SPEAKERS
Dr. Raman Velayudhan
Dr Raman Velayudhan, MSc, PhD is at present Head, Veterinary Public Health, Vector Control and Environment unit (VVE) unit, Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases of World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva. He is the global focal point for dengue prevention and control, Integrated Vector Management and coordinates other arboviral vector-borne disease control activities at WHO. In his present assignment, he also supports the secretariat for the Vector Control Advisory Group. He joined WHO in 1989 and has worked in the Solomon Islands, Fiji and the Philippines. His expertise includes malaria control, filariasis elimination and control of soil-transmitted helminths and schistosomiasis.
Before joining WHO, Raman worked for the Govt of India at the Vector Control Research Centre, Pondicherry (WHO collaborating centre). His primary responsibility included evaluating insecticides and teaching master’s degree students of Medical Entomology. He has also undertaken in-service training in Tropical Epidemiology. He has over 35 peer-reviewed publications and has steered the development of several documents and guidelines for WHO.
prof. Dr. Rita R. Colwell
Dr. Rita Colwell’s interests are focused on global infectious diseases, water, and health and she developed an international network to address emerging infectious diseases and water issues, including safe drinking water for both the developed and developing world, in collaboration with Safe Water Network. Major interests include K-12 science and mathematics education, graduate science and engineering education, and increased participation of women and minorities in science.
Dr. Colwell served as the 11th Director of the National Science Foundation, 1998-2004. Dr. Colwell has been awarded 63 honorary degrees from institutions of higher education, and is the recipient of the 2005 Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, the 2006 National Medal of Science, the 2010 Stockholm Water Prize, the 2017 Vannevar Bush Award, the 2017 International Prize for Biology from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and the 2018 Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize of Singapore.
Dr. Colwell has held many advisory positions in the U.S. Government, nonprofit science policy organizations, as well as in the international scientific research community. She is a nationally-respected scientist and educator, and has authored or co-authored 20 books and more than 800 scientific publications. She produced the award-winning film, Invisible Seas, and has served on editorial boards of numerous scientific journals.
Dr. Colwell has served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the American Academy of Microbiology and also President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Washington Academy of Sciences, the American Society for Microbiology, the Sigma Xi National Science Honorary Society, the International Union of Microbiological Societies, and the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS). Dr. Colwell is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society of Canada, the Royal Irish Academy, the Bangladesh Academy of Science, the Indian Academy of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.
Born in Beverly, Massachusetts, Dr. Colwell holds a B.S. in Bacteriology and an M.S. in Genetics from Purdue University, and a Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of Washington.
prof. Dr. Yang Kun
Yang Kun, PhD, deputy director of Jiangsu Institute of Parasitic Diseases (JIPD), P.R. China. Professor of schistosomiasis control and global health. He is secretary general of the Jiangsu Provincial Endemic Diseases Association, and president of the professional committee of schistosomiasis. He has published over 100 peer reviewed original research articles and a variety of specialist books on schistosomiasis control and elimination in China and Africa. Since 2016, he was in charge of the China-African Project of schistosomiasis control and elimination in Zanzibar. He has received national and international awards for his work
prof. Dr. Jun (Joe) Cao
Dr. Jun Cao is a Professor at Jiangsu Institute of Parasitic Diseases (JIPD), PR. China, Chair of Jiangsu Preventive Medicine Association, Parasitology Committee, Vice Chair of Jiangsu Medical Association Tropical Medicine and Parasitology Committee. He started his career of malaria control/elimination and research in Jiangsu Province since 2000. At present, he serves as the Director in JIPD, carrying out scientific research on malaria and other parasitic diseases, mainly interested in epidemiology, diagnosis, drug-resistant, parasite and host interaction, which provide better understanding on the parasite and evidence for control/elimination. Since JIPD provides technical training not only for local technicians, but also for international health workers from Africa and Southeast Asia, more than 40 international training courses have been held and about 2000 participants have been trained in JIPD. He serves as the Director of WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training on Malaria Elimination which is based at JIPD. He has about 20 years’ experience in training, organizing and teaching.
Dr. Fredros Okumu
Dr. Fredros Okumu is Director of Science at Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania. He is a public health researcher and a mosquito biologist working on improved approaches for control of vector-borne diseases. Fredros is also passionate about improving ecosystems for young researchers in Africa. He also serves in various advisory groups including WHO Malaria Policy Advisory Group (MPAG) and the Gates Foundation’s Malaria Strategic Advisory Panel (MSAP).
Dr. P’ng Loke
Dr. P’ng Loke completed his Ph.D. research at the University of Edinburgh on IL-4 activated macrophages responding to Brugia malayi filarial parasites in 2001. He then did postdoctoral research on costimulatory molecules at University of California-Berkeley and studied macrophage responses to different parasites at University of California-San Francisco. In 2009, he joined New York University School of Medicine as an assistant professor and was a tenured associate professor before he joined the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases as a senior investigator in 2020.
Ir. dr. Khairunnisa hasikin
Ir. Dr. Khairunnisa Hasikin received her B.Eng (Hons.) in Electrical Engineering and Master of Engineering Science in Biomedical Engineering from Universiti Malaya (UM). She obtained her Ph.D. in medical informatics from School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). She began her academic career in 2009 as tutor at Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, UM before leaving for Ph.D. study leave under SLAB/SLAI scheme in 2011. She is now serving as senior lecturer at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, UM since October 2014.
On professional qualification, she is a Professional Engineer (PEng) in Electrical Engineering discipline registered with the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM), and a Chartered Engineer (CEng) registered with Institute of Mechanical Engineers, UK.
Her main research area is on artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, image processing in various fields with specific interest in medical/healthcare applications. She is also channelling her expertise in AI for sustainability management projects specifically in discovering novel pollutant markers for intelligent environmental decision systems. In 2020, she was awarded the MRUN Young Researcher Grant for academics below 40 years old in Malaysia that is worth MYR250,000 (only 6 projects were selected throughout Malaysia)
She has been appointed as Adjunct Lecturer at the Faculty of Engineering, Technology and Built Environment, UCSI from June 2021 till June 2022. Recently, she has been invited to serve as a Guest Editor for Journal of Healthcare Engineering - a Q2 ISI journal and Frontiers in Public Health – a Q1 ISI journal. Besides, Dr. Khairunnisa is also being invited to serve as a reviewer for several refereed journals. To date, she has reviewed more than 50 manuscripts for ISI journals and proceedings. She is also being invited as an examiner for master and doctoral theses, both internal and external.