Zichichi, em. prof. of Adv. Phys., U. of Bologna, has authored over 1100 sci. papers incl. 7 discoveries, 5 inventions, 3 original ideas which opened new avenues in high energy subnuclear physics and 4 high-precision measurements of fundamental physics properties. Among the discoveries: nuclear antimatter; among the inventions: an electronic circuit for time-of-flight measurements with a precision of seventy thousandth of a billionth of a second; among the original ideas that which brought to the discovery of the third column in the fundamental structure of the Universe. The great projects of European Physics (LEP and LAA at CERN, GRAN SASSO at INFN, HERA at DESY) are linked to his name, for his seminal contributions in their conception, study and implementation phases. He has been in charge of high-level offices and received 102 prizes, distinctions and medals in 15 countries.

Abdool Karim, is a leading South African infectious diseases epidemiologist whose seminal contributions spanning over three decades have shaped the global HIV prevention landscape, notably in prevention technologies for women. She demonstrated that ARVs prevent sexually transmitted HIV that laid the foundation for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP); and has provided insights in Africa and globally on the impact of Covid-19 on HIV and in the evaluation of Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (USA); and Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences, Royal Society of South Africa, Academy of Science of South Africa and the African Academy of Science. Her research contributions have been recognized nationally and internationally with over 30 honours including the 2014 TWAS-Lenovo Prize; the John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award; the 2020 Christophe Mérieux Prize; and the 4th Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize for Medical Research. She is the Associate Scientific Director of CAPRISA; Professor in Clinical Epidemiology, Columbia University, and Pro-Vice Chancellor for African Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Abdool Karim is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, in South Africa, and Director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa. In the Unites States, he is a Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, at Columbia University and an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Cornell University. He obtained his medical degree in 1983 and his PhD in 1999 from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. His scientific contributions are in HIV prevention (microbicides and vaccines) and AIDS treatment, including tuberculosis co-infections. His awards include the 2008 TWAS Prize in Medical Sciences; the 2011 Science-for-Society Gold Medals of the Academy of Science of South Africa; the 2015 African Union’s "Kwame Nkrumah Continental Scientific Award”, 2020, he received the Maddox Prize for his work defending science during both the HIV and Covid-19 pandemics, and the 2021 Special VinFuture Prize for Developing Country Innovators. He is a member of the World Health Organization Strategic and Technical Committee on HIV and Viral Hepatitis, the Academy of Science of South Africa, the African Academy of Science, the US National Academy of Medicine, among others.

Abdul-Ghani received a bachelor's degree in medical laboratory sciences from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sana’a University (Yemen), in 1998. He pursued his postgraduate studies at Alexandria University, obtaining a Master of public health sciences in 2010 and a PhD in applied and molecular parasitology in 2014. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sana’a University. He served as a principal investigator/co-investigator on several research projects funded by TDR/EMRO and WHO, contributing to his professional expertise in study design, proposal development, research implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and statistical analysis. He published several original articles, reviews, perspectives, and editorials in internationally recognized journals, besides serving as a reviewer and editorial board member for several indexed journals. He served as a member of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on In Vitro Diagnostics (SAGE IVD) from August 2018 to July 2022 and contributed to a number of WHO documents and reports.

Alpers was educated at Adelaide U. and Cambridge U., UK (Makin scholar). He is emeritus professor of international health at Curtin U. in Perth, Australia. He was previously: John Curtin distinguished professor, Curtin U.; research officer, Kuru Research, Okapa, Territory of New Guinea 1961-63; visiting scientist at NIH, Bethesda, Maryland 1964-67; research fellow, dept. of microbiology, Univ. of Western Australia, Perth 1968-76; and dir. of the Papua New Guinea Inst. of Medical Research 1977-2000. His awards include: Medal, Collѐge de France; Macdonald Medal, Royal Society Trop. Med. Hyg., London; Queensland Inst. Med. Res. Fellow; PNG Inst. Med. Res. Fellow; Hon. Internatl. Fellow, Am. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg.; Inaugural Life Member, Med. Soc. Papua New Guinea; Fellow, Royal Society of London and Australian Acad. of Science; Companion of the Order of the Star of Melanesia (PNG); and Officer of the Order of Australia.

Dr Abraham Aseffa is a Senior Scientist (formerly Director) at the Armauer Hansen Research Institute in Ethiopia. He graduated in Medicine from Addis Ababa University (1984) and studied Microbiology at the University of Leipzig, Germany (Dr. med, 1990, summa cum laude). He taught Microbiology at Gondar College of Medical Sciences (Ethiopia) until 1998 when he joined the WHO Immunology and RT at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland for postdoctoral research. He moved to AHRI in Addis as senior scientist in 2001. Dr Aseffa has conducted several studies on infectious disease microbiology, immunology and epidemiology in collaboration with national and international partners (>300 publications). He has keen interest in postgraduate student training. He works closely with the Min of Health in Ethiopia on capacity building for clinical and operational research and on translation of research findings into practice. Dr Aseffa has also been active on strengthening regional partnership particularly in clinical trial capacity building and health research ethics. He has served in several WHO/TDR, WHO and EDCTP advisory bodies. He is a member of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences (EAS).

Balali-Mood (MD, Tehran Univ., 1968; PhD, Edinburgh Univ., 1981) is prof. of medicine and clinical toxicology; co-founder, Medical Toxicology Research Ctr (MTRC).and Clin Toxicol Dept (CTD), Mashhad Univ. of Medical Sciences (MUMS); clin. toxicol. adviser, OPCW and IPCS-WHO. His previous positions include: asst. prof. and dir. medical education, Ferdowsi Univ. Mashhad; res. fellow and lecturer, Edinburgh Univ.; dirs. MTRC and CTD, MUMS; and pres., Iranian Soc. of Toxicology and Asia Pacific Assoc. of Medi. Toxicol. He has received Int. and Nat. awards for teaching, research and medical care by Iranian authorities and Intl. organizations including Natl. Research Medal, Int Prof. Alireza Yalda Found. Award 2011 and The 2015 OPCW-The Hague Award. The National Elite Foundation recognized him as the Father of Toxicology of Iran and held commemoration in his birth place (Birjand, Mood) on 29 October 2016. Chief editor, JBUMS and assoc. editor of AJM. His membership includes: Iranian Medical Council; Iranian Acad. of Medical Sciences; Ir. Soc. Toxicology; Europ. Assoc. Poison Centr. Clin Toxicol; Asia pacific Association of Medical Toxicology and Program Advisory Committee, IPCS-WHO.

Banu's research focuses on mycobacterial infections, epidemiology, diagnostics, and therapeutics, all fields where she has fostered international and national collaborations. She is currently a senior scientist and head of the program for emerging infections under the Infectious Diseases Division at icddr,b, where she has been working since 1991. Among her achievements are establishing the state-of-the-art BSL 2+ mycobacteriology laboratory at icddr,b; conducting the first-ever MDR-TB sentinel surveillance in Southeast Asia; bringing in new tools and technology in advancing TB diagnosis and management; research on TB prevalence and transmission in prison settings; standardizing stool processing method for Xpert MTB/RIF assay; and the successful development and implementation of an innovative social enterprise model for TB diagnosis and management in the private sector which has been incorporated in the National Strategic Plan. Banu is a fellow of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, and serves as a member in several scientific/programme committees, and has over 120 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Baralle (PhD 1969, U. of Buenos Aires -UBA) has been director general at Intl. Centre for Genetic Eng. and Biotech. (ICGEB) in Trieste, Italy (2004-14). He now leads the ICGEB RNA Biology Group and is vis. prof. in Buenos Aires. From 1968 to 1974 studied Medicine at UBA and completed his MD in 1984 at the U. of Naples. Previously, he worked at the Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas Fundación Campomar and at the MRC Lab. of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK. From 1980 to 1990, he was university lecturer of pathology at Oxford and fellow of Magdalen College. In 1990 he joined ICGEB. He is an elected member of EMBO and of the Argentine Acad. of Sciences. In 1977 he published the first complete primary structure of an eukaryotic mRNA, βglobin mRNA. His current research focuses on RNA splicing and RNA-protein interactions in neurodegenerative diseases. He has published over 220 papers.

F. J. Barrantes (MD, 1968; PhD, 1973, Univ. Buenos Aires). Current position: Head, Lab. Mol. Neurobiol., BIOMED, UCA-CONICET. Former joint head, Memb. Biophys. Unit, Barrantes-Neher-Sakmann, Max-Planck Inst. Biophys. Chem., Göttingen, Germany; dir., CONICET-Bahía Blanca, Arg.; dir., Inst. Biochem. Res., Arg.; full prof., Natl. Univ. Sur; UNESCO chair Biophys. & Molec. Neurobiol.; adj. faculty, NCBS, Bangalore; top-ranking res., CONICET, Arg.. Awards include: TWAS (Biol. 1988); John Simon Guggenheim Mem. Found.; Hum. Frontier Sci. Progr.; Royal Soc., UK; De Robertis Medal, Arg.; Alexander von Humboldt Awd., Germany; Premio Uniao Latina, Portugal; Konex Awd., Arg.; Sarojini Damodaran Intl. Trust, India; Consecration Awd., Natl. Acad. Sci. Arg.; TWAS Medal, 2013: Ciencia Sem Fronteiras, Brazil, 2015; 2016 B. Houssay Award, CEDIQUIFA; UCA Award; 2017 Arg. Biochem. Assoc. Prize; 2021 G. Weber Award, Biophys. Soc. USA; 2021 Master of Medicine, Arg. Memberships: Natl. Acad. of Medicine and Natl. Acad. of Scs., Arg.; ABC, Brazil; Eur. Acad. Sci.; INSA, India; Lat. Am. Acad. Sci. Council member of ACAL, IUPAB, TWAS and ISN.

Barreto completed his Medical Studies and a Master in Public Health at Federal University of Bahia, Brazil. He was awarded a PhD from the University of London. He's a Professor at UFBa and a Senior Investigator at Oswaldo Cruz Foundation. He leads a multidisciplinary research group studying poverty-related infectious diseases, allergy and asthma, the environmental and social determinants of health, health inequalities, and the impact of population-based health and social interventions on health. Recently he set up the Center for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health-CIDACS where is housed the “100 million Brazilians cohort” aimed to evaluate the impact of social programs on health. He was a lead organizer of the Lancet Series on Brazil, published in 2011. He has published over 400 peer-reviewed papers and has supervised 25 successful PhD thesis. He is an elected fellow of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and of the World Academy of Sciences and an Honorary Professor at the LSHTM

Bayoumi was educated in Khartoum and the UK: medical degree (MB BS) 1967, PhD (biochemistry) 1973, MRC Path (clinical biochemistry) 1975 and FRC Path 1995. He is professor of Basic Medical Sci. at Mohamed Bin Rashid U. of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai Healthcare City, Dubai UAE. He was previously Professor of Biochemistry in the College of Medicine at Sultan Qaboos U. in Muscat, Oman (1998-2014). He was also previously assistant, associate and full professor at the U. of Khartoum, Sudan from 1977-91, and professor of biochemistry at United Arab Emirates U. from 1991-97. He has made important contributions to human genetics research in the Sudan, the study of genetic diseases, and in the genetic mapping of Joubert Syndrome and multiple epiphyseal dysplasia. His membership includes the Royal College of Pathologists and the Association of American Clinical Biochemistry.

Prof. Agnès Binagwaho, MD, MD (Ped), PhD, is pediatrician and the founding, retired vice-chancellor of the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) in Rwanda. She previously worked as the executive secretary of Rwanda National AIDS Control Commission, as permanent secretary of the Ministry of Health, and as the Minister of Health. She served as a senior advisor to the Director General of the World Health Organization. She is a senior lecturer at UGHE, at Harvard Medical School, and adjunct clinical professor at Dartmouth College, in the Unites States. She is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine and the World Academy of Sciences, and a fellow of the African Academy of Sciences. She is an Emerson Elder and has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles and was named among the 100 Most Influential African Women for 2020 and 2021.

Bouskela is Full Professor and Director of the Clinical Research Unit at the State University of Rio de Janeiro; Director of Technology and Innovation at the Rio de Janeiro State Foundation for Research Support; Member of the Managing Committee for Health at the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communication; Full Member of the National Academy of Medicine; Full Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences; Full Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts; Associate Member of the Académie Nationale de Médicine of France and recipient of the Tiradentes Medal given by the Government of Rio de Janeiro state. She obtained her PhD in 1978 at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro after spending 3 years at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN) and at University of Washington (Seattle, WA) and her Docent degree in 1992 at the University of Lund, Sweden.

Bozza is a senior investigator and head of Laboratory of Immunopharmacology at Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ), Brazil; she got her MD from the State University of Rio de Janeiro, and her PhD in cellular and molecular biology from the Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Brazil. She received postdoctoral training under Dr. Peter Weller at Harvard Medical School as Pew Latin American Fellow. Bozza is a senior scholar of the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and a member of the Brazilian Academy of Science. She has mentored the work of 24 postdoctoral, 29 PhD and 30 MSc students. Her group's long-term goal is to conduct translational studies that contribute new knowledge on the interplay of metabolic and inflammatory mechanisms in the pathogenesis of emergent and/or severe infectious diseases, aiming at identifying biomarkers and therapeutic targets, including dengue, Zika and COVID-19. In response to the COVID-19 emergency, her group characterized mechanisms involved in thromboinflammation and hypercoagulability in severe COVID-19 patients, and contributed to defining immunometabolic mechanisms involved in infection.

Campos de Carvalho was Director of the Department of Science and Technology at the Ministry of Health in Brazil. He was scientific director of the National Cardiology Institute and is Professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He graduated in medicine and obtained his PhD at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He did postdoctoral work at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine where he now holds a visiting position as Professor. He received 3 national prizes from the Brazilian Federation of Experimental Biology Societies and the Heart Institute (Incor) Prize for his work on cell therapies in cardiac diseases. He was a Fogarty Fellow and is a fellow of the American Heart Association. He was in the Council of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (2009-2013) and is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. He has published more than 200 papers in indexed journals, edited 3 books and 25 book chapters. He tutored 81 master, PhD and post-doctoral students

Chandak, a physician scientist, is the former director of the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, and Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose Fellow at the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree in biochemistry from the Institute of Medical Sciences, at Banaras Hindu University, and his PhD in biochemistry from Osmania University. He is a Fellow of all four National Science Academies in India. His research interests include understanding the genetic and epigenetic basis of complex disorders of pancreas, including chronic pancreatitis, type 2 diabetes, and intermediate traits associated with them, with a focus on the foetal origins of adult common diseases. His other passion includes reducing the genetic burden on the society through the development of robust, rapid and affordable genetic tests for common genetic disorders like hemoglobinopathies and musculopathies and extending prenatal diagnosis and genetic counselling to the common man. He has developed a whole blood-based screening-cum-confirmatory molecular test that can help in early identification and aid to eliminate sickle cell anaemia In India.

Chang [M.D., 1974, National Taiwan University (NTU)] is Distinguished Chair Professor, NTU; past-president, Federation of the International Societies of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition; member of Hepatology and Pancreaticobiliary Working Group, Internal Medicine Topic Advisory Group for the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Disease, WHO. She provided the first evidence for hepatitis B vaccine as the first effective cancer preventive vaccine in human. Her prizes include Distinguished Achievement Award of American Association for the Study of Liver diseases (AASLD); The World Academy of Sciences Prize; ISI Citation Classic Award; Sheila Sherlock Award of the International Association for the Study of the Liver; Canadian Association for the Study of Liver / Canadian Liver Foundation Sass-Kortsak Award; Asian Pacific Primary Liver Cancer Expert Prof. JL Sung’s Award; Academician of Academia Sinica; Fellow of AASLD.

Chatterjee is a Professor of Pharmacology, Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, India. Upon completing her MBBS and MD from University of Calcutta, she received her PhD from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. Her work as a medical immunopharmacologist includes multiple aspects of Leishmania biology that includes (i) delineating the immunopathology of Post Kala-azar Dermal Leishmaniasis (PKDL), a disease unique to South Asia, and especially challenging as it has no animal model; (ii) development of diagnostic/prognostic objective molecular tools for monitoring anti-leishmanial therapy; and (iii) studying redox-dysfunction as an effective leishmanicidal approach. In sum, the thrust of Chatterjee’s work is translational research in Indian Leishmaniasis with a view towards facilitating a greater understanding of disease pathogenesis through worldwide collaborations across geographic borders, and supporting the ongoing kala-azar elimination programme. She is a member of four Indian science academies and has over 175 publications in leading International journals (Clin Infect Dis, J Invest Dermatol, J Clin Invest, J Inf Dis).

Chen (PhD, 1989, Saint-Louis Hospital, U. of Paris VII) is Vice Chairman, Standing Committee, Natl. People's Congress, China; hon. director, Shanghai Inst. of Hematology, Rui-Jin Hospital, and director, Shanghai Ctr. for Systems Biomedicine, SJTU. His honours include: HLHL Award for Sci. and Technol.; Prix de l'Oise, La Ligue Nationale contre le Cancer; Qiu-Shi Award for Outstanding Young Scientist; Prix Inserm Etranger; Officier, Ordre de la Légion d’honneur, France; 7th Annual Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research, Natl. Foundn. for Cancer Research, USA. He is a member of the Chin. Acad. of Scs.; for. assoc., Natl. Acad. of Sciences, US Inst. of Medicine, French Acad. of Sciences and Academia Europaea; ext. scientific member, Max-Planck Soc., Germany; and hon. fellow, UK Acad. of Med. Sciences.

Chen, a leading academic physician in the field of obstetrics and gynecology and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been focusing on reproductive endocrinology, infertility and birth defect for over 30 years. She has led a series of multi-center clinical trials on critical issues in assisted reproduction and put forward an evolving standard about frozen embryo in clinical In vitro fertilisation (IVF). She is also interested in the study of early embryo development and has advanced the understanding of activation mechanisms of the human embryonic genome and the establishment of chromatin structure during mammalian embryonic development. In addition, she owns patents of several innovative clinical technologies for assisted reproduction and birth defect prevention. She has published more than 300 peer-reviewed articles in journals including New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, Nature, Cell, Nature Genetics, etc.

Chen is professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong U. School of Medicine; director, State Key Laboratory of Medical Genomics;director, Shanghai Institute of Hematology, and director, National Research Center for Translational Medicine (Shanghai). She also holds the position of vice-chairman of the Chinese Medical Association. She graduated from Shanghai Second Medical University (presently Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine) as a bachelor in 1975, got her Master's degree in medicine in 1981 and DSc in 1989 at Paris VII University of France. Her study is focused on leukemia cytogenetics and molecular genetics. She has published more than 300 papers in high level peer reviewed international journals with over 21000 citations. Her awards include: Second Prize of National Natural Science Award by State Council of China; Top Ten Women Elites of China. Her membership includes: Chinese Academy of Engineering and French Academy of Medical Sciences.

Coutsoudis is a public health scientist and a Professor in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. She obtained her PhD in 1993 from the same university, and made important contributions on child nutrition, breastfeeding and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS. Her awards include: the 2004 Nutrition Society of South Africa Award for her contribution to nutrition research in South Africa; the 2005 Amnesty International South Africa for protecting human rights in South Africa; the 2006 Convocation of University of KwaZulu-Natal for her outstanding contribution to medical science and society; and the 2009 Science for Society Gold Medal of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa, of which she is a Fellow. She is also a Fellow of of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. In 2000, she established the first community-based breastmilk bank in South Africa to provide donor breastmilk to AIDS orphans, and was one of the founding members of the Human Milk Banking Association of South Africa, which she chairs. She is involved in putting in place low-cost technology for human milk banks.

Crombet (PhD,2004) is a Medical Doctor and Immunology Specialist (1997). Since 2009 she has been Medical Director of the Center of Molecular Immunology of Havana. She is Member of the Cuban Academy of Sciences; Senior Faculty of the Superior Institute of Medical Sciences of Havana; Member of the Board of Directors of Innovative Immunotherapy Alliance, a joint venture between US and Cuba; Member of the Cuban and Latin-American Societies of Immunology; Member of the Cuban and American Societies of Oncology. She has published more than 100 papers and participated in more than 200 international congresses as speaker. Crombet has received several times the annual National Award of the Cuban Academy of Sciences, the Technological Innovation Award of the Cuban Ministry of Science, and the TWAS Prize for Young Scientists in Developing Countries (2007). Crombet's main area of expertise is cancer immunotherapy and her work has contributed to the registration in Cuba and abroad of two cancer vaccines and two monoclonal antibodies for several epithelial tumors, autoimmune diseases and COVID-19. She is member of the international panel of experts on COVID-19 of the InterAcademy Partnership.

Daar is Prof. of clinical pub. health/global health/surgery at the Univ. of Toronto (UofT). He is member of UN Sec General's Sci Adv Brd. Went to med such in Uganda and London and obtained his PHD (DPhil) in transplant immunology/immunogenetics at Oxford U. In the Middle East, he helped start two med. schools. He has recently been found. chair, Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (2009-11) and was chair, Adv. Board, UN Univ. Intl. Inst. for Global Health. He was member, UNESCO Intl. Bioethics Comm. He holds the world record for performing the youngest cadaveric donor kidney transplant. His awards include UNESCO Avicenna Prize for Ethics in Science, Hunterian Prof., Roy Col. Surgeons and Anthony Miller Prize for Research Excellence at UofT. He chairs the Sci and Strategic Adv Brd of AESA. His current research studies how to avoid knowledge divides and the exploration of how genomics and other biotechnologies can be used effectively to ameliorate global health inequities.