Prof. Adekile, Adekunle
Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait.
Professor Adekile graduated from the University of Ibadan Medical School in 1973 and completed his Pediatric Residency Training at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife Nigeria. He finished his post-doctoral Fellowship in PediatricHematology in Howard University Hospital, Washington DC, USA in 1980-1981, during which time he worked at the Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center under Dr. Roland Scotto. He established a sickle cell clinic in the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital on his return to Nigeria in 1981. In 1990 he was the recipient of the Fogarty International Fellowship which took him to the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA, USA where he worked in Dr. Titus Huisman’s laboratory and the Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center. He moved to Kuwait in 1993 where, in addition to other responsibilities, he looks after patients with hemoglobinopathies in the country. He is the Director of the hemoglobin research laboratory in his department with facilities for hemoglobin quantitation and a full range of molecular studies. He is the Director of the Kuwait National Sickle Cell Disease Registry, which he established in 2010.
He was awarded a PhD degree in Cell Biology from the University of Maastricht, Netherlands in 1996. He is the recipient of several research grants and awards and has ~120 publications in internationally renowned journals. He is a member of many academic and professional bodies including the Nigerian Pediatric Association, Nigerian Society for Hematology and Blood Transfusion and American Society for Hematology. He serves on the Board of the Center for Arab Genomic Studies. He is one of the leaders in the Global Sickle Cell Disease Network where he is the co-chairman of the working group on phenotypic variation. He is the President of the Nigerian SCD Network and the Sickle Cell Support Society of Nigeria.
Dr. Ghedira, Kais
Institut Pasteur de Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia.
Dr Kais Ghedira is an assistant professor in bioinformatics who is a member of the Laboratory of Medical Parasitology, Biotechnologies and Biomolecules (LR11IPT06) and member of the Group of Bioinformatics and Mathematical Modeling, in Institut Pasteur de Tunis (IPT). He was involved in several international and national projects funded by EC and IPT and is a member of the H3ABioNet project funded by the NIH. He participated in many international scientific meetings and conferences in bioinformatics around the world. Kais is a bioinformatician with a biological background who participated as a lecturer and organizer of several national and international courses in the field of bioinformatics. He is since 2012 a bioinformatics lecturer in the ISBST in Tunisia. He is mainly interested in the analysis of high throughput data, microbiology, data integration, comparative genomics, functional analysis of gene expression, gene regulation, prediction of gene/protein interaction networks, functional genomics, bioremediation and nanobiotechnology.
Dr. Lopez Sall, Philomene
Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar, Senegal.
Titulaire du Diplômed’étudesApprofondies de Biochimiestructurale, métabolique et clinique, nous avonsintégrél’unitéd’enseignements et de recherche du Laboratoire de BiochimiePharmaceutique de la Faculté de Médecine, Pharmacie et d’Odonto-stomatologie de l’UniversitéCheikhAnta Diop de Dakar en 1992. Nous avonssoutenunotreThèse de Doctoratès Sciences Pharmaceutiquesen 2004 et avonsréussiau Concoursd’Agrégation du CAMES – SpécialitéBiochimie, la mêmeannée. Nous sommesinscrite sur les listesd’aptitude auxfonctions de Professeurtitulaire, depuisjuillet 2010. Au plan hospitalier, nous occupons les fonctionsd’Adjoint au Chef de Laboratoire du Centre Hospitalier National d’Enfants Albert Royer de Dakar et supervisons les unités de Biochimie et d’Hématologie. Concernantnosactivités de recherche, ellessontorientéesvers les aspects biochimiques de pathologies telles que le diabète, la drépanocytose et les carencesnutritionnelles. Nous sommes auteur et co-auteur d’unetrentaine de publications et communications scientifiquesdans le domaine de la santé dontunedizaine sur la drépanocytose. Nos travaux sur la drépanocytosevisaient, essentiellement, à évaluer la fréquence de la carenceenfer, l’associationdrépanocytose – carencemartialeétantrelativementfréquenteen zone tropicale. C’estainsi que nous avonsétudié les limites des paramètres de routine dans le diagnostic de carencemartiale au cours de la drépanocytose homozygote. Nous avons, par ailleurs, évaluél’apport des récepteurssolubles de la transferrinedans le mêmecontexte. La ferritineérythrocytaire, refletvéritabled’unecarencemartiale, lorsque la ferritinémie et les autresparamètres du métabolisme du fersontpeuinformatifs, a également, retenunotre attention. Nos travauxont, enoutre, porté sur la détermination du profillipidiqueclassique et celle des LDL-oxydées desujetsdrépanocytaires, dans le but de mesurer le risqueathérogèneassocié à l’affection, risquelongtempsconsidérécommefaible du fait de la diminution de la cholestérolémietotalenotéeenpériode de crise. La prévalence des anticorps anti phospholipides a, également, étéestimée chez ces patients, euégard à l’implication de cesimmunoglobulinesdans la pathogénie de la drépanocytose. Notre équipepoursuitsestravaux sur la drépanocytose, notamment, sur la recherche de gènescapables de modifier l’évolution de la maladie.
Prof. Mulder, Nicola
University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Prof Mulder heads CBIO. She graduated with a BSc degree (cum laude) in Chemistry and Microbiology, and a first class Honours degree in Microbiology, followed by a PhD in Medical Microbiology. She then spent over 8 years at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) in Cambridge, moving into the area of bioinformatics. At the EBI she was a Team Leader, responsible for the development of InterPro and the Gene Ontology Annotation Project. InterPro was one of the most heavily used Bioinformatics resources at the Institute. At UCT, Prof Mulder works in the area of bioinformatics of infectious diseases, including pathogen and host genomics and biological networks, human variation and disease association studies. She heads the CBIO group, which consists of over 20 staff and students. The group provides bioinformatics support and training for postgraduate students and local researchers, and Prof Mulder convenes an Honours programme in Bioinformatics, and organises a South African national bioinformatics training course for postgraduate students.
Internationally, Prof Mulder is involved in capacity development in Africa, as leader of a large NIH-funded consortium, H3ABioNet, to build a Pan-African Bioinformatics network for H3Africa, and through her position as President of the African Society for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology. Prof Mulder is also a member of the ELIXIR Scientific Advisory Board, which forms part of a major EU funded European initiative involving all the bioinformatics stakeholders in Europe and many others world-wide, and a founding member of the Global Organisation for Bioinformatics Learning, Education & Training (GOBLET). She is on the executive committee of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, as well as a number of review and advisory boards.
Dr. Nnodu, Obiageli
University of Abuja, Abuja, Nigeria.
Dr Obiageli Nnodu is the Associate Professor of Haemato-Oncology, Ag., Director for Centre for Sickle Cell Disease Research & Training, University of Abuja (CESRTA), and a Consultant Haematologist at University of Abuja Teaching Hospital. She is a Chevening Scholar with 29 years experience in the field of haematology and blood transfusion and recipient of several international fellowships at Imperial College of Medicine, London; Karolinska Institute & Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden; University Hospital, Lund, Sweden and the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland. She is a founding member of Sickle CHARTA, the Haemoglobinopathies Working Group of the Nigerian Society for Haematology and Blood Transfusion, the Sickle Cell Support Society of Nigeria (SCSSN), and The Nigerian SCD Network. In these capacities, she helped articulate a strategy for the control of sickle cell disease in Nigeria and worked with others to build a platform for multidisciplinary multi-institutional collaborative research in SCD. She also helped organize a highly successful international conference on SCD in June 2015 with a post conference UK-Nigeria Sickle Cell Disease Research Workshop in collaboration with the British High Commission, the University of Abuja and its affiliate hospitals and advocated for the establishment of CESRTA. She has served on various technical committees for the government on NCDs and completed a number national assignments related to sickle cell disease. As Vice Chairman of the SCSSN, she coordinates all in country activities of the Network including the training of media program persons and community health extension workers on SCD. She is Chair of Advocacy for Sickle Pan African Network (SPAN), a member of European Haematology Association, Union for International Cancer Control, African Organisation for Research & Training in Cancer and the Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians & Scientists. DrNnodu possesses significant strategic planning and capacity building skills. She has coordinated a number of multi-institutional and community based research projects including the DFID Funded DeLPHE Project. Her research focus is on the genetic determinants of co-morbidities associated with haemoglobin S and the control of SCD at community level.
Prof. Rahimy, Mohamed Cherif-Deen*
National SCD Institute, Cotonou, Benin.
Dr. Rahimy graduated from the Faculty of Health Sciences of Cotonou, Benin in 1982, following which he went to Paris in France, for extensive postgraduate training in Pediatrics in several teaching hospitals, where he was conferred Pediatrician in 1987 at “U.E.R Necker – EnfantsMalades” of the University Rene Descartes Paris V. He then practiced and furthered his training in Pediatrics Immunology and Hematology as Senior Registrar at the Teaching Clinic of Pediatric Immunology and Hematology in “Hôpital Robert Debre”, University Paris VII France, where he gained a lot of experiences in clinical management of all aspects of pediatric hematology and immunology, genetics, bone marrow transplantation, pediatrics HIV infection and malaria infection. He actively participated in many innovative treatment projects including the use of Human Cord Blood as source of Stem Cells for Bone Marrow Transplantation and the Concept of “PCR Conversion” which lead to the strategy of prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV. In January 1993, after a sophisticated training and despite several solicitations to pursue his career in France, he decided to return back to Benin, where he was perfectly aware that the conducive environment and research facilities he was used to did not exist. Upon return, in addition to teaching Pediatrics at the University of Benin and practicing at the National Teaching Hospital in Cotonou, he set up the first Neonatal Screening Program for Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) as well as a Comprehensive Clinical Care Program in Sub-Saharan Africa. The specifically tailored strategy he implemented has been deemed relevant to the unique conditions of African countries with outstanding scientific papers published in top-ranking journals in the field. He organized several regional training courses and international Congresses in Cotonou on this inherited condition, which obviously is a neglected but important contributor to the burden of under-five deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa. His determination and skill of advocacy convinced his Health Authorities and Government to institutionalize a National Institute devoted to research training and care of children and pregnant women with SCD. On the occasion of the inauguration of this unique institution, he brought together SCD clinical and research experts (more than 80) from around the world to form a global network to advance patients’ care through global research. His actions were also instrumental to the recognition of sickle cell anemia as a public health problem by the Heads of State of the Africa Union, the World Health Assembly, and by United Nations General Assembly. Finally, he led the Writing Committee of “Sickle cell disease prevention and control: A Strategy for the WHO African Region” adopted by the general assembly of the Ministries of Health during the WHO-AFRO regional Committee (Resolution AFRO/RC60/8, August 30, 2010).
Dr. Sangeda, Raphael*
Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Raphael is a lecturer and Head of the Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology at the MUHAS node. Raphael graduated with a B. Pharm from Dr MGR Medical University, Chennai, India in 1998. In 2005, he obtained his MSc in Medical Microbiology at JomoKenyata University of Agriculture and Technology. In 2005 he joined KatholiekeUniversiteit Leuven, now KU Leuven, in Belgium where he graduated in M. Pharm (2006), MSc. Bioinformatics (2008) and PhD (2013) on the use of Bioinformatics approaches to predict HIV drug resistance. His interest at MWP includes the use of Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS) in investigating the ‘Genetic epidemiology of Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Hepatitis B virus and Hepatitis C virus infections in individuals with Sickle Cell Disease.