Ahmed Elwakil was born in Cairo, Egypt. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electronics and Communications from Cairo University and his Ph.D. from the National University of Ireland, University College Dublin in May 2000. He was with the Egyptian Nuclear Research Centre till 2007 and then joined the Department of Electrical, Sharjah University, Emirates, where he is currently a Full Professor. He was a Visiting Professor/Researcher at Istanbul Technical University (Istanbul, Turkey), University of Calgary (Alberta, Canada), Queens University (Belfast, UK), Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST, Saudi Arabia) and  Imperial College London (2017). He is an Adjunct Prof. at the Nano-electronics Integrated Systems Center at Nile University, Egypt. and is also an Adjunct Prof. at the Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Canada. 

Prof. Elwakil's research interests are interdisciplinary among several areas mainly Circuit Theory, Electronic Circuit Design, Nonlinear Dynamics, Chaos Theory, as well as Fractional-Order Circuits and Systems with diverse applications. He is the author and co-author of over 320 publications in these areas and holds 3 US patents. Currently, he is the Editor-in-Chief of the Int. J. of Circuit Theory and Applications (Wiley) and an Associate Editor for the Int. J. Electronics and Communications, Elsevier. 

Prof. Elwakil is an Associate Member of the Centre for Chaos Control and Synchronization at the City University of Hong Kong and has served as an instructor for a number of courses organized by the United Nations University (UNU) and the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP, Trieste, Italy), where he was also an Associate member. He was a keynote speaker at many international conferences and a Lead Guest Editor for many special issues. He received the Egyptian Government first class medal for achievements in Engineering Sciences in 2003 and 2009 as well as the Excellence award in Engineering Sciences in 2015. More details can be found on his webpage: www.ahmed-elwakil.org. 

Professor of numerical analysis at the Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Cairo University. He earned his M.Sc. in Mathematis, Faculty of Science, Cairo University . He was a channel system Ph.D. student between Cairo University, Egypt, and TU-Munich, Germany. He received his Ph.D. in "Optimal Control of Variational Inequalities, the Dam Problem". He was  the Head of the Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Cairo University ( May 2012-May 2018). Prof. Sweilam  published more than 150   publications and supervised more than 33  thesis' for Ph.D., M.Sc. He is  referee and editor of several international journals, in the frame of pure and applied Mathematics.      Professor Sweilam awarded Cairo University prize for the distinct researches in Mathematics (2004). Moreover, he awarded Cairo University Award for Excellence "Basic Science – in Mathematics", (2012).  Recentltly, he awarded 325 YEARS OF FRACTIONAL CALCULUS AWARD. The First Online Conference on Modern Fractional Calculus and Its Applications Biruni University, Istanbul, Turkey, December 4-6, 2020. In 202, he  Awarded Obada prize for the distinguished researcher in Mathematics. 

His main research interests are numerical analysis, optimal control of differential equations, fractional and variable order calculus, bio-informatics and cluster computing, ill-posed problems. 

Important Profile Links:- 

https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=6507922829 

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7428-5799 

https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/641006/overview 

http://portal.sci.cu.edu.eg/compm/peoplen.php  
http://math.sci.cu.edu.eg 

http://scholar.google.com.my/citations?user=2MsYmk0AAAAJ&hl=en

Dr. Hassan Azzazy is a tenured Distinguished University Professor and Chairman of the department of Chemistry at the American University in Cairo. He is the director of the international medical laboratory scientists training program. Before joining AUC, Dr. Azzazy was a postdoctoral fellow and assistant professor at University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD. Dr. Azzazy received his B.Sc. and a post-graduate diploma in Biochemistry both from Alexandria University and a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX (1994).  

Dr. Azzazy holds board certifications in Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnostics from the American Board of Clinical Chemistry, Washington, DC. He is certified as a Specialist in Chemistry by the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP, Chicago), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), and a Fellow of the American Academy of Clinical Chemistry. He is the Vice-President of the National Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Committee and the Chairman of Egypt Chapter of ASCP. 

He has over 30 years of biomedical research experience with a focus on developing novel diagnostics for detection of infectious agents and cancer markers, optical chemosensors for detection of environmental toxins, biodegradable nanofibrous wound dressings, and drug delivery nanocarriers.  

Dr. Azzazy has received many awards including State Prize in Laboratory Medicine (Egypt), Global Innovator Award (Texas Christian University), Arab Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award (UAE), Shoman Award in Medical Sciences (Jordan), Life Achievement Award (American Society for Clinical Pathology), and State Merit Prize in Advanced Technological Sciences (Egypt), Research Award (Alexander von Humboldt Award, Germany). 

Dr. Azzazy is an inventor on several patent families granted by USPTO and EU patent office. He is a strong advocate of technology-based innovation and entrepreneurship and has co-founded two biomedical startup companies which have won multiple prestigious awards and received competitive incubation packages from top regional and international business accelerators.

Osama Badary is currently the Vice Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy, British University in Egypt (BUE). Chairman of NODCAR, 2013-2019. Head of Clinical Pharmacy Department at Ain Shams University 2006-2013. Publications of over 100 original articles, book chapters and more than100 Master and Ph.D. supervisions. Chairman of the Egyptian Clinical Pharmacy Fellowship Board. Vice President of the Arab Academy for Development of Pharmaceutical Skills. Selected among the top 2% of world Scientists list published by Stanford University 2020 and 2021. Fellow of the AvH, DAAD, UICC and AACR. Winner of Yamagiwa-Yoshida (YY) prize 1999, Shoman Prize 2000 and Egypt National State Merit Prize 2017. Member of task Force AMA and AU Model Law, and WHO QMS and Bench Marking teams. Member of the African TWGPRR NEPAD Technical Committee.

Menale Kassie is a Principal Scientist and Head of the Social Sciences and Impact Assessment Unit at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology. Before joining icipe, Menale worked for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and for a government organization in Ethiopia. Dr. Menale Kassie holds a Ph.D. in Development and Resource Economics from the School of Economics and Business, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway. He has 16 years of research experience with sound knowledge in impact assessment, project development and management experience, and leadership. 

Menale Kassie has published 88 articles in scholarly journals in impact assessment, one heath economics, and gender analysis. He has received numerous awards and recognitions, including:-  

1. The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) Siwei Cheng Award in Economic Sciences (2020). 

2. Listed in the world's top 2% of Scientists List created by Sandford University (2021). 

3. Ranked among the top 5% of authors in the field of Economics in IDEAS, the largest bibliographic database dedicated to the discipline. 

4. Appointed as a Specialty Chief Editor of the Insect Economics section of the Frontiers in Insect Science Journal (2020).  

5. Elected as an Associate Fellow to the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences (2020).  

6. Received the icipe outstanding professional staff award  (2019).  

7. Research Committee Member of the Environment for Development (EfD) initiative at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, (2018–2022)

Prof Andre Pascal Kengne is a scientist and medical doctor with a speciality in internal medicine. He received his basic and specialist training from the School of Medicine of Yaounde 1 university in Cameroon. He then completed a PhD in Medicine with major concentration on cardiovascular epidemiology and prevention, from the School of Medicine and George Institute for Global Health at the University of Sydney, in Australia in 2009. He joined the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) in 2011 as the first Director of its Collaborative Research Programme on CVD and Metabolic Diseases, and was promoted in 2013 to lead the newly established and consolidated NCD Research Unit of the organization. He holds conjoint appointments as Professor at the Department of the Department of Medicine of the University of Cape Town, and Extraordinary Professor at the Department of Global Health of the Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

He is a senior fellow of the George Institute for Global Health (Australia), and the Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care (Holland). His areas of research include chronic diseases epidemiology and prevention in developing countries, decision making in diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. He is the developer of the ADVANCE risk model to estimate cardiovascular disease risk in people with diabetes, and pioneer of task-shifting as an approach to improve access to prevention and control of non-communicable disease (NCD) in resource-constrained setting. He is co-author of over 550 peer-reviewed articles, many book chapters and monographs; and board member of several journals, including the leading International Journal of Epidemiology. He is member of several professional bodies, and leading expert groups, and has received several distinctions as a researcher, the most recent being the the Sir Alberti Award for Excellent in research on diabetes in Africa, awarded in 2017. 

Francesco Petruccione studied Physics at the University of Freiburg i. Br. and received his PhD in 1988 and the “Habilitation” degree (Dr. rer. nat. habil.) in 1994. In 2004 he was appointed Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), in Durban (South Africa). In 2007 he was granted the South African Research Chair for Quantum Information Processing and Communication. At present, he is the interim Director of the National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences, Pro Vice-Chancellor Big Data and Informatics of UKZN, and Professor Extraordinary at the Department of Physics of the Stellenbosch University..Prof Petruccione is an elected member of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa, a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa and a Fellow of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He has published about 250 papers in refereed scientific journals. He is the co-author of a monograph on “The Theory of Open Quantum Systems " (more than 9000 citations according to Google Scholar), that was published in 2002, reprinted as paperback in 2007, and translated in Russian. In 2018 he published a monograph (with Maria Schuld) on "Supervised Learning with Quantum Computers” that was already translated into Japanese. The second extended edition was published in 2021 under the title “Machine Learning with Quantum Computers”.He is the editor of several proceedings volumes and of special editions of scientific journals. Prof Petruccione is a member of the Editorial Board of the journals "Open Systems and Information Dynamics", "Scientific Reports", "Quantum Machine Intelligence”.

Prof. Mekheimer born in Egypt 1963, received a B.Sc. in Mathematics from Ain Shams University Cairo (1984), M.Sc. in Thermo-Elasticity from Al-Azhar University (1990), completed his doctorate in Bio-fluid Mechanics at Al-Azhar University in (1994). Currently, he is a professor of Applied Mathematics and Vice Dean of Research and Post-graduate Studies at the Faculty of Science (Men), Al-Azhar University, Egypt. He is leading an active group in his field of interest "Bio-Fluids". The roles played by Prof. Mekheimer, have many facets: In the scientific research part he has embarked on some fundamental aspects of the peristaltic transport of physiological fluids, blood flow in stenotic arteries, and atherosclerosis catheterization. Many of his student's research earned the prize of the best M. Sc Thesis. & Ph D. Thesis from the Egyptian Mathematical Society (2008, 2012, 2013,2019, 2020). He is Advisory Board Member of the International Islamic Institute for Population Studies and Research, Al-Azhar University 2020, Editor-in-Chief of Al-Azhar Bulletin of Sciences Journal, and Associated Editor of International Journals (Journal of the Egyptian Mathematical Society (JOEMS), SN Applied Sciences, Frontiers in Mathematical and Statistical Physics).

Due to the high quality, high competitivity, and importance of the research of Prof. Mekheimer he has been highly cited (3647) and H-index (33) Scopus Citation Overview: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=6602385344. Consequently, he has earned one of the State highest prizes namely the State Awards of Excellence Prize of Basic Science awarded by the ASRT (Academy of Scientific Research and Technology ) of Egypt 2018, besides other certificates from the Egyptian Mathematical Society (2008, 2012, 2013,2019, 2020) as well as other prizes from Taif University Saudi Arabia, namely the citation prize for Engineering and Basic Science branch 2012, 2013, and 2014 and OBADA-PRIZE for distinguished researcher 2020-by Natural Science Publishing cooperation. Also, the Order of the Republic-First Class Medal ” Science & Arts” from the Egyptian State 2019. Recently Prof Mekheimer was induced in the “Top 2% of world scientists” list published by Stanford University U.S.A., according to the updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicator, 2020 & 2021 

Diabate Abdoulaye is a vector ecologist. He owned a PhD degree from the University of Montpellier, France and spent 4 years as a postdoc fellow at NIH in the US. His research activities proceed along with two different but complementary directions. First, it involves insecticide resistance and its management and second, it is focused on population biology, ecological studies on phenotypic variation within and between populations of mosquitoes and analyses of its genetic and environmental sources. He is particularly interested in mosquito male biology and related transgenic and sterile male’s approaches to control vector diseases. He has been an invited speaker in several prestigious universities including the Harvard University and has given inspirational talks at the Grand Challenges annual conference in London 2016 and in Addis Ababa 2019. He is the recipient of the Royal Society Pfizer award in 2013, the PAMCA life achievement Award in 2019 and the AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize in February 2020. He was awarded the Grand Challenges Star in global Health grant, the MRC/DFID African Leader Scheme grant and recently the prestigious Wellcome Trust Collaborative Award in Science. Currently he is the group lead of the Vector Biology Department at IRSS, Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, the country lead of the project Target Malaria and the Director of the World Bank and the AAU funded center of excellence on vector borne diseases ITECH-MTV

Emelda leads the Population Health Unit within the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kenya. Emelda has 20 years of Population and Public Health research experience. She has evolved the science of impact evaluation, epidemiology, population health, statistics, data analytics and operations research focusing on research capacity mentorship in the Africa region. Her work has focused on leveraging epidemiological data to improve the understanding of disease mechanisms and strengthen programme implementation of new tools and innovations to achieve a greater impact on health in Africa. Emelda has applied her epidemiological science to many important public health topics that plague the African continent: malaria, HIV, RSV, health access, under-five mortality, emerging infectious pathogens and anaemia. She is focused on embedding herself in the policy process in-country and is passionate about improving routine data in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Before her current position, Emelda was a Program Officer/Gates Fellow within the Global Health Team at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She has previously worked on projects that have evaluated the public health impact of malaria control and anti-retroviral treatment programs while at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation-IHME and developing primary health care strategies at Philips Research Africa.

Emelda serves on the BMC Medicine Editorial Board, the PLOS Global Public Health Editorial Board, and the TDR Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC).   She is interested in science mentorship and capacity building within Africa. Emelda has a PhD in Epidemiology, has been awarded several internationally competitive Wellcome Trust (UK) Fellowships and is widely published.

Walter Jaoko is a physician, a professor of medical microbiology and tropical medicine and the Director of KAVI-Institute of Clinical Research, at the University of Nairobi. He is also an Extraordinary Professor of Medicine at Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Bioethics and Law in the Department of Medicine, and Adjunct Professor, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham. 

He holds a Bachelors’ degree in medicine from University of Nairobi, a Masters’ degree in Tropical Medicine from Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, a PhD in Medical Microbiology from University of Nairobi. 

He has conducted clinical research in infectious diseases transmission, treatment and control. In this regard, he has published over 200 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals. His areas of interest has been in understanding the risk factors for HIV transmission, HIV superinfection, preventive HIV vaccine research and development, among others.  Currently, his research focuses on the use of monoclonal antibodies for prevention of HIV transmission, and on research and development of second generation COVID-19 preventive vaccines.

He also has 16 years management experience as Deputy Director and Director of an Institute, and previously as Chairman of the Department of Medical Microbiology at University of Nairobi, and is a member or chair of several Boards, including being the vice-chair of the Expert Committee on Clinical Trials of the Kenya Pharmacy and Poisons Board.  

Furthermore, he has a keen interest in research ethics, and through a Fogarty Grant by the USA National Institutes of Health he obtained Postgraduate Diploma in Health Research Ethics from Stellenbosch University, and has most recently qualified with a Masters’ degree in Global Bioethics from Anahuac University. Walter Jaoko is a member of the research ethics committee of Strathmore University, a private university in Nairobi, Kenya.

Prof Joseph KAMGNO, 56 years old, is Medical Doctor from the University of Yaounde I, with a Diploma of Epidemiology from Pasteur Institute in Paris, a Master of Public Health and a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Paris VI.

He is the Founding Director of the Center for Research on Filariasis and other Tropical Diseases (CRFilMT). He is also teaching epidemiology at the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Yaounde I where he is Head of Department of Public Health. He started his career at the Centre Pasteur of Cameroon where he worked until 2005 when he created the CRFilMT. Within the framework of this Research Centre, he has conducted as PI several large-scale research projects including descriptive epidemiological studies, clinical trials, public health program evaluations, development of diagnostic tools and clinical impact of some infectious diseases such as onchocerciasis, loiasis and lymphatic filariasis. Joseph KAMGNO is fellow of the Cameroon Academic of Sciences. He was awarded in 2015 the Islamic Development Bank Price for Sciences and Technology in recognition of his contribution at the socioeconomic development of his home country Cameroon. His main domains of research are onchocerciasis, loaisis, lymphatic filariasis (mapping, clinical trials, diagnostic tools, and post Mass Drug Administration impact evaluation). He has also done some work in the domain of epilepsy, malaria and Soil Transmitted helminths. He is author and co-authors of 120 publications in peer review journals, his H index is 31 in 2021.

Dr. Farida Fassi is a Professor of Mohammed V University in Rabat at the Faculty of Science. In 1996, after completing her BSc in physics from Abdelmalek Essaâd University in Morocco, she went to Spain to continue Higher Education. In 1999, she obtained her MSc from the University of Valencia in Spain. After MSc, she earned her Ph.D. In 2003, she awarded the European Ph.D. in particle physics in recognition of her contribution in the ATLAS experiment at CERN. She then granted with a post-doc from CSIC to continue working on the ATLAS experiment.

In 2007, she elected for an Advance Research fellowship offered by CNRS to work in the CMS experiment at “Institut de physique nucléaire de Lyon” (IPNL) and CCIN2P3 in France. She was the French´s Tier-1 contact person at CERN and research scientist at IPNL.  

She worked through several research positions at CSIC and the Spanish Center for Particle, Astroparticle and Nuclear Physics. She contributed in the LHC experiments, ATLAS and CMS, that led to the major scientific discovery of the 21th century; the Higgs Boson.

Since 2013, she is the Distributed Analysis Support coordinator for the ATLAS experiment. She also has a pivotal role in the Exotic Top and Higgs physics working groups at the ATLAS collaboration. She is Linked Doctor at CSIC and visiting scientist at IFIC.

Her research interests lie generally at connecting theoretical particle physics with experimental results, focusing on the search for new phenomena and investigating the Dark Matter nature.

She is co-founder of the “African Strategy for Fundamental and Applied Physics”. Her aspiration is to set up the foundation and framework to ensure structured growth, learning culture and draw the participation of African Physicists in defining the most impactful physics priorities for Africa.

Professor Luc Salako Djogbénou obtained a PhD in Medical Entomology and Parasitology from the University of Montpellier, France. He was a Post-doctoral fellow at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM). He has been LSTM fellow staff since 2013. He is currently Professor, Director of the Regional Institute of Public Health of the University of Abomey-Calavi, Deputy Head of the Tropical Infectious Diseases Research Centre newly created by him. He was Director of the Laboratory of Vector-borne Infectious Diseases. 

His research activities are related to the control of human vector-borne diseases such as Malaria, Lymphatic Filariasis, Dengue and the understanding of the biology, genetics and genomics of both pathogens and vectors. He worked intensively on the insensitive Acetylcholinesterase against organophosphates and carbamates in Anopheles gambiae in West Africa. These findings were relevant for implementing an indoors residual spraying strategy based on carbamates and organophosphates compounds used in several countries. He is also interested in how social practices relating to the pesticide used by populations in Africa impact sustainable control of diseases vectors. He is currently researching to determine the impact of the genetic profile of both vector and parasite on malaria transmission in endemic areas in Sub-Saharan.   

He is currently the PI of a Public Health Intermediate Wellcome Trust grant. He is also the Co-PI for the Global Challenges Research Fund grant, the German Research Foundation grant, and three Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grants. He previously held grants with the Wellcome Trust, IRD, WHO/TDR, IDRC, IAEA, ANR France, and the MIM.  

He has helped train 3 Post-Doctoral scientists, 23 master and PhD students, and 11 students are currently under his supervision. The evolvement and success of young African scientists are very important to him.

Yalemtsehay Mekonnen is a Professor of Cell and Human Physiology. She is an academic staff in the Department of Biology at the College of Natural and Computational Sciences of the Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. She has extensively published in different peer reviewed scientific journals on topics of respiratory physiology, medicinal plants and other related topics. She has advised many MSc and PhD students. In leadership positions she was involved and has initiated a number of national and international research networks and collaborations. She has also mentored young professionals specially women over the last three decades.

She was awarded research grants and fellowships nationally from Ethiopian Science and Technology Commission and Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organization and internationally from the British Council, the International Foundation for Science, Third World Academy of Sciences, the German Academic Exchange Service and the Alexander von Humboldt foundation. She had a number of short research stays in German universities namely; University of Heidelberg, Martin Luther University Halle, University of Kassel, University of Hohenheim, in England in London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and in Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust and in Japan in Primate Research Institute in Inhyoma City. She has presented extensively her research results in national, regional and international scientific and professional meetings and conferences.

She received the 2015 the African Union Kwame Nkrumah Scientific Awards for high achievement for women in science. She has been appointed as Ambassador Scientist by Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany as part of a worldwide network for excellence in science since 2016. She is elected as a fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) as of January 2022.

Prof. Amany Mohamed Fekry is a professor of physical chemistry, department of chemistry, Faculty of Science, Cairo University in 2017. I have more than 100 publications in different international journals, a review, 3 book chapters and 1 book. I Have attended 12 national and international conferences. My H-index is 33 with 2538 citations. I have supervised more than 20 MSC, Ph. D. students. I have reviewed more than 100 articles in different international journals. Stanford University identifies me in the top 2 % of Scientists worldwide in 2020 and 2021.

I have been awarded an international award called Obada-Prize for distinguished researchers – 2021 winners. I have been awarded University Encouraging Award (Basic Sciences), Cairo University, 2010; Country Encouraging Award (Basic Sciences), Egypt, 2012 and Academic Excellence Award (Basic Sciences), Cairo University, 2020. I have been granted STDF (Egypt - France cooperation) for a research stay in Electroanalytical group (ELAN) in the Laboratory of physical Chemistry and Microbiology for the environment (LCPME), Lorraine University, Nancy-France. I have got a postdoctor in  GeoResources Lab, Lorraine university - France on experimental and theoretical studies on the flotation of oxidized minerals, Fine Future Project – GeoResources Department, Lorraine University, Nancy-France till now.

I’m a member of the Corrosion Association from 2005 to 2010, Polymers Association in 2018. I’m selected as a member on the Basic Sciences Council from the qualitative councils of the Academy of Scientific Research from 11 june 2018 to 10 June 2021 and I’m selected again for this membership at 29 september 2021. I’m a member of the NSP Scientific Academy (international): Ref. No. NSP-151134 at December 2020-2021. My research work contributes mainly to solving many biological and industrial problems. My main subject is to prepare advanced nanoparticles and nano-coatings; and their applications in different areas like Corrosion, Sensors, Fuel cells and catalysis. I know different techniques like Electrochemical Impedance spectroscopy, Potentiodynamic polarization, Cyclic Voltammetry, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Raman Spectroscopy etc.

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. 

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.