Shabir Madhi (MD, PhD) is Dean of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. He is also Director of the South African Medical Research Council Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit (Wits-VIDA) and co-director of the African Leadership in Vaccinology Expertise (ALIVE). He is a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (2012) and Royal Society of South Africa (2016). He is past-president of the World Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases; and past Director of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases. He is recipient of the European Society for Infectious Diseases Young Investigators Award (2006), National Science and Technology Forum: TW Kambule Award (2009), National Research Foundation: Transformation of the Science Cohort (2010), South African Medical Research Council: Life Time Achievement Award (Platinum Medal; 2013) and European and Developing Countries Clinical Trial Partnership award for Scientific Leadership (2016); Academy of Science South Africa (ASSAf) Gold Medal (2021) and National Science and Technology Forum Life Time Award (2022).
Prof. Fawole’s research activities are driven by a need to maintain the quality and ensure the safety of fresh horticultural food crops and add value through agroprocessing. He has authored over 120 research papers and conference proceedings, with an H-index of 32 and over 3100 citations. Prof Fawole serves on the editorial boards for reputable journals. He has received numerous global recognitions, including TWAS Young Affiliate, Italy (2016), STS Future Leadership, Japan (2016; 2020), Africa Academy of Sciences (2020) and a cohort of the Africa Science Leadership Programme (2021). Prof Fawole is a Technical Board Member of CIGR Section VI. He co-chaired the 3rd all Africa Postharvest Congress and Exhibition hosted by the African Union Commission in 2021 and convened the Vth International Symposium on Pomegranate and Minor Mediterranean Fruits in 2022. Prof Fawole is the current Chair of the ISHS working group. In addition to being a Full Professor at the University of Johannesburg, he holds Professorial (Extraordinary) appointments at the Tshwane University of Technology and Stellenbosch University, South Africa, for capacity building and skill transfer.
Iqbal Parker is founding director of the ICGEB Cape Town Component (2007 - 2016); General Secretary of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2021 - present); founder sec. gen. of the Federation of African Societies for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (1996 - 2012); vice President of Acad. Science of SA (2010 - 2016); Vice President of the African Academy of Sciences (2020 - present). He obtained his PhD from UCT in 1979. He and his team have identified a novel transcription factor responsible for transcriptional modulation of collagen gene expression and identified several genetic polymorphisms that are important in gene-environment interaction in the aetiology of oesophageal cancer. His awards include: DST/NRF research chair in cancer biology, an MRC funded Oesophageal Cancer Research Group; Outstanding Scientist Award by the Natl. Science and Technology Forum; Gold Medal from the South African Soc. for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Oettle Memorial Medal from the Cancer Association of SA. He is founding member of ASSAf and member of Islamic World Academy of Sciences.