Forum committees

Programme Committee

Michael Makanga

Co-Chair
Executive Director of Global Health EDCTP3
Belgium

Dr Michael Makanga started his tenure as the Executive Director of Global Health EDCTP3 on 16 November 2023. He has extensive experience in the global health research sector and was previously the Executive Director of the EDCTP Association.
He is a clinician-scientist with nearly thirty years of health and clinical research work experience in African and European institutions. He has a medical degree from Makerere University, a master’s and PhD in pharmacology and therapeutics from the Liverpool University and School of Tropical Medicine, and is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
He has vast experience in global health, research for health capacity development, engagement with policy makers, ethics and regulatory authorities in both Africa and Europe. Moreover, he has served in various scientific and policy advisory boards involved in developing medical products and associated technologies for infectious diseases, including the World Bank, international product development organisations, philanthropies and pharmaceutical companies.
Marieke J. van der Werf

Co-Chair
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
Sweden

Dr Marieke J. van der Werf is head of the section on sexually transmitted infections, blood-borne viruses, and tuberculosis at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in Stockholm, Sweden. She trained as a biomedical scientist and medical doctor, obtained her Master of Public Health in 2001, and her PhD in Medicine in 2003.
She worked for the municipal health service in Amsterdam on the HIV cohort studies. Thereafter, she joined the non-profit organization KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation as head of the unit Knowledge Management, Researc,h and Policy Development. In 2012, she joined ECDC as head of the disease programme tuberculosis. Among other functions at ECDC, she coordinated European Union guidance development, surveillance, and training on sexually transmitted infections, blood-borne viruses, tuberculosis, and substances of human origin.
She (co-)authored over 150 articles in international peer-reviewed journals and participated in the work of international policy advisory groups and guidance development groups from the World Health Organization and other organisations.
Glaudina Loots

Director for Health Innovation at the Department of Science and Innovation in South Africa
South Africa

Ms Glaudina Loots is the Director for Health Innovation at the Department of Science and Innovation in South Africa and as such is responsible for the implementation of the health components of the Bioeconomy strategy for South Africa. She concentrates on enabling research and innovation that leads to discovery and evaluation of new drug and treatment regimes, the development of new vaccines and new robust diagnostics, as well as the development of medical devices and digital health applications. Glaudina was instrumental in the creation of the Strategic Health Innovation Partnership Initiative (SHIP) at the South African Medical Research Council.
Among others, Ms Loots is a member of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19 Vaccines, the South African National Health Research Committee, the South African National AIDS Council, and the Advisory Board of the “Towards an HIV Cure Initiative” of the International AIDS Society, as well as the steering committee of various research centres of excellence, such as SACEMA; the CAPRISA Centre of Excellence for HIV Prevention and the API Technology Innovation Cluster. She is also an advisory board member of the Partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM), and she serves as an alternate Director on the Board of The Biovac Institute, a public-private-partnership aimed at the local manufacturing of vaccines and biologics.
Irene Norstedt

Director for the Directorate People: Health & Society, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD), European Commission

Irene Norstedt works at the European Commission where she is the Director responsible for the People: Health and Society Directorate within the DG for Research and Innovation.
The People Directorate works towards the development of a healthy, safe, more equal, free, open and fair society, where the voice of the citizen and different communities are better heard.
Irene has been at the European Commission since 1996, and has worked on various aspects of research in life sciences and particularly health research throughout her career in the Commission. Areas of particular interest have been the set up of the public-private partnership the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) and the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC),
Prior to joining the European Commission, she worked for the Swedish life science company Biacore AB and at the Swedish embassy in London.
Irene studied at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and University of Sussex, and holds a Master of Science (MsC) in Chemical Engineering.
Jan Paehler

Policy Officer at the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD), European Commission
Belgium
Elvis Temfack

Africa CDC
Juliet Nabyonga

World Health Organization

Professor Juliet Nabyonga-Orem works for the WHO as a health policy and partnerships advisor based in the Namibia country office. She is a health systems expert with experience spanning over 2 decades. She has been instrumental in the transformation of health systems in many African countries. She has published extensively in the areas of health systems and services, health financing, health economics and knowledge translation. She is a member a several scientific committees at the Africa regional and global levels. She is a professor in North-West University (NWU) Potchefstroom Campus – South Africa. Juliet is a graduate of Makerere University, Kampala Uganda where she obtained MB ChB, obtained a MSc in Health Economics from University of York, UK and a PhD in Public Health from Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium.
Kundai Chinyenze

International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI)
Kenya

Kundai Chinyenze is a physician with over 22 years’ experience working in East and Southern Africa and the UK in vaccine and other biomedical prevention R&D as well as capacity strengthening for R&D and service provision. She currently serves in IAVI as the ADVANCE Chief of party and IAVI Africa Director where she leads the development of affordable, globally accessible HIV vaccine candidates and other prophylactic biomedical interventions.
Kundai’s clinical research experience includes the design and implementation of clinical trials for candidate vaccines, antibodies and microbicides. Before joining IAVI, Kundai previously worked in microbicide research and in the HIV/AIDS care and treatment field as a Government Medical Officer, where she helped establish the first antiretroviral therapy clinic in Zimbabwe’s largest referral hospital and worked on the Zimbabwe National Antiretroviral Therapy Rollout Programme.
Liesbet De Cock

Head of Unit, Scientific Operations at Global Health EDCTP3
Belgium

Liesbet De Cock holds a MSc Biology/Biotechnology from the University of Ghent, Belgium. She worked for 4 years as Scientific Collaborator at the Institute of Public Health (Sciensano) in Brussels optimizing/validating laboratory assays and overseeing the conduct of epidemiology studies. From 2005 to 2022, she worked in GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), predominantly in the Vaccines Unit, joining the Epidemiology team moving later to the Clinical Operations team taking roles of increasing responsibility over 10 years. She has been heading the Strategic Portfolio Management team reporting on the progress and recommending on the investments of R&D Vaccines portfolio. After an assignment in Business Development leading due diligences and exploring new partnerships, she joined the Decision Sciences team in the GSK Pharma Unit in London, assigned to the Infectious Diseases and Specialty, piloting advanced methodologies enabling sound decision making. Later, she joined the new GSK Global Head Unit being set up. She served throughout her career several R&D and Investment Boards as secretary. Since Astrivax’ spin off from the University of Leuven in 2022, she led the development bringing two vaccines candidates into First Time in Human. She joined EDCTP3 JU in July 2024 as Head of Unit, Scientific Operations.
Marcel Tanner

EDCTP High Representative
Switzerland

Marcel Tanner is High Representative of EDCTP and President emeritus of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences. He is Professor emeritus of Epidemiology, Public Health and Medical Parasitology at the University of Basel.
From 1997 until 2015 he was director of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) in Basel, developed it to a major global health institution for research, teaching/training and public health action. He played a key role in the development of new drugs and vaccines for the elimination of malaria and other poverty-related diseases as well as in health systems sciences and the development of One-health.
Besides research the capacity building and North-South partnership was a main interest, as reflected in the development of the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI) in Tanzania and the Centre Suisse de Recherche Scientifiques (CSRS) in Côte d’Ivoire.
As a leading expert, he has been and still is an expert advisor on communicable diseases research and control, and health systems strengthening in various boards/committees of national and international agencies/foundations.
Pablo Rojo Conejo

Paediatric Infectious Diseases Specialist at the Hospital 12 de Octubre in Madrid
Spain

Pablo Rojo is a Paediatric Infectious Diseases Specialist of Hospital 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain. He is also Professor in Pediatrics at Complutense University, Madrid, Spain. He obtained his MD and PhD from Complutense University. He is the Co-lead of the Penta Scientific Steering Committee.
He is author and co-author of over 140 peer reviewed scientific articles and book chapters. His main research activities are related to global pediatric HIV: mainly on antiretrovirals, pediatric advanced HIV disease and pediatric HIV cure. He is the chief investigator of several complex randomized clinical trials like EMPIRICAL and ODYSSEY. Also very interested in COVID19: both about the acute infection, the associated MISC and vaccines in children.
Related to pediatric HIV, he is technical advisor for Paediatric HIV for Spanish Government, he participates in a collaborating project on Paediatric HIV in Equatorial Guinea and has also advised WHO in Paediatric HIV treatment in the PAWG and PADO. Related to COVID19, he participated in the WHO working group on the definition of the multisystemic inflammatory syndrome in children (MISC). He has also participated in several clinical trials on treatment and vaccines related to pediatric infectious diseases.
Michelle Singh

Project Officer at the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP)
South Africa

Dr Michelle Singh joined the EDCTP (Africa Office) as a Project Officer in 2015. She graduated with a Master in Biomedical Science (2003) and Doctorate in Obstetrics & Gynaecology (2010) from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She subsequently obtained her Master in Global Bioethics from Anáhuac University in (2021). She has prior experience from the South African Medical Research Council and the University of KwaZulu-Natal where she managed maternal and child health research studies and clinical trials, with a strong focus on prevention of perinatal HIV transmission. Since joining EDCTP, her portfolio has included oversight of the EDCTP-AREF Preparatory Fellowship calls, EDCTP Recognition prizes, and relationship management with the African participating member states. She is a coauthor on the TRUST code and Springer Book ~ A Global Code of Conduct for Equitable Research Partnerships. Since 2021, Michelle has represented EDCTP as a partner in the EU-funded PREPARED consortium, which is designing a framework to accelerate research during crises without sacrificing ethics and integrity. Here she leads the funder & policymaker platforms and provides input on PREPARED tools and training modules. Her personal interests include promoting equitable research partnerships, bioethics and global health.
Pauline Beattie

Operations Manager and Scientific Adviser at the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP)
Netherlands

Dr Pauline Beattie is the Operations Manager and Scientific Adviser at the EDCTP Association. She leads the team responsible for the management and monitoring of the portfolio of projects awarded under the EDCTP2 programme, including evaluating the outputs and outcomes from the programme. Prior to joining EDCTP in 2011, Dr Beattie was a Science Portfolio Manager in Infection and Immunity at Wellcome, UK. She has more than twenty years’ experience in developing, implementing and evaluating funding strategies to support biomedical and health research in low- and middle-income countries. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Parasitology from University of Glasgow, a Master’s degree from University of Manchester, and a DPhil from University of Oxford.
Thomas Nyirenda

Strategic Partnerships & Capacity Development Manager and Head of Africa Office of the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnerships (EDCTP)
South Africa

Dr Thomas Nyirenda MD MPH, is Strategic Partnerships & Capacity Development Manager and Head of Africa Office of the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnerships (EDCTP). He trained in Medicine at University of St Andrews (Scotland), St Mary’s Hospital (London) and Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (Malawi), and in Public Health at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (London). He brings to the Programme Committee of the 12th EDCTP Forum his experience of organisation of similar forums for EDCTP and his 30 years’ experience of working in Clinical Medicine, Public Health and Clinical Research and Health Services Management in sub-Saharan Africa. He has worked as Medical Officer in Ministry of Health of Malawi and World Health Organisation before joining EDCTP in 2004. He has had teaching appointments at University of Witswatersrand (South Africa), and currently supports capacity development activities at Clinical Research Education and Management Services (CREAMS) in Malawi and teaches as Extraordinary Senior Lecture in the Department of Global Health of Stellenbosch University (South Africa).
Jean Claude Ngabonziza

Senior Researcher at Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC)
Rwanda

Dr. Jean Claude Semuto Ngabonziza, a senior researcher at Rwanda Biomedical Centre and lecturer of medical microbiology at University of Rwanda. He holds an MSc. in medical microbiology from University of Nairobi and a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from University of Antwerp and Institute of Tropical Medicine, Belgium. Dr. Ngabonziza has led research on drug-resistant tuberculosis, identifying key limitations in rifampicin susceptibility testing by the Xpert MTB/RIF assay and influencing updates to WHO guidelines through his findings. He also discovered and characterized a novel Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain, Lineage 8. Currently, his work focuses on TB transmission dynamics, digitizing community health worker operations to enhance decision-making, and strengthening infectious disease prevention and antimicrobial stewardship in the African Great Lakes region through capacity-building initiatives.
Lorna Leal Alexander

Scientific Officer at the European Medicines Agency
Netherlands

Medical doctor trained in infectious diseases and vaccinology, with over 15 years of clinical practice providing specialized care to highly vulnerable populations. She has a proven track record of overseeing and conducting clinical trials that have provided valuable insights into the proof-of-concept, immunogenicity, safety and efficacy of different vaccines and other medicines. In her current role as a scientific officer at the European Medicines Agency, her work focuses on facilitating the development of medicines addressing public health threats and support access in the most affected regions. She is also an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the MRC CTU UCL, a member of the EDCTP3 Stakeholders Group and of the WHO SAGE Expert Working Group on smallpox and mpox vaccines.

Organising Committee

Jean Marie Habarugira

Co-Chair
Senior Scientific Officer at Global Health EDCTP3
Belgium

Dr Jean-Marie Vianney Habarugira is a Senior Scientific Officer at the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking where he co-leads the Science and Operations Unit and coordinates the activities of the organisation’s Scientific Committee. Pharmacist by training, he has almost 15 years of experience in overseeing large-scale clinical research grants, under each of the three EDCTP programmes – EDCTP1, EDCTP2 and Global Health EDCTP3. At EDCTP2, he managed a large portfolio of multi-country projects on Emerging and re-emerging Infectious Diseases, including Epidemic Preparedness projects and the response to COVID-19 through the EDCTP Emergency Funding Mechanism. He represents Global Health EDCTP3 in international networks such as GloPID-R, where he serves in various working groups. Before joining EDCTP, he carried out research projects at the KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation and the Dutch Medicines Evaluation Board. Jean-Marie Vianney holds a PhD in Pharmacology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, a Master’s in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Volgograd State Medical University, and a Master’s in Pharmacovigilance and Pharmacoepidemiology from the European Programme for Pharmacovigilance and Pharmacoepidemiology (EU2P, coordinated by the University of Bordeaux).
Ana Duarte

Operations and Policy Officer at the Global Health EDCTP3
Belgium

Ana Duarte is the Operations and Policy Officer at the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking. Ana is a pharmacist and public health specialist by training, with a background in health services and systems, emergencies and humanitarian crises, medical goods supply chains, health innovations, and European health policy and law. Before joining Global Health EDCTP3, Ana worked for 6 years in health topics across the different services of the European Commission, including the Directorate General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD), Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) and Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA). Prior to that, Ana contributed to the global health efforts by performing field functions to respond to humanitarian crisis and to improve access to health care interventions. Today, Ana is responsible for the Programme’s portfolio management and for the policy feedback related to the Global Health EDCTP3’s technical activities.
Vincent Declerfayt

Head of Administration and Finance at Global Health EDCTP3
Belgium

Vincent Declerfayt is Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking’s Head of Administration and Finance since he joined the JU on 1 March 2024. He is responsible for the coordination and the implementation of the administrative, human resources and financial work of the JU allowing that objectives are achieved smoothly and that the expected results are delivered.
Previously, he was Head of Corporate Services at Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking. Between 2016 and 2024, he was responsible for the implementation of the administrative and financial management of the Shift2Rail Programme (under H2020 for a total budget of 900m€) and of the Europe’s Rail Programme (under Horizon Europe for a total budget of 1.6m€).
From October 2014 and until September 2016, he was Financial Controller and Acting Head of Administration and Finance at Clean Sky Joint Undertaking (now Clean Aviation JU), where he was in charge of the Finance Unit. More specifically he was responsible for the FP7 Programme financial closure amounting 800m€ and launching the new H2020 Programme with a total budget of 1.655m€ shared amongst 16 Founding Members and 94 Core-Partners.
Between 2005 and 2014 Vincent Declerfayt worked for Deloitte Consulting as consultant, senior consultant and project manager in the area of financial, procurement and grant management, budget monitoring, financial control, audit and accounting. He had been team leader for more than 20 consulting projects in Brussels (DG BUDG, DG DEVCO…) and in Europe (within 15 European Agencies). He also gave training courses in EU Institutions in the area of finance, accounting and procurement.
Vincent Declerfayt joined the Infrastructures in Delegations Unit of the DG RELEX in 2004 and contributed to the definition of new financial processes consequent to the migration of the European Commission to Accrual Based Accounting.
Vincent Declerfayt holds a Master Degree in Business Administration and a Master Degree in Economics – Intercultural Management (ICHEC Business School of Brussels). 
Isabel Reis

Executive Governance Officer at the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP)
Netherlands

As the Executive Governance Officer, Isabel acts as the main focal point between the EDCTP Secretariat and the EDCTP constituency bodies, namely the General Assembly, Board, Scientific Advisory Committee and Audit Committee. She is responsible for facilitating communication and ensuring timely and effective sharing of information between the EDCTP Secretariat, the EDCTP High Representatives and the EDCTP constituency members and observers. She is also responsible for ensuring efficient organization of meetings of the EDCTP constituency bodies.
Isabel’s international exposure comprises extensive professional experiences in the European Parliament in Brussels and in the United Nations (UN) in the areas of liaison with stakeholders and governmental actors, planning and organization of meetings, and report writing. At the service of the United Nations, she lived and worked in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for six years and in Senegal for over three years.
Sandra Ramos

Communications Officer at Global Health EDCTP3
Belgium

Sandra Ramos is Communications Officer at Global Health EDCTP3 since February 2024. She comes with over 15 years of professional experience in science communications, having worked for the European Commission Directorate General for Research and Innovation, the European Research Executive Agency and the European Medicines Agency.
Michelle Nderu

Project Officer for research capacity development funding programs, strategic partnerships, and networking at the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trial Partnership (EDCTP)
South Africa

Ms Michelle Nderu (Pr. Sci. Nat.) currently serves as the Project Officer responsible for research capacity development funding programs, strategic partnerships, and networking at the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trial Partnership (EDCTP). She is a trained molecular biologist and holds a Master’s in Medicine from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. In her current capacity, Ms Nderu manages the EDCTP Fellows Alumni Network, the EDCTP Regional Networks of Excellence Program and several collaborative Pharmacovigilance and Health Systems Strengthening projects spanning Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. Her role extends to strengthening synergistic partnerships between European and African governments, funders, donors, academic institutions, and the private sector, while mobilizing resources for EDCTP funding programs. Prior to her role at EDCTP, Ms Nderu served as a research coordinator at the South African Medical Research Council within the Research Management Division. Her professional journey also includes serving as a research and development scientist at Kapa Biosystems (now known as Roche Sequencing Solutions), where she specialized in engineering enzymes for diverse life science applications. Ms Nderu is a Certified Professional Natural Scientist with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP).
Alice Nsabimana

HR Manager at Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking
Belgium

Alice Nsabimana – HR Manager at Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking. With over 20 years of experience in Human Resources and Mediation activities within the EU institutions. Passionate about people, she is committed to creating environments where individuals and teams thrive. Recruited during the start-up phase of the Joint Undertaking, she has played a key role in shaping and implementing HR policies, fostering a dynamic and inclusive workplace. Originally from Rwanda, Alice is looking forward to contributing to the success of the Forum.

Host Country Committee

Nadine Rujeni

WHO Senior Laboratory Expert
Rwanda
Nadine Rujeni is a Professor of Microbiology and Parasitology with research interest in the immunology and control of infectious diseases. Her research Projects have focused on:
- Schistosomiasis immuno-epidemiology and the influence of environmental factors on disease transmission,
- Malaria immuno-regulation and the effect of helminth infections and the gut microbiota,
- Immunopathology and genomic surveillance of COVID-19,
- Anti-microbial resistance in bacterial infections (Brucellosis, Campylobacteriosis, Staphyloccocus aureus etc)
She is currently serving as a WHO Senior Laboratory Expert supporting the Rwanda Biomedical Centre in Pandemic and Outbreak control and immunological studies.
Stefan Jansen

Director of Research and Innovation at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Rwanda
Rwanda

Stefan Jansen, PhD. is Associate Professor in Neuroscience and works at the University of Rwanda since September 2011. He is the Director of Research and Innovation at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences and heads the Mental Health & Behaviour Research Group. He runs multiple internationally funded and multi-country research projects on intergenerational trauma, alcohol and drug abuse, community based psychosocial interventions, and more; using a wide range of methodological approaches, including neuro-imaging, genetics/epigenetics, Randomized Controlled Trials, and psychometrics. He is the Chief Editor of the Rwanda Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, Board Member of the Rwanda National Ethics Committee, Ag. Chair of the UR-CMHS Institutional Review Board, alongside other responsibilities.
Brenda Kateera

Country Director for Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI)
Rwanda

Dr Brenda Asiimwe Kateera is an impact driven public health specialist, and researcher with more than more than 20 years’ experience in managing large public health programs, in academia and policy.
Committed to the mission of saving millions of lives and improving access to essential quality health services especially for women and children, she is currently the Country Director for Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) in Rwanda where she partners with the Government of Rwanda to strengthen health systems and ensure universal healthcare coverage.
Prior to that she was the Rwanda Country Director for AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) that supported HIV services to more than 1,600,000 people in 46 countries. She also was the Director of Research and lecturer at University of Rwanda, College of Medicine and Health Sciences where she was responsible for developing a self-sustainable research support center with the aim of strengthening research capacity and stimulating a research culture among students and staff of the college and ensuring knowledge translation into policy.
She also worked as a research study coordinator and physician at Mulago National Referral Hospital in Uganda and Makerere University- Johns Hopkins University Research Collaboration. She has been a lead or co-investigator on several research projects that mainly investigated novel ways of HIV prevention and implementation science projects that have focused on adolescent health. Dr Kateera has also provided leadership and coordinated multiple research and training initiatives with various donor and partners and has several publications and is an invited speaker at various conferences and meetings. She also serves on several boards and advisory groups.
Dr Kateera has a medical degree from Makerere University- Uganda and Masters degree in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University-USA and is currently a visiting scientist and Fellow at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, USA.
Marie Michele Umulisa

Executive Director and Legal Representative of Rinda Ubuzima
Rwanda

Marie Michele Umulisa is an experienced social scientist and researcher. Driven by her passion to contribute in promoting health, she takes pride in participating in different research programs that aim to advance the health sector in Rwanda and the region. For over 20 years. Marie Michele Umusila has played leading roles as either principal investigator in Community Engagement and Social Sciences research activities or sub-investigator in clinical researches.
Marie Michele Umusila is currently the Executive Director and Legal Representative of Rinda Ubuzima, a Health Research Center. She is the Country Representative for Health [e] Foundation, and she serves as a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Clinical Trial Community Engagement Lab (CTCEL). Mrs. Umulisa is also an active member of different advocacy organizations such as AVAC and AfNHI. These organizations are advocating for HIV prevention research to end AIDS, and creating political will to end life-threatening epidemics and improve health for all.
She holds a B.A in Sociology from the Kigali Independent University and a M.A in Gender and Cultural Development from University of Rwanda.
Shema Hugor

Research Project Manager for the Vaccine and Health Programs at the Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chain (ACES)
Rwanda

Shema Hugor is a medical professional and researcher with expertise in global health, infectious disease surveillance, and One Health approaches. He holds a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), and a Master of Science in Global Health (One Health). With a background in pandemic response, antimicrobial resistance, and event-based surveillance, Shema has actively contributed to interdisciplinary research projects. His recent work leverages social network analysis to study zoonotic disease transmission and community-based interventions. Additionally, he is currently pursuing a master's in Big Data Analytics and Data Science, aiming to integrate data-driven strategies into health interventions to mitigate disease outbreaks. Currently, he serves as the Research Project Manager for the Vaccine and Health Programs at the Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chain (ACES), where he focuses on optimizing vaccine cold chain systems and addressing health sector challenges through sustainable solutions. Additionally, collaborates with the Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) on research initiatives in surveillance, antimicrobial resistance, and health security.
Moureen Urujeni

Strategic Advisor at Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC)
Rwanda

Moureen Urujeni is a global health professional specializing in health policy, research, and operational strategy. She currently serves as a Strategic Advisor at Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC), where she drives initiatives to drive strategic healthcare operations, maximize programmatic impact on health indicators, and strengthen multi-sector partnerships. She has contributed to public health research, infectious disease response, and sexual and reproductive health advocacy.
Her experience includes working with clinical laboratory teams in Rwanda’s National Reference Laboratory (NRL), where she contributed to COVID-19 epidemic surveillance, molecular diagnostics, and laboratory data management. She has also supported evidence-based health research and policy implementation and also contributed to genomic research at Columbia University Medical College.
Moureen holds a Master of Science in Global Health Delivery from the University of Global Health Equity and a Bachelor of Arts in Physics from Columbia University. She is passionate about health equity, policy innovation, and strengthening healthcare systems in Africa.
Julien Nyombayire

Research Clinician at the Center for Family Health Research (CFHR)
Rwanda

Dr Nyombayire is a research clinician at the Center for Family Health Research (CFHR) in Rwanda, a long-standing clinical research institution established in Rwanda since 1986 and formerly known as Projet San Francisco. With more than 15 years’ experience in clinical research, Dr Nyombayire has served as an investigator in several observational cohort studies as well as multicenter clinical trials of preventive vaccine and therapeutics in different infectious diseases area including HIV, Ebola, Covid-19 and Malaria. He has recently served as the Principal Investigator for the first ever Phase 1 clinical trial of an mRNA HIV vaccine candidate conducted in Africa and a co-investigator of the first large Phase 3 Ebola vaccine trial among pregnant women in Rwanda. Dr Nyombayire has extensive experience in the management of large infection diseases prevention programs (e.g. HIV, Ebola) involving most at risk populations and in collaboration with large external funding agencies. In addition to safety follow-up of participants enrolled in clinical trials, Dr Nyombayire is involved in the care and treatment of patients living with HIV and patients with symptoms of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) as part of his daily clinical duties.
Dr Nyombayire currently serves as the Executive Director of CFHR. He holds a degree of General Medicine and Surgery from the National University of Rwanda and a Master’s of Sciences degree in Clinical Trials from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine as well as several professional certifications in the management of clinical trials. He serves as a board member of the Rwanda National Research Ethics Committee and the University of Global Health Equity Institutional Review Board. He has also been a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Marburg Disease Response during the 2024 MVD outbreak in Rwanda.