The African Pharmacogenomics Consortium/Network (APN) was formally launched on the 6th September 2018 at the University of Cape Town. However, its formation can be traced to August 2003, when African scientific experts focusing on pharmacogenomics met in Nairobi, Kenya, with the aim of strengthening pharmacogenomics research in Africa, through collaborations and postgraduate students training. You can read more from a peer reviewed publication.
- Professor Collen Masimirembwa
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Professor Collen Masimirembwa has founded and leads the African Institute of Biomedical Science and Technology (AiBST). Currently, he is the President of the African Pharmacogenomics Consortium (APC). His research focuses on pharmacogenetics and clinical pharmacology. He demonstrated the clinical relevance of Africa’s genomic diversity, especially with respect to the safe use of anti-retroviral drugs.He is a Distinguished Professor of Health Sciences (Witwatersrand University, South Africa), and a Fellow of the Zimbabwe Academy of Sciences and the African Academy of Sciences. He received many awards including the HUGO Africa Award (2018). Prof. Masimirembwa studied at the University of Zimbabwe and the Karolinska Institute, Sweden (PhD). After having worked for AstraZeneca Pharmaceutical Company as a Principal Scientist for about 10 years, he returned to Africa.
- Professor Collet Dandara
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Prof Collet Dandara is biomedical scientist with extensive experience in pharmacogenomics of infectious and cardiovascular diseases in African populations. His research is in the field of Genomics, focusing on pharmacogenomics (PGx), genetic susceptibility and drug metabolism. Prof Dandara’s research has contributed to the understanding of the pharmacogenomics of antiretroviral drugs and currently his research Unit, is investigating the pharmacogenomics of cardiovascular diseases including hypertension and cancer. He is considered one of the leading experts in pharmacogenomics on the African continent with an international standing in the field. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf Fellow), a Fellow of the African Academy of Science (AAS-Fellow) and was part of the inaugural World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) Young Affiliate/Alumni (TYAN) Executive Committee (2016-2021). Collet is an Academic & Researcher in the Division of Human Genetics & a full member of the Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine, at the University of Cape Town. He has a track record of successful supervision to graduation of postgraduate students (Honours, MSc and PhD) level and has supervised to graduation over 30 Honours students, least 20 MSc students and more than 10 PhD students. His research group regularly hosts postdoctoral Research Fellows, contributing to human capacity development. He was a Finalist in the NSTF-Bilton Awards, in 2014, in the category of Human Capacity development. He is widely published with >160 publications in international peer-reviewed journals, accumulating Google Scholar H-index of 35 and an i10-index of 100. He has a good understanding of the higher education system in Africa & internationally, including the funding landscape. Professor Dandara serves on the Board of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), is on the Executive Committee of the African Society for Human Genetics (AfSHG) and is one of the founding members of the African Pharmacogenomics Network (APN). In 2021 he took over the leadership of the Southern African Society for Human Genetics (SASHG) as its Chair/President. Collet expresses a huge passion for knowledge generation, translation, and dissemination to the youth.
- Dr Fasinu, Pius S
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Dr. Fasinu is an Associate Professor of Pharmacology at the Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham with a broad background knowledge and experience in Pharmaceutical Sciences. Trained as a Pharmacist in Nigeria, he obtained his master’s degree in biopharmaceutics from the University of the Witwatersrand before completing his doctorate in pharmacology at the Stellenbosch University. Dr. Fasinu completed a predoctoral fellowship in drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK) at the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research (NIBR), Basel, Switzerland, and later joined the University of Mississippi’s school of pharmacy as a postdoctoral research associate. Prior to his current position, Dr Fasinu was an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology at Campbell University’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Dr. Fasinu’s research interest is in drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK), and pharmacogenomics. He teaches pharmacogenomics and its clinical applications.
- Dr Michelle Skelton
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Michelle is the Principal Investigator and the project lead for the DS-I Africa and H3Africa Coordinatng Centres. Her research background is in human and viral genomics with an emphasis on infectious disease, pharmacogenomics and virus restriction. She is passionate about forming cohesive networks within our international genomics and Data science consortia.
- Dr Victoria Nembaware
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Dr. Nembaware was officially appointed as the Project Manager for SADaCC in November 2017 after about 4 years as the H3Africa training coordinator. Vicky is the current secretary for the Africa Society of Human Genetics. She has a PhD in Bioinformatics and an MPhil in Monitoring and Evaluation, Vicky has research experience in Bioinformatics and in the Public Health field. She also has experience in designing, monitoring and evaluation of projects in the Information Communication Technology field (particularly in mHealth). She has developed mobile phone apps to support research and to promote engagement between researchers and the general public on heredity and health in Africa. She has experience developing curricula and training in genomics. Throughout her career, she has endevoured to build capacity in genomics and genomic medicine across Africa.
- Prof Yosr Haffani
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Dr Yosr Haffani is an Assistant Professor and a team leader of the research group Human Microbiome & Cancer.at the Higher Institute of Biotechnology Sidi Thabet (ISBST), University of Manouba UMA in Tunisia. She has 18 years of academic and research experiences in Canada. She received a PhD in Biology from University LAVAL, Canada and conducted postdoctoral positions at University of Toronto and TOP10 Lunenfeld Taunenbaum Research Institute in Toronto.She is a coordinator of the bilateral project Tunisia & South Africa MESRS-NRF 2019-2022 for the Molecular profiling of breast cancer for markers of genetic susceptibility and treatment response in Tunisian and South African populations.
- Dr Mohamed Nagy
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Mohamed Nagy is the head of the Personalized Medication Management Unit at the Children's Cancer Hospital 57357. He earned his Master's degree in Biotechnology from the American University in Cairo. He studied how specific genetic polymorphisms increase the risk of thrombosis in Egyptian patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). Mohamed is considered one of the experts in clinical pharmacogenetics and Nutrigenomics in the Middle East and Africa. He dedicated his genetic knowledge not only to patients but also to allowing healthy individuals to find the best sports and nutrition routine tailored to their unique individual genetic makeup to achieve the best health outcomes. Mohamed is the founder of Pharmacogenomics Access & Reimbursement Coalition (PARC) and the founder of the Standardizing Laboratory Practices in Pharmacogenomics (STRIPE). Currently, he is leading the Pharmacogenomics Research Network Developing Countries Committee for the area of the Middle East and Africa and is head of the IVPN-Personalized Medicine Listserv.
- Dr Aniwaa Obeng (to be completed)