Plenary speakers

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.

Dr. Clarisse Musanabaganwa is a distinguished medical research analyst and postdoctoral fellow at Brighton Sussex Medical School, UK in collaboration with University of Rwanda. With a PhD in Medical Sciences from Radboud University, Netherlands, and multiple master's degrees in epidemiology and public health from University of Rwanda and Manchester Metropolitan University/UK. she has over 15 years of experience in shaping Rwanda's national health research agenda. Her groundbreaking research focuses on epigenetics, genomics, and bioinformatics, particularly in trauma, PTSD, and intergenerational effects. She has led numerous research projects on cancer, neuropsychiatric disorders, infectious diseases and other NCDs. She has been recognized for her leadership and contributions to science, including the African Women Achievers Award. 

Dr. Musanabaganwa’s exceptional contributions to science and health innovation contributed to the recent groundbreaking research on epigenetic marks 

Her leadership roles, has significantly advanced Rwanda's research capacity, regulatory frameworks, and evidence-informed policymaking. She has been instrumental in linking science to policy (Clarisse et al, nature 2019, 10.1038/d41586-018-07863-3, ensuring that research findings are translated into actionable health strategies. Her coordination for Rwanda's national research agenda development and her role in the East African Community (EAC) Health Research Commission as national focal point of research highlight her commitment to advancing health research in Africa. She has been instrumental in building skills and resources for genomics research in Africa, co-organizing key local and international conferences. She has also secured substantial research funding.

Dr. Nicaise Ndembi, Ph.D., is the Deputy Director General and Regional Director of the IVI Africa Regional Office, based in Kigali, Rwanda.

 Dr. Ndembi is also an Associate Professor at the Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine as well as a Research Professor at the Kanazawa University School of Medicine, Department of Viral Infection and International Public Health, where he completed his doctorate in molecular virology.

 Prior to joining IVI in 2025, Dr. Ndembi was the Principal Advisor to the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Director General, where he established the Partnerships for African Vaccine Manufacturing, creating a framework for regional vaccine manufacturing and self-reliance. He additional held the position of Deputy Incident Manager Mpox – Marburg Continental Preparedness and Response Plan for Africa.

 Dr. Ndembi has authored and co-authored over 250 peer-reviewed papers and chapters in professional journals. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Public Health of Africa as well as AIDS Research and Therapy. And he has been named to the TIME100 Health list – recognizing the 100 most influential people in global health.

Dr. Fallah currently works as Acting Director of Science and Innovation and  Program Manager, Saving Lives and Livelihoods (SLL) at Africa Centre for Disease control and Prevention. Through the 1.5-billion-dollar SLL initiative funded by the Mastercard Foundation, 37 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were distributed across Africa. His role is to lead a team that provide technical assistance for covid-19 vaccine uptake to the 55 member States of the African Union.

Prior to joining Africa CDC, Dr. Fallah served as a Health Security Technical consultant for the World Bank where he worked on Pandemic diagnostics for Cabo Verde, Ghana, Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone in the Context of the COVID-19. He also served as a Consulting Senior Scientist for the US National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) for a decade.

He is a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Social Medicine and Global Health at the Harvard Medical School. He was recently appointed as an Adjunct Faculty at the newly created Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Policy & Research (CEID) at Boston University. 

On June 14, 2025, Dr. Mosoka P. Fallah was made Adjunct Professor of Njala University, School of Health Sciences in Bo, Sierra Leone.

Dr. Mosoka P. Fallah is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of an NGO in Liberia and the USA (Refuge Place International) to address the issues of access to quality affordable health care that impacts maternal and infant mortality among poor urban and rural dwellers in Liberia and is about to open an office in Sierra Leone. He was awarded the USAID Liberia Health Worker and the Development Person of the Year 2017 award for his work with Refuge Place International.

He was the recent past Director General of the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) that he co-founded. NPHIL was developed as a consequence of the devastation of the 2014/2015 Ebola outbreak in Liberia. 

Dr. Fallah completed his PhD in Immunology at the University of Kentucky and his MPH in Global Health/Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health. For his work building community-level trust in the Ebola response, Dr. Fallah was named a Time Magazine Persons of the Year in 2014. He was also the co-founder and Director General of the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) — founded in response to the devastation of the 2014/2015 Ebola outbreak in Liberia.

Dr. Fallah work with Africa CDC has taken over 35 countries in Africa and has over 100 scientific Publications to his credit. He is currently the Research co-lead of the Africa CDC WHO Incident Management Team (IMST) based in Kinshasa, the DRC where he worked over the last 5 months. He led research response to the Marburg In Rwanda and Tanzania and the Ebola Sudan response in Uganda. He is now leading the African continental research prioritization, governance and ethics framework. He and his team are now mapping research infrastructure across the 55 AU member states. 

Professor Leon Mutesa is an MD, PhD, and serves as the Director of the Center for Human Genetics at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, a center he established in 2006. He obtained his MD from the University of Rwanda in 2003 and earned his PhD in 2009 from the University of Liege, Belgium, where he also completed his postdoc in 2011.

Significant involvement in academics, clinical genetic research, genomics, and epigenomics, as well as building research capacity, have all been hallmarks of his career. He has held several prestigious positions in the health sector in Rwanda. A pioneering figure in the field of genetics and genomics, Professor Mutesa has spearheaded the development and implementation of Rwanda’s reference center for human genetics, the only facility of its kind in East Africa. He is the Principal Investigator of several research grants funded by NIH, EU, EDCTP, NIHR, Wellcome Trust among others. He is a research pioneer of the transgenerational epigenomics of trauma and PTSD in Rwanda, a research programme focusing on the transgenerational transmission of the epigenomic impact of genocide exposure and PTSD in women survivors and their offspring of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.

He has supervised/mentored over 90 MSc, MMed, PhD, and Post-Doc fellows from Rwanda and from overseas universities. With more than 200 peer-reviewed publications to his name, he is a prolific contributor to scientific research. His outstanding contributions to human genetics have been recently recognized with the prestigious HUGO African Prize 2024. He also serves as a board member of the Board of Trustees of the International Vaccine Institute (IVI).

Prof. Claude Mambo Muvunyi is the Director General of the Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) and a full professor of Clinical Microbiology at the University of Rwanda. With over 15 years of expertise in strategic planning, innovation, and implementation in public health and healthcare, he has contributed significantly at international, regional, and national levels. He has a substantial expertise in clinical and public laboratory medicine with special focus on clinical microbiology, enhancing laboratory systems and services, health system strengthening, and global health security improvement. 

Prof. Muvunyi holds a medical degree from the University of Rwanda, a specialization and PhD in Clinical Microbiology from Ghent University, Belgium, and a master’s in Medical Virology from the University of Manchester. Prior to joining RBC, he served as Senior Regional Laboratory Advisor at ICAP at Columbia University, providing leadership for quality-assured diagnostic systems. He has also consulted for the World Health Organization (WHO), supporting Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) surveillance and diagnostic capacity building in Africa. His previous roles include Head of the National Reference Laboratory, Director of the Microbiology Unit, and study physician for AIDS vaccine research at Project San Francisco, where he provided strategic oversight. 

Prof. Muvunyi's research interests include health systems analysis and strengthening, integrated surveillance systems for monitoring and tracking disease burdens and risk factors, prevention and control of emerging diseases, and reducing the socioeconomic impacts of diseases. He is also focused on developing and implementing innovative approaches for disease prevention and control. Additionally, he is interested in advancing the understanding of resistance mechanisms in bacterial infections, evaluating diagnostic methods (molecular and serological) for infectious diseases, and conducting operational research on the implementation and scale-up of diagnostics to assess their impact on infectious disease management.

Dr Oumar Diouhé Bah, born 26 October 1976 in Kambanya, Télimélé in the Republic of Guinea, is a pharmacist-biologist and Guinean politician.

Minister of Health and Public Hygiene from 21 November 2023 to 19 February 2024 in the Bernard Goumou government, and since 13 March 2024 in the Bah Oury government.

Director and founder of the BIOMAR-24 medical biology laboratory, inaugurated on 27 January 2018.

Appointed Minister of Health by Royal Decree 835/2023 of 20 November (BOE of 21 November). 

The Minister of Health is responsible for proposing and implementing the Government’s policy on health, planning and health care, as well as the exercise of the powers of the General State Administration to guarantee citizens the right to health protection. 

Professional background:

• Medical Doctor and specialist in Anaesthesiology, Resuscitation and Therapeutics of Pain.
• Master in Clinical Management at the National School of Health. 
• Member of the Madrid Assembly (regional parliament) from June 2015 to November 2023. 
• Permanent member of the WHO Executive Board since May 2025

Martina Hirayama is since 1 January 2019 Head of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) at Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research.

Martina Hirayama studied Chemistry at the ETH Zurich, the University of Fribourg and Imperial College London, graduating from ETH Zurich with a doctorate in technical sciences (Dr. sc. Techn). She went on to do postgraduate studies in Business Economics at the ETH Zurich, and completed her thesis in 1997. She then worked in the ETH Zurich’s Department of Materials, becoming head of the Polymer Chemistry Group in 2001. During this time, Ms Hirayama co-founded a start-up in new coating technologies, and was CEO of the company until 2008.
In 2003 she began lecturing in Industrial Chemistry at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences Winterthur ZHW (now ZHAW), where she developed and headed the field of polymer materials and obtained her professorship. From 2007 to 2010 she developed the ZHAW’s Institute of Materials and Process Engineering. From 2011 to 2018 she was Director of the ZHAW School of Engineering, a member of the university’s executive board and from 2014 head of International Affairs.

From 2012 to 2018 Martina Hirayama was president of the board of the Federal Institute of Metrology METAS, from 2011 to 2018 vice president of the Innovation Promotion Agency Innosuisse board (until 2017 the Commission for Technology and Innovation) and from 2016 to 2018 a member of the Swiss National Science Foundation board. She was also on the boards and executive committees of several other organisations, namely the Swiss Study Foundation, the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences SATW, the Zurich Chamber of Commerce, and the Kuratorium of the Freiburger Materialforschungszentrum at the Albert-Ludwigs University in Freiburg (Germany). Moreover, she acted as an expert for the National Research Fund Luxembourg (FNR) and the European Commission.

More information on Plenary Session I

Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana is the Minister of Health of Rwanda since November 2022. He previously served as Director General of the University teaching hospital of Butare and the Rwanda Biomedical Centre. He holds extensive experience in infectious disease and non communicable diseases programs design, strategic planning and implementation science. 

Dr. Sabin holds a Medical Degree (MD) and a Master’s Degree in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Rwanda; a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Basel, Switzerland.

Dr. Sabin served as Principal Investigator for several large research projects, including clinical trials in Rwanda and multi-country research collaborations.He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburg and African Scientific Institute. He serves as adjunct Assistant Professor of Global Health Delivery at the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) and Teaches Clinical Epidemiology and research methodology at the University of Rwanda.

Eva Ortega-Paíno, PhD in Chemistry (specialized in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) from the UCM (Universidad Complutense de Madrid), has extensive experience in oncology immunology, as well as in the management of innovation projects and biobanks. 

She held the position of Scientific Director of the CNIO Biobank, seeking the position and consolidation of the unit as a dynamic platform for the support and promotion of "responsible" research, through the management, repository, processing and custody of human biological samples and their data. 

In 2021, she was appointed as Coordinator of the Biobanks area within the National platform of Biobanks and Biomodels, National Node Director for Spain in the EU infrastructure BBMRI-ERIC, as well as Director of Management of the National Network of Brain Metastasis (RENACER). She was also appointed member of the Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (CACTI) of the Ministry of Science and Innovation, the body for the participation of the scientific and technological community, and from December 2023 has become General Secretary for Research at the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.

More information on Plenary Session I

Dr Henning Gädeke joined the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in 2012 where he works in Division “Global and Public Health Research” and is responsible for international cooperation.

From 2017 to 2021, he served as research attaché at the Permanent Representation of Germany to the EU in Brussels where his responsibilities included the negotiations of the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon Europe and the European Partnership package. He chaired the Council’s Research Working Party during Germany’s Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2020.

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. 

John Amuasi is based at the KNUST where he Heads the Global Health Department of the SPH and is Leader of the Global One Health Research Group at the KCCR. 

He is a W2 Professor of Global One Health at the BNITM and the UKE in Hamburg, Germany. For over 20 years, he has engaged in Tropical Medicine and Global Health research - including in malaria, NTDs, AMR and One Health. He is passionate about mentorship and sustainably building health research capacity in Africa.

Professor Marcel Tanner was Director of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute from 1997 to 2015 and is now President of the Swiss Academy of Sciences. 

He holds a PhD in medical biology from the University of Basel and an MPH from the University of London. He developed a Swiss field laboratory for what is now the Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania from 1981-1985 and went back to Europe as programme director 1987-1997.

Dr Christina Obiero is a clinician scientist based at the Kenya Medical Research Institute – Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya. 

Christina has led/co-led research investigating the aetiology, diagnosis and treatment of serious infection in young children in resource-limited settings. She is currently the Kenya Principal Investigator of GARDP’s NeoSep1 trial which is investigating antibiotic regimens for neonatal sepsis. 

She is also leading SNIP-Africa’s clinical and microbiological surveillance for neonatal sepsis and AMR.

Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi is the Executive Director of the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC). 

APHRC is the continent’s premier research and policy organisation committed to evidence-informed decision making. 

Catherine has a medical background and is a trained epidemiologist with research interests at the interface between Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and Health Systems Strengthening.

Kara Hanson is a Professor of Health Economics at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Director of the NIHR Global Health Research Programme.

Moses is a physician, global health expert and social impact entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience. 

He leads the Science Innovation Pathways team at the Science for Africa Foundation, a science funding and programme development organization based in Africa. Moses supports scientists in designing and conducting locally relevant research proposals, their associated technology transfer, capacity strengthening, market and policy engagement for developing critical areas of science in Africa. Moses has experience in supporting health and research programmes in >30 countries in Africa in various fields of science and medicine. For example, he recently co-chaired the work for the COVID-19 research priorities for Africa that resulted in a policy paper for member states and led the MNH research priority-setting exercise for African researchers in 2019.  

He has also held various other appointments, including Clinical Research Director at GSK—Africa NCD Open lab, sub-Saharan Africa Medical Affairs manager at Hoffman La Roche, Clinical Trial Manager at Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, and several board appointments, including at the Kenya Medical Research Institute. 

Moses studied medicine at the University of Nairobi (Kenya) and later Public Health at the University of Birmingham (UK). He did an LSHTM Executive Global Health Leadership fellowship in 2019. He is an Archbishop Desmond Tutu African Leadership fellow 2014 and also a Chevening scholar 2005.

His current research interests include research prioritization and health technology assessment, development and scaling techniques especially those anchored in the pharmaceutical industry. 

As Director of Science and Policy, Lindsay ensures the technical accuracy of Impact Global Health’s work with her international team. Lindsay uses her medical background in child health, basic and clinical development, and global health funding to conceptualize projects and influence policy. 

Previously at Wellcome, she led initiatives to improve access to monoclonal antibodies, critical care in low-resource settings and improving nutrition science. Passionate about innovative clinical trial design, she aims to use data to inform global health priorities and policy.

Magda Robalo is the President and Co-founder of the Institute for Global Health and Development (IGHD), Guinea Bissau. 

An Adjunct Professor at Griffith University, she is a Co-chair of the UHC2030 Steering Committee and a Global Ambassador of the G7&G20 Health and Development Partnership. 

She is a public health physician with a career of over 30 years in the global health ecosystem. A former Minister of Health of Guinea Bissau, she led the COVID 19 response as the High Commissioner of the Presidential Task Force.

Rebecca F. Grais is the Executive Director of the Pasteur Network. 

Her work primarily focuses on intervention studies of vaccines and therapeutics. Dr. Grais holds a doctorate, two master's degrees, and a bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins University, as well as an HDR from the Faculté de Médecine Paris Saclay, France. 

She has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications and participates in numerous scientific, funding, and international organisation committees and advisory groups. Additionally, she is a member of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts at the WHO.

Luiz Zerbini earned his PhD from the University of Sao Paulo (USP), São Paulo, Brazil in 1999. 

Since 2016, Luiz Zerbini is the Director of International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) Cape Town Component. ICGEB promotes sustainable development through research, education, technology transfer and technical assistance programs. ICGEB programs involves partnerships with different agencies like UNOSSC, Gates Foundation and Public and Private Sector. He has led the ICGEB’s Cancer Genomics Lab since 2009, focusing on OMICS approaches in cancer research to investigate factors and the genetic makeup that govern the cancer phenotype in the African descent population.

Vice-President of the SAMRC- Extramural Research and internal portfolio, also directs the Children’s Heart Disease Research Unit focused on research into Children’s Heart Diseases of relevance in Africa. 

She was the 2018 MRC/Dfid African Research Leader Award, the Winner of the NRF award for Social Impact in Research, the International Metrodora Award for Public Health and Research and the UCT Vice-Chancellors Alan Pfifer Award for research.

Jutta Reinhard-Rupp is the ambassador for the H3D Foundation and a senior Global Health expert. Her focus is on catalyzing innovative health solutions for most vulnerable populations and to strengthen research skills and capacity to foster human progress.

With more than 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, Jutta specialized in the Global Health field focusing on malaria and schistosomiasis.

Jutta currently serves as scientific advisor for DZIF (German Center for Infection Research) and CPCDI (Cross-Pharma Capacity Development Initiative).

Zoë Mullan is the founding Editor in Chief of The Lancet Global Health

Nelson Sewankambo is an Emeritus professor at Makerere University medical School and the President of AFREhealth. 

He was a Dean of Makerere Medical School and a Principal of the College of Health Sciences. He is a Fellow of Uganda Academy of Sciences, The AAS, TWAS, and The US Academy of Medicine. 

He is one of the founders of 35-year Rakai Health Sciences HIV population cohort which has informed policy and management of the AIDS epidemic globally and offered research training to Africans and internationals. He has Honorary doctorates from Johns Hopkins and McMaster Universities.

Emeritus Professor Rose Gana Fomban Leke, Professor of Immunology/  Parasitology, Fellow of the Cameroon Academy of Sciences, The African Academy of Science, The World Academy of Science.  Until March 2013, Head of Department at the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Yaounde 1, Director of the Biotechnology Centre. Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Medical Research Institute, IMPM, Vice President of the Scientific Committee of Cameroon First Lady’s Research Centre (CIRCB). The 2014 Aggrey-Fraser-Guggisberg Memorial Lecturer at the University of Ghana, awarded Doctor Honoris Causa (DSc).

In 2011, received the African Union Kwame Nkrumah Scientific Award for Women. Elected International Honorary Fellow of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene ASTMH in 2015. Has been member of the Canada Gairdner Foundation Global Health Award Advisory Committee. Elected one of nine women as HEROINE OF HEALTH 2018 

In 2018, crowned by the Cameroon Medical Council as QUEEN MOTHER OF THE CAMEROONIAN MEDICAL COMMUNITY

FORBES AFRICA April/May 2021 Edition named her as ICON #24.

December 2022 award: Achievement in Global Health Leadership, by the AU and Africa CDC

February 2023, appointed Chair of the Independent Review Committee (IRC) of the GAVI Alliance

Received October 14 in Berlin the 2023 Virchow Prize for Global Health

Received the L OREAL UNESCO INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR WOMEN IN SCIENCE AFRCA AND ARAB WORLD May 2024
 

Chair of the Multilateral Initiative in Malaria (MIM) Secretariat.

Was President of FAIS and Council member of IUIS for two terms.

Consultant on many committees for the World Health Organization (WHO): the Malaria Policy Advisory Committee (MPAC), The Malaria Elimination Oversight Committee. Chair of the African Regional Commission for the Certification of the Eradication of Poliomyelitis (ARCC) since 1999, and read the declaration on August 25 2020, to announce Africa free from indigenous Wild Polio Virus. One of the six members of the Global Certification Commission (GCC), the member for the African Region. 

Been a member and Chair of the African AACHR and the Global ACHR, a Board member of the Global Forum for Health Research, and since 2013 serves on the WHO Emergency Committee for Polio eradication. 

Has served as Vice-Chair of first Technical Evaluation Reference group (TERG) of the Global Fund, 

Research interest:  Immunology of parasitic infections, particularly Malaria. With a keen interest in Global Health and Health Systems Strengthening. Has been very effective in training the next generation of scientists, MDs, MSc, PhD, national and international, and continues to do so through the HIGHER WOMEN CONSORTIUM CAMEROON, a holistic mentoring program, one of her very successful initiatives.

With a background in medical Anthropology and Epidemiology, Prof. Gyapong's interests are in socio-cultural aspects of infectious diseases of poverty, Implementation research, women’s health qualitative research and capacity building. 

She is interested in research impact and has been leading work in this area that brings together the experiences of disease control programs and research institutions. 

Among several awards, she was adjudged the EDCTP 2020 most outstanding female scientist for her contribution to research, training, and mentorship in reducing poverty-related diseases.

Senior Fellow, Amsterdam Institute for Global Health & Development and Professor, McGill School of Population & Global Health, Prof Hankins was Chair of EDCTP’s Scientific Advisory Committee from 2017 to 2022 and Co-Chair of Canada’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force 2020-2022. 

Scientific Chair for INTEREST research conferences (Harare 2015, Yaoundé 2016, Lilongwe 2017, Kigali 2018, Accra 2019, Windhoek 2020) and EDCTP’s 10th Forum (Maputo 2021), she is HIV Research Trust trustee and AVAC board member. She was named to the Order of Canada in 2013 and Canada’s Medical Hall of Fame in 2024.

Youssef Travaly is the CEO of EDPU Africa operating the EDPU Digital Clinic, the first early detection and preventive screening platform for non-communicable chronic diseases in Africa. 

Based in Rwanda, the platform leverages Artificial Intelligence (AI), emerging technologies, and non-invasive medical technologies. 

He is the founder of AllSightsAfrica, a think tank headquartered in Belgium, specializing in supporting government agencies in adopting policies related to AI and advanced technologies.

Award winning innovation pharma industry leader (NHS, Roche, Amgen, ALMAC, ICON, Biogen, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk). 

STEM ambassador in schools and professional public speaker.

Darlington Akogo is a global AI leader, Founder/CEO of minoHealth AI Labs, karaAgro AI, Runmila AI Institute, and Gudra AI Studio. He chairs the AI for Radiology group under the UN/WHO AI for Health initiative and leads the AI Economy working group for the African Union. 

Named among the Top 100 Most Influential People of African Descent in Healthcare, he also serves as a Global Innovation Adviser to the International Development Innovation Alliance.

Prof. Mary-Anne “Annie” Hartley leads the Laboratory for Intelligent Global Health and Humanitarian Response Technologies (LiGHT), based jointly at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Ariadne Labs, and EPFL School of Computer Science, with nodes at Ashoka University and C4IR in Rwanda. LiGHT builds AI tools with NGOs like MSF and ICRC to improve healthcare in underserved settings. Annie is also an MD and volunteers regularly in her home country of South Africa.

Fortunate Machingura, PhD, is Director of Climate, Environment and Health at CeSHHAR Zimbabwe and PI on major heat-health projects across LMICs. Her work focuses on vulnerable groups and integrated adaptation–mitigation in health systems. 

She chaired the 1st International Climate and Health Africa Conference, lectures at LSTM, and collaborates with WHO, AU, and governments to advance equitable, co-designed responses and African leadership in climate-health policy.

Ilesh Jani is a medical doctor and holds a PhD in immunology. 

He is a senior scientist at Mozambique’s National Institute of Health, having previously occupied the posts of Director General of the National Institute of Health (2009-2023) and Vice-Minister of Health (2023-2025) in Mozambique. 

His research interests are diagnostics and vaccines against infectious diseases, including the deployment of these technologies in the health system.

Dr Sokhna Thiam leads the Environment, Climate & Health Program at the West Africa Regional Office of APHRC in Dakar, Senegal. 

She is at the forefront of expanding research evidence for a better understanding of the climate, environment and health nexus to inform health interventions/actions and policy in the context of global environmental change in Africa. 

Currently, her research focuses on the impacts of climate change on health and impacts of large- scale landscape restoration on human health in West Africa. She is an environmental epidemiologist with a health geography background.

As Team Leader for Strategic Partnerships and Communications, Lara Pandya oversees the external relations and international cooperation activities of Global Health EDCTP3, including monitoring and evaluation. She is responsible for creating and nurturing collaboration and partnerships with both the Member States participating in Global Health EDCTP3 and a wide variety of public and private stakeholders. This includes designing and executing joint initiatives with strategic partners and facilitating the coordination and alignment of European and African national research programmes around a joint research agenda on infectious diseases. She initially joined EDCTP as a Project Officer in 2007.

Lara has a background in global public health and clinical research and development, with over 20 years of experience in partnership building, networking, resource mobilisation, communications, advocacy and project management for a variety of international health organisations. Lara represents EDCTP in multiple cross-funder and partner initiatives and working groups, including the Advisory Group for the Collaborative Initiative for Paediatric HIV Education and Research (CIPHER) Grant Programme and the Steering Committee of the ESSENCE on Health Research initiative, among others.

As a graduate from the University of Bristol, where she completed both her bachelors and Master of Science in Geography, Lara subsequently obtained a Master’s in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). 

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).