer-reviewed papers in journals and book chapters. He has also coedited a book entitled Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics in 2008 and co-authored two books entitled Termite Management in Agroforestry in 2016 and Bamboo: Climate change adaptation and mitigation in 2020.

Professor Chedly Abdelly obtained his Doctorate of State in Natural Sciences from the Faculty of Sciences of Tunis (1997). He coordinated several national and international research projects. He is internationally recognized as an accomplished ecologist and eminent halophyte specialist. He serves as CEO of the Tunisian National Agency for the Promotion of Scientific Research since 2017, CEO of the Centre of Biotechnology of Borj Cedria, CBBC, 2011-2017; Director of the laboratory of Extremophile Plants (2010-2018) and the Laboratory of Plant Adaptation for Abiotic Stresses (2002-2010).

Professor Chedly Abdelly has actively and remarkably contributed in the field of Biological Sciences, with particular emphasis on the characterization of the of plant responses to abiotic constraints using physiological, biochemical and molecular parameters, addressing plant behavior to combined environmental constraint, the valorization of extremophile plants in the rehabilitation of marginal areas and the characterization of extremophile plants in order to identify promising species which combine stress tolerance and economic potential, new sources of biomass for human nutrition and the production of energy biomaterials and biomolecules of interest

He has an outstanding proven track record of publications in distinguished journals (440 publications, h index 62, 14,617 citations) and edited the book "Biosaline Agriculture and High Salinity Tolerance". Besides 03 patent inventions, he supervised 73 PhD thesis and 37 Master students. He obtained several prestigious prizes: the Presidential Prize of the Graduation Diploma from the Higher School of Teaching (1980), the Presidential Award for the Best Researcher in Biotechnology (2016); the National Order of Merit for Science and Education (2017), the Presidential Award for the best Laboratory (2018) and Continental Prize for scientific excellence "Kwame Nkrumah" (2020). Finally, he was elected as full member of the Tunisian Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts (2019) and Fellow African Academy of Sciences ‘FAAS’ (2020).

Shane Norris is a Research Professor within the Department of Paediatrics at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Shane is the Director of the South African Medical Research Council’s Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit (DPHRU), and Director of the South African Department of Science and Technology and National Research Council’s Centre of Excellence in Human Development (CoE-HUMAN). He is the President of the Africa Chapter of the International Society of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. Shane’s research focuses on lifecourse epidemiology with a specific interest in the development of intergenerational-risk for obesity and diabetes. His expertise includes nutrition and body composition and longitudinal-cohort study methodologies, and nutrition and body composition across the lifecourse. Shane is working with several scientists across Africa to both better understand and develop interventions that improve maternal and child health outcomes.

Prof. Collet Dandara is an Academic & Researcher in Human Genetics, with special skills in teaching, student supervision, mentorship of both students and colleagues and proposal writing for grants applications. Field of research is Pharmacogenomics, & Genetic Susceptibility to disease. Has extensive experience in designing courses/lectures and teaching Genomics. Has supervised to graduation at least 18 MSc students (by research), 11 PhD students and has hosted at least 7 Postdoctoral Research Fellows, and more than 25 Honours students; contributing massively to human capacity development. Has consciously trained a majority of female scientists and attracted students from the previously disadvantaged groups. Was recognised as a Finalist in the NSTF-Bilton Awards, in 2014, in the category of Human Capacity development. Is regularly approached to assist with external examination of courses and student theses, as testimony to national and international recognition in skills.  Has published >150 publications in internationally peer-reviewed journals and accumulated an H-index of 29 (Google Scholar) or 24 (Scopus), and is considered, one of the leading experts in Pharmacogenomics Research on the African continent and internationally. Has a good understanding of the higher education system in South Africa & internationally, including the funding landscape.  I have previously served the Advisory Committee Sub-Committee on GMOs, of the Dept. of Agriculture, South Africa (2008-2013). Integrally involved in transformation and was previously the Chair of the Transformation and Equity Committee in the faculty of Health Sciences, at the University of Cape Town. Serves on the South African Young Scientists Academy (SAYAS) selection committee. Internationally, Professor Dandara was nominated as a Young Affiliate of the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). A Director in the African Pharmacogenomics Network (APN). Currently serves as a Board member of the SAMRC (2020-2023).

Dr. Nelly Mugo is a Senior Principal Clinical Research Scientist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). Research Associate Professor at the University of Washington (USA), Department of Global Health. She is actively engaged in clinical trial research; her interest is in sexually transmitted infection with focus on HIV and cervical cancer prevention research. She is a reproductive health specialist, with over 27 years of clinical experience and 2 decades in clinical research. In collaboration with scientists from Kenya, Uganda and USA specifically, the University of Washington, she has led qualitative and quantitative studies of ART for HIV prevention, cervical intraepithelial lesions, PrEP, fertility intention, and contraceptive use among HIV serodiscordant couples at the Thika, Kenya site and at the Coptic Hope clinic, Nairobi.

She leads the clinical research team ‘Partners in Health Research and Development’ (PHRD)- KEMRI research team in Thika, conducting high-impact HIV prevention research. They conducted the proof of concept Partners PrEP Study, the landmark clinical trial of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention among serodiscordant couples, followed by the demonstration project of integrated PrEP and antiretroviral treatment for serodiscordant couples. This work laid the foundation for PrEP implementation in Kenya and globally. The team is currently implementing the Partners Scale up project to assess delivery of PrEP in public health facilities and a clinical trial on HIV self-testing to reduce frequency of clinic visits for oral PrEP users.

Specific to cervical cancer prevention, her work includes HPV pathogeneses studies among female sex workers in high density low income settings in Nairobi, evaluation of cervical cancer screening interventions for HIV-infected women and HPV vaccine immunogenicity among HIV-infected adolescents. She provided clinical care for women with precancerous lesions at the Kenyatta National Hospital and provided mentorship and training for undergraduate and post graduate medical students for over a decade. She is currently a protocol-chair for an HPV vaccine single dose trial currently being implemented in Kenya at 3 clinical trial facilities (The KEN-SHE study) and a member of the ‘Single Dose HPV Vaccine Consortium’.

Dr. Nelly R. Mugo has contributed to various National AIDS Control and STI Program (NASCOP), Department of Reproductive Health (Kenya), WHO forums and guidelines committees. She has over 160 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Prof Mamoudou Sétamou received his ‘Ingénieur Agronome’ from the National University of Benin Republic in 1992 and a Master of Science (Crop Science) from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana in 1996. He obtained his Dr. rer. hort. (PhD) from the University of Hannover, Germany, majoring in Agricultural Entomology. Soon after, he joined the Department of Entomology at Texas A&M University, USA as a postdoctoral fellow. In 2002, he joined the International Center of Insect Ecology and Physiology (icipe) in Nairobi Kenya as Senior Scientist and Project Coordinator working on stemborer biological control in Eastern and Southern Africa. From 2003 to 2005, he has worked as a research scientist at the Agricultural Research Services, United States Department of Agriculture in Weslaco, Texas before joining the Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) as an Assistant Professor of Citrus Entomology in 2006.

Sétamou is currently a Professor of Entomology and Interim Director of TAMUK Citrus Center based in Weslaco, Texas. In his current capacity, he provides leadership to the Center’s research portfolio and in charge of the citrus IPM program in the state of Texas. Prof Sétamou’s research is on the development of sustainable management strategies for insect and mite pests affecting citrus production. Prof Sétamou is a highly productive scientist as evidenced by his prolific research profiles with a ResearchGate score of 36.12, Google Scholar h-Index of 35, i10-index 83, total citation of 3827 as of August 2020.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mamoudou_Setamou

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=fQajNzkAAAAJ&hl=en

Prof Sétamou has trained 37 MSc and 3 PhD postgraduate students and 4 postdoctoral fellows. He continues to have active research collaboration with scientists from several countries in Africa, Europe and America. Prof Sétamou published 120 peer-reviewed papers, 60 extension papers and 5 book chapters on various aspects of Insect Ecology, Biological Control and Integrated Pest Management and has given over 100 presentations.  

Mahamadou A Thera, MD, MPH, PhD, is Scientific Director of the Bandiagara Malaria Project (BMP), an MRTC research program that conducts complex research on the pathogenesis of simple and severe malaria, host-parasitic interactions, clinical trials of vaccines and malaria drugs. Under Dr. Thera's leadership, the BMP was recognized by ANDI (African Network for Drugs and Diagnostics Innovation), as a Centre of Excellence for Clinical Development of Antimalarial Products in 2011 after a competition that attracted more than 117 applications from Africa, and resulted in the selection of 31 other centers across Africa that have been awarded the ANDI Centre of Excellence label.

Associate Professor of Parasitology-Mycology at the Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Odonto-Stomatology since 2008 promotion of the African Council for High Education (CAMES) aggregation competition, and appointed Full Professor at the Niamey Review Committee in 2018, he contributes to the training of new generations of medical and pharmacy doctors, through the teachings of the Parasitology-Mycology at FMOS, University Kankou Moussa (UKM); and since 2014, through teaching research methodology to students in the 6th year of Medicine at UKM.

An internationally recognized expert in the development of malaria vaccines, he has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of several institutions including the WHO Scientific Committee on Malaria Vaccine, MALVAC and JTEG, European Vaccine Initiative (EVI), of which he has been a member since 2010, and chairman of the scientific committee from January 2015 to December 2017. Dr. Thera is currently a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the West African Health Research Network (ROARES), MIM (Multilateral Malaria Initiative) and also serves on Data Safety Monitoring Boards (DSMB) for several clinical trials of drugs and vaccines against malaria and Ebola virus disease. Dr Thera is member of the Academy of Science of Mali since April 2018.

Dr. Thera has published more than 100 articles in international journals indexed in Pubmed. He offers his skills as a reader for several newspapers including the national journal Mali Medical, but also other journals such as Black African Medicine, Lancet Infectious Diseases, JID, PLoS One, American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (AMJTH), Infectious Diseases of Poverty (IDOP), Malaria Research and Treatment (MRT), Tropical Medicine and International Health (TMIH).

Dr. Thera holds a M.D. in General Medicine from the Institute of Medicine and Pharmacy in Jassy, Romania (1986); a Master in Public Health from the Bamako National School of Medicine (ENMP, 1997); a Master in Biostatistics and Clinical Trials Practices from CESAM/University of Paris 6, (2003); a Specialization degree (CES) in Medical and Technical Parasitology, from University Cheick Anta Diop, Dakar (2003); a Master II in Medical Parasitology and Entomology from ISFRA/University of Bamako (2004); a PhD in Parasitology-Mycology from ISFRA/University of Bamako (2015). In 2000, he was the first Fellow in a training program initiated by WHO/TDR and GSK-Bio with the aim of establishing in Africa the skills to conduct clinical trials to international standards. This program completely transformed the field of clinical trials in Africa in the decade that followed and brought Africa into the world of Research and Product Development.

Dr. Thera's expertise covers malaria epidemiology, malaria pathogenesis, clinical trials, product research and development, medical ethics and parasitic diseases, research methodology.

Ijeoma Uchegbu is Professor of Pharmaceutical Nanoscience at the UCL School of Pharmacy, University College London (UCL), UCL’s Pro-Vice Provost for Africa and The Middle East and Chief Scientific Officer of Nanomerics Ltd.  Nanomerics is a UCL spin out company, which was founded by Ijeoma and Andreas G. Schätzlein (http://www.nanomerics.com/).  Nanomerics recently licensed NM133 to Iacta Pharmaceuticals and NM127 to Virpax Pharmaceuticals.  Nanomerics also recently won first prize for its Molecular Envelope Technology at the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Emerging Technologies Competition 2017 in the Health category. 

Ijeoma has been awarded various prizes for her work, notably the UK Department for Business Innovation Skills’ Women of Outstanding Achievement in Science Engineering and Technology award (http://www.theukrc.org/women/women-of-outstanding-achievement/2007-collection/professor-ijeoma-uchegbu), the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Pharmaceutical Scientist of the Year 2012 and the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences Innovative Science Award 2016.   Ijeoma was elected to the Controlled Release Society College of Fellows in 2013 and was made an Eminent Fellow of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2013.  Ijeoma is the editor of three books, a named inventor on 11 granted patents and has authored over 180 peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters.  Ijeoma’s research has been featured on BBC Woman’s Hour and more recently in The Guardian.

Dr. Luna Kamau is a female Kenyan scientist currently serving as a senior principal scientist and Deputy Director, Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) where she heads the Centre for Biotechnology Research and Development (CBRD).  Since completing her PhD in Molecular Entomology at Kenyatta University under a CDC/WHO Programme in 1998, she has undertaken extensive research in molecular vector biology and ecology and has an excellent track record in research grants acquisition and scientific publication.

Luna has contributed to the advancement of science in three broad ways.  First, through research aimed at developing new tools and strategies for malaria control and understanding the resilience of the malaria transmission system. This includes participation in research that formed the backbone of policy for Insecticide Treated Nets use worldwide in the 1990s and since 2004, in insecticide resistance mapping, contributing to the change in the Indoor Residual Spraying policy from use of pyrethroid insecticides in Kenya in 2013 as well as spearheading various malaria vector genetic studies. Second, she has served in diverse areas of leadership in science, including in institutional and national committees dealing with research management and coordination, health and safety and scientific and ethics review. She has also served in global forums for peer review, grant review and graduate thesis examination. Third, Luna has mentored upcoming scientists through teaching at graduate school level and supervision of graduate students’ thesis projects.

For her work, Luna has received various recognitions including the KEMRI Global Research Excellence Award (2020), KEMRI Gold (Nelion) Excellence/ Merit Award (2015), membership to the Kenya National Academy of Sciences, KNAS (2018), Merit Award for Significant Contribution in Capacity Building and Research Support in Africa - PanAfrican Malaria Control Association, PAMCA (2019) and election as a Young Affiliate and Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences, TWAS (2008, 2018).

Dr. Ibrahim El-Sherbiny is Tenured Full-Professor of smart nanomaterials and nanomedicine, and he is the Founding Chairman of Nanoscience Program, Former Founding Chairman of Materials Science Program, and Director of “Center of Materials Science” at Zewail City of Science and Technology, as well as Vice-president of the Egyptian National Committee for New and Advanced Materials. El-Sherbiny earned his Bachelor degree with honors (top scholar) and his MSc from Mansoura University. He received a PhD degree in Smart drug delivery from Massey University, New Zealand in 2007. From 2008 to 2010, El-Sherbiny has joined various research groups as post-doctoral fellow at Michigan University, University of New Mexico and Texas University, United States. He has been appointed on 2010 as Research Assistant Professor at College of Pharmacy, University of Texas, USA.

El-Sherbiny’s research focuses on the design and development of smart nanomaterials using advanced nanotechnology techniques, and their evaluation as potential candidates in various biotechnological and biomedical applications including controlled drug delivery, tissue engineering and biosensing. El-Sherbiny has more than 260 scientific papers published in high impact peer-reviewed journals and international conferences over the last ten years. El-Sherbiny is the author of three books plus contribution to more than 30 other books, and more than fifteen review articles. He is also named inventor on about 25 patents in US, UK, Europe and Egypt.

El-Sherbiny has received several national, regional and international scientific awards, including for instance, the “Order of the Egyptian Republic in Science and Arts of the first class” and an honor from the President of the Republic as well as the State Award for Excellence in Advanced Technological Sciences, 2018. He also received a number of honorary medals, certificates and diplomas from a number of countries including France, Malaysia, Romania, and the Gulf Cooperation Council, in recognition of his innovations.

Prof. Grace Olusola Gbotosho studied Pharmacy at the University of Ife (Now Obafemi Awolowo University), Nigeria and obtained her M.Sc and Ph.D degrees in Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.  She undertook part of her pre-doctoral training at the London School of Pharmacy, England.  She is a Professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics in the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences at the University of Ibadan.  She is the Pioneer Head of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ibadan and a Fellow of the prestigious Nigerian Academy of Sciences.   Prof. Gbotosho heads the Malaria Research Laboratories, designated as a Centre of Excellence for Malaria Translational Research by the African Network for Drugs and Diagnostics Innovation (ANDi). The success of the research group is visible in the recorded extramural funding level, the establishment of a State-of–the-Art multidisciplinary malaria research laboratory that serves as a resource for research capacity building in infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa.  The field site of the Laboratory is a designated sentinel site for clinical Antimalarial Drug Efficacy Testing by the Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria providing data instrumental in supporting National Malaria Control efforts.    Prof. Gbotosho’s career over the past 20 years has focused on Pharmacology, applications in discovery of novel interventions (diagnostics and therapeutics) for infectious diseases and elucidation of drug resistance in malaria.  She has collaborated with partners across Africa, Asia, UK and USA.   She has led as PI and Co-PI on international training grants (WHO/TDR, WHO/MIM/TDR, WellcomeTrust, International Society for Infectious Diseases) for developing young investigators in sub-Saharan Africa.   She has supervised and mentored over 40 MSc and 15 PhD students.  Prof. Gbotosho has 105 articles in international peer-reviewed journals and has served as an adviser to WHO/TDR at various consultation meetings in Asia and Europe.

Prof. Hichem Eleuch was born in Sfax, Tunisia. He received his Diplom-Ingeniuer Univ. (Electrical and Information Engineering) from Technical University of Munich in 1995. He obtained his PhD in Quantum Physics from Kastler Brossel Laboratory at Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris and Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, Paris, France in 1998. 

His research interests are in quantum optics, quantum computing, matter-radiation interactions, low dimensional quantum systems, mathematical physics, and complex systems and applications.

He worked at and visited several prestigious universities and research institutes (Texas A&M University, Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Princeton University, McGill University, Auckland University, University of Montreal, etc.). He is a full professor in Physics at University of Carthage, Tunis, Tunisia. Recently, he also joined University of Sharjah (UoS) as a full professor.

Dr. Eleuch authored and co-authored more than 170 papers in peer-reviewed international journals. He participated in over 70 international conferences and gave more than 40 invited talks. He has refereed articles for more than 50 journals of physics (Nature Communications, Scientific Reports, Physical Review Letters, etc.) and Mathematics journals (Applied Mathematics and Computation, Journal of Mathematical Physics, etc.). He also reviewed work for MITACS (a Canadian Funding Agency). He has successfully supervised and graduated more than 15 (PhD and MSc) students and also monitored several Postdoctoral Fellows. 

He has been awarded several fellowships (from the Fulbright Foundation, Max Planck Society, and the International Center of Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy). 

Pharm D (University of Mali) by background, prof Halidou Tinto obtained his Post Graduate Diploma in Biology in 1998 at the University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. From 1995 to 1999, he worked as research Associate at Centre Muraz, Burkina Faso where he has been involved in the epidemiological surveillance of malaria drug resistance. From 1999 to 2000, he worked at the Royal Danish School of Pharmacy, Denmark as Research fellow in the Development of alternative medicine against malaria. From 2001, he was recruited as research associate at the Institute for Health Sciences Research (IRSS) in Burkina Faso. From 2003 to 2006, he worked as PhD fellow in Medical Sciences at the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp, Belgium, where he studied the epidemiology of malaria drug resistance in Burkina Faso and the mechanism of the resistance in Rwanda. After obtaining his PhD in 2006, he went back in Burkina Faso, where he created in 2009 the Clinical Research Unit of Nanoro (CRUN). The latter provides today a well-equipped GCP-compliant clinical research platform for testing new interventions (drugs, vaccines, diagnostics, etc). Within the last 10 years the CRUN conducted in collaboration with several academic institutions and pharmaceuticals companies (GSK, Sanofi, Novartis, Sigma Tau, Shin Poong Pharmaceuticals, Janssen, etc) over twenty phase 2, 3 and 4 clinical trials at ICH/GCP standards including the GSK phase 3 malaria vaccine trial (RTS,S). Prof Tinto has been appointed as Scientific Director of Centre Muraz from 2013 to 2014 and since 2017 as Regional Director of IRSS in Nanoro in the Centre-West Region of Burkina Faso. He has been graduated in July 2016 as Director of Research in Parasitology and is currently acting as Professor associated at the Nazi Boni University of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. He is author and co-author of 181 publications in international per-reviewed journals.

Professor Dhanjay Jhurry was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mauritius
(UoM) in March 2017. He is championing the vision of a research-engaged and entrepreneurial
university working in close partnership with the public and private sectors as well as with the
community to foster innovation. He is putting a lot of emphasis on organizing research at the
University around the SDGs and is leading various initiatives to develop human, intellectual,
business and social capital through an inclusive and openness approach. Under his leadership
over the past 3 years, the University of Mauritius has championed the concept of international
education diplomacy and built strong partnerships with Universities worldwide.

He held previously (2012 to 2017) the post of National Research Chair in Biomaterials and Drug
Delivery under the Mauritius Research Council, while heading the Centre for Biomedical and
Biomaterials Research (CBBR), a centre attached to the University of Mauritius which he
founded.

Prof Jhurry studied at Bordeaux University (France) and received his PhD in Polymer Chemistry
in 1992.   After spending three years as Research Chemist at Flamel Technologies Company in
Lyon, France working on biomedical polymers, he joined the Dept. of Chemistry at the
University of Mauritius as Lecturer and was appointed Professor in 2005.

Prof Jhurry worked on sucrose-based polymers for his PhD. His mainstream research in polymer
science, biomaterials and tissue engineering, nanotechnology/nanomedicine and drug delivery
has led to over 75 papers in scholarly journals, with an h-index of 20.

He has received various national and international awards and recognition including the first
Best Mauritian Scientist Award in 2011, the ‘Grand Officer of the Star and Key of the Indian
Ocean’ and the ‘Commander of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean’ insignia by the Rep. of
Mauritius in 2019 and 2012 respectively as well as the ‘Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes
Académiques’ insignia by the Rep. of France in 2007. 

Prof Jhurry is an elected member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) since
July 2017 and a member of the Scientific Council of the Francophone Association of
Universities (AUF) since September 2019. He is a Board member of the Regional
Multidisciplinary Centre of Excellence (Mauritius) since January 2020. He was appointed Chair
of the ACU SDG Network in January 2020. He is also a member of Ashinaga’s Kenjin-Tatsujin
International Advisory Council (Ashinaga Africa Initiative) and he was Vice-President of the
COMESA Innovation Council from 2013 to 2015.
 

I am Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Global Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and based full-time at the MRC Unit The Gambia where I am MRC Principal Investigator and Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for New Vaccines Surveillance.  I am also a member of the Unit’s Senior Strategic Leadership Board and Chairs the West Africa Strategy and partnership. In this role, I represent the Unit at most regional meetings in Africa including the West Africa Global Health Alliance, ECOWAS, AU's Africa CDC, WHO AFRO and West Africa Health Organisation.

I serve on numerous Scientific Advisory Boards & Committees including Board member of the West Africa Global Health Alliance (WAGHA), member of The Gambia Government/MRC Joint Ethics Committee (and acted as Scientific advisor on the ethics committee), member of the MRC Unit The Gambia Scientific Coordinating Committee, Co-Chair of The Gambia Government MDR-TB National Committee, member of the International Human Microbiome Consortium, member of WHO technical working group for Invasive Bacterial Vaccine Preventable Disease Surveillance Network (Geneva), Expert Panel Member on Antimicrobial Resistance, Department of Health, UK, Special Advisor to WHO on Meningitis Outbreaks in Africa,  a member of Board of Trustees SOS Children's Villages The Gambia. Additionally, served as Expert Panel Member on diarrheal diseases, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).

Previously served as a member of European Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) Developing Countries Coordinating Committee (TB expert for West Africa Region), member of International Scientific Advisory Board, University of Cape Town Clinical Infectious Diseases Research initiative (CIDRI). Published more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific publications and supervised eleven PhD students in UK and African Universities

I am currently advising on the COVID-19 pandemic ‘rapid support team’ in The Gambia and also in West Africa via Africa CDC, LSHTM and with WHO AFRO.

Dr. Lewis R. Roberts is the Peter and Frances Georgeson Professor in Gastroenterology Cancer Research and Consultant in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Mayo Clinic, where he is Co-Chair of the Hepatobiliary Cancer Disease Group of Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Co-Principal Investigator of the Mayo Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Hepatobiliary Cancers, Associate Director of Pre-Doctoral Programs in the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences, and Director for Research at Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine. Dr. Roberts earned his medical degree from the University of Ghana Medical School, a PhD in Physiology and Biophysics from The University of Iowa, and completed postgraduate training in Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and Cancer Genetics at Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Roberts practice is focused on liver and biliary cancers and gastrointestinal endoscopy. His research focuses on molecular mechanisms of liver and biliary carcinogenesis; biomarkers for diagnosis of liver, bile duct and pancreas cancers; and prevention, diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis and liver cancer in Africa as well as in immigrant African communities in the USA. He has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, American Gastroenterological Association Foundation, American College of Gastroenterology, The Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation and PSC Partners Seeking a Cure. He has authored over 380 articles, book chapters and letters, and the book “Evaluation and Management of Liver Masses”.

Dr. Roberts is currently Deputy Editor of Hepatology and is on the Editorial Board of Liver Cancer. He serves as President of Africa Partners Medical, a non-profit organization focused on improving healthcare delivery in Africa through medical education, practical skills training, provision of medical equipment and supplies, and health advocacy, as President of the West Africa Institute for Liver and Digestive Diseases Foundation, and as a member of the Advisory Council for The Hepatitis Fund.

Professor Yahya E. Choonara (BPharm; MPharm; PhD) is currently Chair and Head of the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology at the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS), Johannesburg, South Africa (SA). He is also a Full Professor of Pharmaceutics, Co-Director and Principal Researcher of the Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform (WADDP) (http://www.wits.ac.za/waddp) responsible for blueprinting innovation since 2007. His research is at the forefront of producing targeted and personalized medicines to treat infectious, hereditary and lifestyle diseases in which he continues to make a major impact on generating intellectual property in the pharmaceutical sciences pertinent to Africa and globally.

Prof. Choonara received many prestigious awards in recognition of his pioneering research including an African Union-The World Academy of Science Award for advancing pharmaceutical technology and innovation, the National Science and Technology Forum Award for his seminal research in designing first-in-the-world optimization frameworks for drug delivery, neuro-pharmaceutical devices, biomaterials and nanomedicines, the SAMRC Award for challenging conformist thinking on neuro-pharmaceutical interventions, the DSI Top Intellectual Property Creator Award for his 21 international granted patents including a WaferMat - the world’s fastest dissolving matrix, drug-eluting devices, 3D-bioprinted platforms, nanomedicines, neuro-therapeutics and bio-inspired tissue engineering scaffolds.

He is a member of several prestigious academies including the Academy of Science of SA, AIM Advisory Committee Member of the International Pharmaceutical Federation, the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences of SA, the BRICS Business Council Manufacturing Working Group, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society, European Peptide Society and Founding Member of the SA Young Academy of Science (SAYAS).

Prof. Choonara is an author of more than 280 publications in ISI-accredited journals, 41 book chapters, 10 editorials, editor of 2 books, filed 43 patents and serves as an expert Reviewer of over 53 leading journals, books and funding organizations. He has also graduated more than 65 postgraduates and mentored 12 postdocs from 9 different countries with many of his students conferred with prestigious emerging researcher awards such as the Young African Researcher, Mail & Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans, African-German Network of Excellence in Science and candidates for the Novartis Next Generation Scientists Program.

Ali S. Hadi is a Distinguished University Professor and Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Actuarial Science, Founder of the Actuarial Science Program at the American University in Cairo (AUC), former Vice Provost and Director of Graduate Studies and Research at AUC, and a Stephen Weiss Presidential Fellow and Professor Emeritus at Cornell University, USA.

Hadi has a very untraditional career path. He was born and raised in Saft El-Nour, a tiny village in Upper Egypt. He lived with his mother as his father passed away when he was two months old. His mother was poor and illiterate but dedicated her life to raising her child. Upon completion of his Bachelor degree from Ain Shams University in 1972, he worked as a customs officer at Cairo International Airport before leaving for the United States in 1975 to pursue his graduate education on his own expense with about $215 in his wallet. While attending the graduate school, Hadi worked in restaurants to support his family and to pay for his graduate education. Starting as a dishwasher, over the next 8 years – as he pursued his doctorate at NYU – Hadi was promoted to cook, then to first cook, to assistant chef, and, finally, to head chef, where he specialized in French-Continental cuisine.

Hadi obtained his Ph.D. with honors from NYU in 1984. Hadi served as Assistant, Associate, and full Professor, as well as a Department Chair at Cornell. Hadi served as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at several universities in USA and Europe.

Hadi won several excellence-in-teaching awards. He has written 5 books, 6 book chapters, and more than 100 articles. He was elected fellow of the American Statistical Association and member of the International Statistical Institute. He received more than 16,000 citations, http://scholar.google.com.eg/citations?user=-8xAh5IAAAAJ&hl=en. For more information, see his Website http://www1.aucegypt.edu/faculty/hadi/.

Dr. Kétévi Adiklè Assamagan is a tenured physicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). After the BSc from the University of Lomé, he won a scholarship—sponsored and managed by the African-American Institute—to continue higher education in the US. In 1987, he went to the Southern Illinois University to improve his English proficiency before he started the MSc program at Ball State University. After the MSc, he continued with a PhD program at the University of Virginia. During the doctorate program, he went to the Paul Scherrer Institute where he collected the data for his thesis; he obtained the PhD in 1995.

He then accepted a post-doc offer from Hampton University to work at Jefferson Lab where participated in the commissioning of CEBAF­—Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility. He then went to CERN—European Organization for Nuclear Research—as a research scientist to work on the ATLAS Experiment.

In 2001, he accepted a position at BNL.  He continued working on the ATLAS Experiment where he held several positions. He was the coordinator of the physics analysis tools; then the coordinator of the Muon Spectrometer software. Later on, he became the ATLAS Higgs Working Group convener, and was a member of the ATLAS Collaboration that discovered the Higgs boson.  He was visiting scientist at SACLAY, and at the University of Johannesburg, Witwatersrand and UNISA.

He is a co-founder of the African School of Physics, www.africanschoolofphysics.org. His research interests focus on the searches for physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. In this context, he organizes a physics workshop on “Dark interactions: perspective from theory and experiments”, www.bnl.gov/di2018. He is a member of NSBP, APS, AAAS, and SAIP.

He plays African drums. He published a book in English, “Citizen and Traveler” ISBN: 978-0-692-97479-7,  and in French, “Citoyen et Voyageur” ISBN: 978-0-692-08639-1.

Zouheir Sekkat is Professor at the Department of Chemistry of the Faculty of Sciences of Mohammed V University in Rabat (UM5R), and the director of the Optics and Photonics Centre of the Moroccan Foundation for Science, Innovation and Research (MAScIR), and a full professor of the Department of Applied Physics of Osaka University (Handai) by the cross-appointment program between Handai and UM5R. Sekkat completed his Master, in 1988, and PhD, in 1992, and Habilitation, in 1998, degrees, all from Paris-Sud University, Orsay. Sekkat did postdoctoral research stays at the Max-Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Germany, and in the US jointly between the University of California-Davis and IBM Almaden at San Jose, and Stanford University. In 1999 Zouheir Sekkat joined Handai as an Associate Professor of Applied Physics. Sekkat organized several conferences in photonics, and gave keynote and invited talks in many conferences around the world. He is now the chair of Molecular and Nano Machines as a part of SPIE Optics and Photonics in San Diego, USA.

Sekkat received several prizes and recognitions, including nomination as one of the first members of the Hassan 2 academy of sciences and technology, Morocco, and the Elsevier prize for the most cited paper of Morocco, and the distinction prize of the Moroccan ministry of research. He is 2020 SPIE Fellow member; and Senior member of OSA since 2016; and vice-chair of the African Laser Center; he served as member of the international Council of OSA (2010-2012); he served at SPIE as Conference Committee and Sessions Chair; he organized a conference in 2014 in Morocco with participation of 36 African countries to promote optics and photonics in Africa; he organized events and participated to meetings in Morocco for the International Year of Light 2015; as well as many other activities in optics and photonics. Regarding capacity bulding in Africa: Sekkat, conceived and built the Optics and Photonics center in Morocco; deveopped related activities, including training of young scientists (PhDs and PostDocs), and networking with Africa, Europe, US, and Japan.

Sekkat returned to Africa, after several education and professional stays in Europe, France and Germany, US and Japan, and took the challenging task to develop Optics and Photonics in this area of the world. The impact of Sekkat on the community is two-folds: in science, his research led to a new field of research interfacing nonlinear optics and photochemistry; and his pioneering activities in Optics and photonics in Africa, especially, Morocco, including capacity building; e.g. infrastutructure and programs and education. Sekkat made seminal contributions to light-induced molecular orientation in polymers, and to interfacing nonlinear optics with photochemistry; i.e. photo-induced second and third order nonlinear optical phenomena.  He made seminal contributions to the field of optically assisted poling of photonic polymers that is caused by photo-induced molecular movement below the glass transition temperature of the polymer by photoisomerization.  Also, he developed the theories of light-induced both polar and nonpolar orientation as well as manipulation of second-and third order optical nonlinearities in NLO polymers. More recently he contributed, in the field of plasmonics; i.e. coupled surface plasmons and waveguides, at a pioneering level to the prediction and observation of Fano resonances in layered media. A strong indication of the impact of his research is the ISI citations to his work. Total citations: ~ 4200; h-index: 34; and 165 publications with the top 5 most cited papers: 472, 295, 257, 220, 187 citations.

Collins Ouma is a Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Technology, School of Public Health and Community Development.  He holds a Doctoral degree in Human Genetics from Kenyatta University, Kenya and has previously been involved in public health research to address issues associated with spread and control of human diseases. Previously, Prof. Ouma was the Dean, School of Public Health and Community Development, a position he held until he was appointed the Director of Research, Publications and Innovations of Maseno University, Kenya. As a Dean and a Director, he has been involved in Strategic Planning and Management, Enterprise Development and Program Management for over 10 years. Voted as the Best African Scientist for the year 2010 by the Pfizer Royal Society, UK, Prof. Ouma has wide experience in research especially in areas of strategic planning and management, evaluation and research, health sector, program management, resource governance, business plans and feasibility studies. As part of his extension services, Prof. Ouma has supported various enterprises in the communities which include being the Director of a ‘Watoto Musiliye’, an organization whose main goals is to ensure that the girl-child gets a formal education. Several vulnerable local members of the communities have greatly benefitted from his social and economic support. Prof. Ouma serves as a Board Chair, National Reproductive Health Services (NRHS), based in Kisumu, Kenya. He has also been in the scientific and ethical committees of both Kenya Medical Research Institute and Maseno University. He has worked and consulted with large donor funded programs and organizations like World Vision, IntraHealth International, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kenya Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technologists Board (KMLTTB) and Strategic Safety Consultants. He has also consulted for National Institute of Health (NIH)-funded baseline studies in western Kenya and recently for Christian Aid (in Narok County). Prof. Ouma has a number of publications in across various multidisciplinary fields. He has also mentored to completion over 100 postgraduate students including 30 Doctoral graduates.  

Harald Winkler is Professor at the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa, with research interests in development and climate change, inequality and mitigation.

Prof Winkler’s research interests are at the intersection of sustainable development and climate change mitigation. His approach is transdisciplinary, seeking to understand how to accelerate mitigation and shifting development pathways towards sustainability. Specific focus areas for future research include equity and inequality between and within countries; just transitions; the global stock-take; and low emission development strategies. He will continue to build on his past work on narrative storylines and modeling of scenarios; carbon pricing and social value of mitigation actions; transparency and MRV; and renewable energy. His transdisciplinary research has informed energy and climate policy at the national level and multi-lateral negotiations. Harald led the research work underpinning South Africa’s Long-Term Mitigation Scenarios (LTMS) from 2005-8. From 2010 to 2015, he co-directed a large programme called MAPS – Mitigation Action Plans and Scenarios, sharing the LTMS experience with governments, researchers and facilitators in other developing countries. Prof Winkler has published extensively and is joint Editor-in-Chief of the journal Climate Policy. He is a coordinating lead author lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and has been a member of the SA delegation to the negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Paris Agreement. He is located in UCT’s Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment. Prof Winkler is an engaged scholar, who seeks to make a difference to the grand challenges facing South Africa, Africa and the world, based on excellent research and a passion for sustainable development.

De Wet Swanepoel is full professor in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, University of Pretoria and senior researcher at the Ear Science Institute Australia. Prof Swanepoel’s research capitalises on the growth in information and communication technologies to explore, develop and evaluate innovative technologies and service delivery models to improve ear and hearing care. This translational area of research is primarily focussed on making ear and hearing health accessible, especially in low- and middle-income countries.  

Professor Swanepoel has 20 years of experience in ear and hearing research and is widely recognised as a leading international scholar with more than 160 peer-reviewed articles, books and book chapters. He has served as adjunct and visiting professor at several institutions including the University of Texas at Dallas, University of Orebro in Sweden, and the University of Western Australia. Professor Swanepoel is funded by various international organizations including the NIH, UK Academy of Medical Sciences, National Research Foundation and industry. His innovations have been patented and has received numerous international awards including the ITU Global innovation award, Philips Innovation Fellowship, AU-TWAS National Award and the Silver British Association Medal (S2A3). He has ongoing collaborations with colleagues from around the world including the VU Medical centre, The Netherlands, The University of Cincinnati, Children’s Medical Centre and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in London. 

Prof Swanepoel also serves as Editor-In-Chief of the International Journal of Audiology, past-president of the International Society of Audiology and co-founder of a digital health tech company called the hearX group. 

Ahmed G. Radwan (SMIEEE, FAAS) is the Vice President for Research, Nile University and Professor in the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Egypt. He was the former center director of NISC–Nile University, and TCCD–Cairo University. Dr. Radwan is selected as a member in the national committee of mathematics, and applied science research council as well as member of the first council of the Egyptian Young Academy of Science, and MC Observer to COST Action CA15225.

Dr. Radwan has more than 330 papers, H-index 42, more than 5400 citations and six US patents in several interdisciplinary concepts between mathematics and engineering applications. Dr. Radwan on the top authors worldwide for the two research tracks (T.21555 & T.8806) based on SciVal database. Previously, he was a visiting professor-ECE, McMaster Univ.-Canada [2008–2009], then part of the first research teams of KAUST, KSA [2009 -2011].

Dr. Radwan received the Scopus award in engineering and technology 2019, State first class medal of science and arts, State excellence award 2018, Cairo University excellence award for research 2016, Abdul Hameed Shoman award in basic sciences 2015, State achievements award for research 2012, Prof. Mohamed Amin Lotfy award 2016, Cairo University achievements award 2013, and Prof. Hazem Ezzat best researcher awards Nile University during 2015–2017. He was awarded best thesis supervisor for 4 PhD theses and 3 M.Sc. theses, best paper/poster awards from several international conferences, and the Cairo Univ. international publications award for the top researchers during 2011-2018 individually.

He received many research grants from different organizations, founder of the NILES international conference http://niles2020.nu.edu.eg/, founder of the “Undergraduate Research Forum” https://nu.edu.eg/research-forum/, involved in the TPC of several international conferences, Associate Editor of Journal of Advanced Research https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-advanced-research, lead/guest editor for different special issues, and has many academic visits in more than 20 countries.

Daniel Masiga is a principal research scientist and the Head of the Human and Animal Health themes at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe).  He is an infectious diseases biologist who studies the arthropod disease vectors and the pathogens they transmit. After graduating from the University of Nairobi, Masiga did his postgraduate studies at University College London and the University of Bristol in the UK. He later joined the University of Glasgow as a postdoctoral fellow studying the molecular genetics of African trypanosomes. He returned to Kenya and began a lectureship in Biochemistry and Biotechnology at Kenyatta University. In 2001, Masiga became the first Kenyan to be awarded the IFS/Danida Award for sub-Saharan Africa.  As a research leader, he has served on several boards, panels and expert groups. He was a Governing Council member and President of the African Society for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (ASBCB). As President of ASBCB, he spearheaded the formation of a strong association with the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB). He joined icipe in 2006 as a research scientist and Head of the Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics unit.  Masiga was the president of the JRS Biodiversity Foundation Board from 2012 to 2014 during which time the focus of funding shifted to Africa-focused biodiversity informatics projects. He serves as a reviewer on several panels for grants, fellowships and other assessments. To advance science in Africa, Masiga has increasingly focussed on providing guidance and mentorship to students and young scientists with a strong commitment to building Africa’s capacity to lead science-based growth.

Professor Kayode Oyedode Adebowale was born January 11, 1962. He completed his BSc, MSc and PhD programmes at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He became a Professor of Industrial Chemistry in 2006. He had postdoctoral experience at the Ebehards Karls University, Tuebingen, Germany and the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Italy. He has won several accolades which include Fellow, Nigeria Academy of Science, Polymer nstitute of Nigeria, Chemical Society of Nigeria and Science Association of Nigeria. Outside the shores of Nigeria, Fellow Royal Society of Chemistry, Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung and lately, African Academy of Science. Professor Adebowale has a track record of distinguished research and service and he is currently 
conducting research in Applied Chemistry (Industrial Chemistry). Professor Adebowale has published widely in both National and international Journals of repute and has served as external examiners in Nigeria and beyond. To date, he has published over 130 research articles and a national patent. On the Google scholar, he has an H-index of 40; On Scopus an H-index of 35. He has mentored several Bachelors, Masters, and fourteen Doctoral students who are distinguished scholars in their respective institutions in Nigeria and abroad. He is the Chairman of the Chemical Society of Nigeria (South Western Region). He has won research grant of the International Foundation for Science IFS, Sweden. He is a recipient of the prestigious 2013 African Union Kwame Nkrumah Continental Scientific 
Award in Science, Technology and Innovation. He has attended the Senior Executive Course of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies leading to the award of Member of National Institute, mni. He is currently the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Professor Adebowale is on the International Scientific Advisory Board of the African Centre of Excellence for Water and Environmental Research (ACEWATER). He is currently involved with the Nigerian Young Academy, where he supports two national awards for young scientists one of which is for distinguished young women in Chemical Sciences research. He is married to Dr Yemisi Adebowale and they are blessed with three children. 

Nicki started her research career in molecular genetics the University of Cape Town, followed by a Ph D in Molecular Oncology at the University of London and a postdoctoral fellowship in molecular endocrinology research at UCSF. She conducted laboratory-based research into molecular genetics underpinning paediatric cancers of muscle (Rhabdomyosarcoma) and kidney (Wilm’s Tumour).  She then transitioned into the field of medical genomics and bioinformatics, and until 2015 ran a research group at the South African National Bioinformatics Institute at the University of the Western Cape, which focused on computational approaches to disease gene identification, and the genetic basis of disease in African populations. During this time her research group developed computational approaches to prioritising good candidate aetiological genes from the output of genome-wide analyses; as well as undertaking exome sequencing projects to identify rare aetiological variants in families with inherited diseases. During this time Nicki also addressed ethical issues relating to genome studies undertaken in African populations. She has completed a Masters in Public Health, specialising in epidemiology, and joined CIDER at the School of Public Health and Family Medicine working on secondment to the Western Cape Government Health Department with Andrew Boulle’s group to assist with developing the Provincial Health Data Centre. This has involved developing infrastructure, processes and governance structures for integrating clinical informatics and medical records into a health information exchange. In 2018, Nicki returned to full-time research on the Data Integration Platform of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Africa (CIDRI-Africa) and build a new research group within the Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences at the University of Cape Town, focusing on the development of a cohort of African participants with genomic data linked to electronic health data, to address the aetiology of diseases in African populations.

Dr. Mathew D. Esona serves as a Senior Research Microbiologist in the Rotavirus Surveillance and Molecular Epidemiology Team, Viral Gastroenteritis Branch, Division of Viral Diseases, NCIRD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Dr. Esona received his B.Sc in General Microbiology from Usman Danfodio University Sokoto in Nigeria, his M.Sc degree in Medical Microbiology from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria, and his Ph.D in Medical Virology from Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University Pretoria, South Africa (Formally known as Medical University of Southern Africa, MEDUNSA). Dr. Esona completed a 2-year post-doctoral training at the MRC/Diarrheal Pathogen Research Unit at Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University Pretoria, South Africa, investigating the burden of rotavirus disease in South Africa and creating awareness of the burden of the rotavirus associated diarrheal throughout Africa.

Dr. Esona joined the CDC in 2005 as a post-doctoral fellow in the Viral Gastroenteritis Branch (formally known as Gastroenteritis and Respiratory Viruses Laboratory Branch). Dr. Esona has authored and co-authored more than 125 peer-reviewed scientific articles and a book chapter in the field of rotavirology and serves as peer reviewer for medical and public health journals. He has received several CDC recognitions for scientific excellence. He has served on numerous CDC committees, working groups and employee organization and he is currently the President of OAPHP (Organization for African Public Health Professionals, CDC employee organization) and the Treasurer of Sigma XI, CDC Chapter. He is a member of the Global Rotavirus Classification Working Group, the American Society for Virology, the African Rotavirus Surveillance Network and many other research bodies.

Dr Esona is most proud of his accomplishments in mentoring the next generation researchers, including, Professor Maryam Aminu, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria; Dr. Valentine Ngum Ndze, who received the 2014 President of Cameroon Best Doctorate graduate award in the Republic of Cameroon; Professor Mapaseka Seheri, who is currently the Director for Research and Deputy Director of the MRC/Diarrheal Pathogen Research Unit at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University Pretoria, South Africa; Dr. Martin Nyaga, Senior Lecturer/ Researcher: Next Generation Sequencing: Office of the Dean: Health Sciences, Ms. Nonkululeko Magagula, who is working at the MRC/Diarrheal Pathogen Research Unit, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University Pretoria, South Africa, Dr. Boda Maurice, Senior Lecturer at the University of Yaoundé, Cameroon and many others.

Though he has worked with pathogens such as HIV, Hepatitis, Ebola, Zika and

 SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), Dr. Esona’s research interests include all aspect of viral gastrointestinal disease, including detection, characterization, prevention and control of rotavirus infections.

Professor Richard Adegbola is a Consultant and Research Professor at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, and Independent Consultant in Immunisation and Global Health at RAMBICON, Lagos. He has made an outstanding contribution to microbial infections and global health for more than three decades. He trained as a Microbiologist in Nigeria and in the United Kingdom. He has worked in diagnostic microbiology, academia, philanthropy and pharmaceutical industry, across three continents. As a scientist he has ensured that his work is of the highest international standard and of great relevance to the needs of developing countries, particularly Africa. The impact of his work from the MRC Unit The Gambia on the epidemiology and prevention of Hib and pneumococcal diseases is a matter of public record and is well recognized within the field. Hib disease has virtually disappeared from countries in which Hib conjugate vaccines have been introduced, saving many lives, and preventing long-lasting disability. The overall direction of his work is aimed at epidemiology and prevention of pneumonia, and reduction of childhood mortality. Prof Adegbola is a fervent advocate of capacity development. In The Gambia, he taught and developed many young scientists from Africa. He has retained strong links with Nigeria, supporting colleagues in several Nigerian Universities. He has achieved many recognitions of his contributions including an honorary Professorship at University of Leicester, election to Fellowships of the UK’s Royal College of Pathologists and Royal College of Physicians, and the Nigerian Academy of Science. Prof Adegbola was a member of the World Health Organization’s Meningitis Vaccine Project Advisory Group and was Vice Chair of the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership Board. He is a member of the WHO Africa Regional Immunization Technical Advisory Group (RITAG), and a Trustee of the Expanded Civil Society Initiative on Immunization in Nigeria.

David Kenfack is a Staff Scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, based at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC. He received his PhD in Ecology, Evolution and Systematics at the University of Missouri-St. Louis in the USA (2008). He also holds a “Doctorat 3ème Cycle” in Plant Systematics (1995), and a MSc in Plant Ecology (1988) from the University of Yaoundé in Cameroon.

He coordinates the Africa Program of the Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO), a network of scientists and forest research sites spanning 27 countries worldwide. ForestGEO is the largest and most important research network dedicated to advancing long-term study of the world's forests and strengthening the scientific capacity of collaborating scientists and institutions.  The ForestGEO Africa program currently includes partner institutions and long-term monitoring plots in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Kenya and Nigeria, and is gradually expanding to include all main vegetation types in Africa.

His personal research focusses on the systematics, the ecology and the long-term dynamics of African forests. Precisely, 1) documenting and discovering plant biodiversity of African forests using alpha taxonomy techniques; 2) testing species boundaries and cryptic diversity in African plant groups with challenging taxonomy using a multidisciplinary approach (morphological, molecular, ecological and spatial data), 3) understanding the evolution and diversification of African forest using molecular phylogenetics and 4) documenting the changes in diversity, forest structure and productivity of African forests in long-term monitoring plots.

His work is vital not only for botanical and vegetation studies, but also for understanding carbon sequestration and many other aspects of global cycling of chemicals and nutrients. Through the partnership with African universities and research institutions, he has been gradually building a core of young motivated and competent scientists that can carry forward the work initiated by ForestGEO in their respective countries

He is author of over 80 peer-reviewed publications and a dozen of book chapters. 

Prof Brett I. Pletschke received his PhD in Biochemistry in 1996 at the University of Port Elizabeth (now Nelson Mandela University) and joined Rhodes University in 2000. Prof Pletschke is currently a Professor of Biochemistry and the previous Head of Biochemistry in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology at Rhodes University. 

His research interests lie in the fields of enzyme biotechnology and enzymology - and in how we can use enzymes to generate bioproducts (for the African and South African bio-economies in particular). More specifically, he is interested in cellulose- and mannan-degrading enzymes and the production of biofuels and prebiotic manno-oligosaccharides (MOS). He is also interested in seaweed polysaccharides for addressing diabetes, obesity and cancer, and, lastly, in enzymes which can break down non-starch polysaccharides (NSPs) in animal feeds. 

He has been a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB), the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the Royal Society of South Africa (RSSA). Prof Pletschke has served as the Vice-President (2008-2010) and President (2010-2012) of the South African Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SASBMB). In this capacity, he has acted as a voting member for the SASBMB at the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB). He has also contributed several chapters to the UNESCO EOLLS program, which is an integrated on-line compendium of twenty encyclopaedias, which is made freely accessible to disadvantaged individuals and minority groups worldwide.  

He has published more than 85 papers in peer-reviewed international journals or books. He has also hosted and supervised several Postdoctoral Fellows, and has successfully supervised and graduated more than 35 (PhD and MSc) students. 

Prof. Bahei‐El‐Din is currently the Vice President for Research and Postgraduate Studies at the British University in Egypt. He also served earlier as Dean of Engineering and founded the Centre for Advanced Materials. Prof. Bahei-El-Din received his undergraduate education at Cairo University in Egypt and the MSc and PhD degrees from Duke University in the US with a major in Civil Engineering and specialty in Solid Mechanics and Composite Materials. Before joining BUE he was a tenured Professor Cairo University and Research Professor at Duke University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, North Carolina State University, and the University of Utah.

His tenure at the young BUE as Vice President has been marked with significant developments in the university’s research and postgraduate portfolios, leading to the establishment of several research centres covering nanotechnology, advanced materials, renewable energy, among others, and attracting external research funding from national and international agencies including several in the European Union, UK and US. Prof. Bahei-El-Din has also been focusing on closing the innovation cycle at BUE and created the Technology Innovation and Commercialisation Office, Business Incubator, and the Science & Innovation Park. Prof. Bahei-El-Din is renowned for his research in advanced materials and has published extensively on the subject and authored and contributed to several specialized books. His academic and intellectual records have earned him recognitions and awards from Egypt’s President and the Academy of Scientific Research & Technology, and NASA and the National Academy of Sciences in the USA.

Professor Abdel Karim Koumare is Chairman of the Council Board of the University of Technical and Technological Sciences of Bamako since 2015, President of the Academy of Sciences of Mali since 2016. He is Corresponding member of the French Academy of Surgery (2002), and the French Academy of Medicine (2007). He is Director General of the African Institute for Training in Pedagogy, Research and Evaluation in Health Sciences since 2004. He is trainer of trainer in Quality Assurance for Francophone Agency for Universities (AUF) since 2010, for DAAD (Germany) since 2005, for African and Malagasy Council for Higher Education (CAMES) since 2000, for International Conference of Medical Francophone Schools (CIDMEF) since1995. He was Co-President (2000-2016) of the Scientific Council of the International Conference of French Speaking Deans of Medicine for Africa, America, Asia and Europa.  He has been Research Director since 1989, has over 200 publications (including one in The Lancet), organised more than 20 national or international seminars in research methodology for 1-2 weeks. He holds a Masters in Pedagogy in Health Sciences specification evaluation from Laval University in Canada since 1986, a FAIMER Pedagogy Certificate in Philadelphia in the USA since 2009, a Certificate of internship in public health at John Hopkins University in the USA since 1996, a Certificate of internship in public health at CDC Atlanta in the USA since 1995. He has been a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Poitiers in France since 1976.

Professor Mafongoya holds a PhD in Agroforestry from University of Florida (USA), an MSc in Applied Plant Sciences as well as an MSc Agricultural Development from Wye College, University of London (UK) and a BSc (Hons) Agriculture from the University of Zimbabwe. He has over 30 years’ experience working with various international organizations and universities in the areas of agricultural research, development, education, and integrated natural resources management. He has published 263 papers (117 refereed journal articles, 41 refereed book chapters and 2 books). His total publication record stand at 263. Currently he a Professor and South Africa Research Chair in Agronomy and Rural development at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.He has supervised and co- supervised up to date 8 Post Doctorial fellows, 35 PhD students, 36 MSc students and 15 undergraduates. He has worked with Universities in the North and South in supervising these students. He has also done up to date 30 consultancies on integrated natural resource management for UN organizations such FAO, UNEP, UNDP, ILO and international NGO`s such Oxfam,WWF,HIVOS and national governments in SADC. Currently he is a member of several international professional societies. He is a fellow of the Zimbabwe Academy of Sciences. He has participated in several collaborative research involving CGIARs, Advanced Research Institutes, National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems, International Foundations and NGOs. His experience is multidisciplinary,   transdisciplinary, multi-institutional and multi-cultural. For more details a full CV can be provided upon request. 

Professor Leslie Petrik (PhD), leads the Environmental and Nano Science (ENS) group, Department of Chemistry, University of the Western Cape (UWC) and is involved in post graduate research with the focus on nanoscience and nanotechnology and environmental remediation. Novel nanomaterials currently under investigation include electrocatalysts, as well as acid catalysts for energy applications and composite photocatalysts, for application in disinfection of water and removal of organics through advanced oxidation technologies. Prof Petrik is recipient of: UWC Vice Chancellor's Annual Distinguished Researcher Award, in the Natural and Medical Sciences for 2012 Distinguished Women Scientist Award in 2012 by the Department of Science and Technology Women in Science

Prof Ovbiagele obtained his medical degree in 1991 from the University of Lagos (Nigeria); and then 3 subsequent graduate degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He began his academic career in 2002 as an Assistant Professor of Neurology at UCLA and became a Full Professor at UCSD in 2011.  

He has served as Director of the Olive View-UCLA Stroke Program, Director of the San Diego Veterans Affairs Health Care System Stroke Program, and Chair (Head) of the Department of Neurology at Medical University of South Carolina. He is currently Chief of Staff (Chief Medical Officer) at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System, as well as Professor of Neurology and Associate Dean at the University of California, San Francisco. 

The programmatic focus of his research is the development, dissemination and translation into practice and community, of evidence-based behavioral interventions to improve stroke outcomes. He led a clinical trial that utilized an intervention to improve post-stroke outcomes in Nigeria and co-led another study aimed at identifying unique environmental risk factors for stroke in Africans. He is currently leading studies examining the feasibility of a smart phone to enhance stroke outcomes in Ghana, impact of stroke risk indices among HIV patients on antiretroviral drugs in Ghana, efficacy of a polypill strategy to enhance stroke outcomes in Ghana, and genetic variants associated with stroke in people of African ancestry. 

He is Founding Editor-in-Chief of eNeurologicalSci (eNS), a scientific journal of the World Federation of Neurology, and he recently served as Chair of the International Stroke Conference Program (the premier scientific meeting on stroke in the world). He has published 450 peer review articles and edited 4 textbooks. He has directly mentored over 45 trainees/faculty members, been elected to fellowship status in several prominent organizations including the American Academy of Neurology and Royal College of Physicians, and in 2008 won the American Academy of Neurology Pessin Stroke Research Leadership Award.