Individuals

Member

Arti Ahluwalia is Associate Professor of Bioengineering at the Department of Information Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Pisa, affiliated with the Research Center “E. Piaggio and head of the Biomodels Group (www.centropiaggio.unipi.it). Although highly multidisciplinary in nature, her research has centered on the interaction between biological systems and man-made devices or structures focused towards the creation of organ and system models in-vitro. Ahluwalia has several papers published in international scientific journals (over 100) and numerous communications, reports, etc. She is the author of 15 patents on microfabrication, and on microfabricated multicompartmental bioreactors and has coordinated and participated in projects on human resource development, tissue engineering, biosensing and bioreactors for in-vitro models. With a strong focus on innovation, translational research and human resource development, she is also cofounder of two startup companies. Her main research activities are: In vitro models: Development of in in-vitro models of integrative pathophysiology and associated innovative materials and advanced cell culture systems. The driving force for this research is the necessity to develop meaningful models of healthy and disease tissue in order to better study and understand physiopathological processes and the principle of the 3Rs. Innovation in Biomedical Engineering: Cofounded Kirkstall Ltd. UK, which has industrialized 3 inventions patented by Ahluwalia and her group. Recently she cofounded a University spin off company IVTech srl, dedicated to the commercialization of innovative technology for in-vitro cell culture. Human Resource Development: Having been brought up in Africa, she has maintained an interest in capacity building in the developed world and have contributed to the establishment of Biomedical Engineering courses in Indonesia and the Philippines. She is also a founding member of the Africa Biomedical Engineering Consortium dedicated to improving healthcare in Africa through reinforcement of human capacity in engineering academia and the use of open source techniques and technology for designing biomedical devices.

Member

Akinniyi Adediran Osunto

Akinniyi Osuntoki was the Acting Head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Medicine, University of Lagos (2012-2014). He is an Associate Professor of Biochemistry. As acting departmental Head, he built a multidisciplinary team of engineers, clinicians, medical scientists and others to run a postgraduate degree programme. He has been part of various multidisciplinary collaborations which have produced Ph.D.s in diverse fields. These successful collaborations indicated that a multidisciplinary approach to scientific investigation and problem solving provides the most innovative and effective solutions to complex medical problems and conditions.

He currently serves as the Site Principal Investigator for the NIH/FIC D43 grant “Developing Innovative Interdisciplinary Biomedical Engineering Programs in Africa” and is a co-investigator on the NIH/FIC-funded Medical Education Partnership Initiative in Nigeria (MEPIN 2) grant “ Building Research And Innovation in Nigeria’s Science (BRAINS) which has Biomedical Engineering as one of the focus research areas.

Member

Atwine Daniel

Dr Atwine Daniel is a dedicated African biomedical researcher that has been involved in Tuberculosis/HIV and Malaria International Clinical trials, diagnostic and Operational studies sponsored by EDCTP, MSF-France, St. George’s University of London, INTERTB, MRC and ANRS since joining MSF-Epicentre in 2007. As an alumni, has kept strong roots with in Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) were he did his Bachelors in Medicine and Surgery.

He is inspired and committed to the cause of building better healthcare systems for generations to come, a passion that has guided both his academic and professional drive. He attained a Master’s program in Public Health Methodologies (MPH(M)) and Postgraduate diploma courses in Advanced Public Health Methodologies and in Communication at Universite’ Libre De Bruxelles (ULB) also called The Free University of Brussels in Belgium. To further his biomedical research and innovation management skills, he undertook an MPhil in Science and Technology at CREST/Stellenbosch University in 2014 and now a PHD in Epidemiology at Universite’ Montpellier1 (UM1), France, with focus on innovative TB therapeutics.

Passionate to further his research experience and capacity building of aspiring researchers, he has continued to work with MSF-Epicentre as a Medical Epidemiologist but also with MUST in various capacities, that is, both as an undergraduate and postgraduate Lecturer/internal examiner, and chaired the initial Adhoc committee for planning and advocating for Biomedical Engineering (BME) training initiation.

He has expertise in Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Infection control, Research initiation and management, Epidemiological programming and Data-analysis, research uptake, and evaluation, Clinical trial initiation/management, Science communication and Health Service Management and evaluation.

He joined African Biomedical Engineering Consortium (ABEC) at its initiation in 2012 and has since represented MUST but also as University contact person for ABEC, has been involved in students’ preparation and mentorship in Health Innovations. In ABEC, he has been involved in students’ innovation review and selection processes, mentor and part of the Secretariat since 2013 as a Secretary General, with responsibility for ABEC coordination and organization of the Design Competitions and Innovators Summer Schools (ISS). He recalls moments of joy when MUST students won awards on their first representation in ISS-2014 and also in 2015.

Member

Carmelo De Maria

Carmelo De Maria is a post-doc researcher at the Research Center “E. Piaggio”, University of Pisa, working on the integration of different additive manufacturing technologies, such as hydrogel plotting, inkjet printing and electrospinning. After a brilliant university career (both Bachelor and Master degree in biomedical engineering magna cum laude, with results protected by national and international patents), De Maria received his PhD in Chemical and Material Engineering at University of Pisa in 2012, working about a development of a new microfabrication technique for Tissue Engineering application. De Maria is co-founder and president of the FabLab Pisa, a group of people, which comprises researchers, post-doc, technicians and students with the aim at research for prototyping and prototyping for research exploiting open source software and hardware solutions. In particular he advocates the Open Source approach in the development of biomedical devices, as co-organizer and lecturer of the Innovators’ Summer School, under the sponsorship of the United Nation Economic Commission for Africa.

Member

David Malombe Mutia

Professional Back Ground Jomo Kenyatta University Of Agriculture And Technology – Award: Master Of Science In Mechanical Engineering (Industrial Engineeering Option) Egerton University – Award: Bachelor Of Industrial Technology (Medical Engineering Option) Mombasa Polytechnic – Award: Diploma In Medical Engineering Area of Research Facilities maintenance management in major public and private hospitals in Kenya.

Member

Dawit Assefa Haile

Dr. Dawit Assefa Haile received the B.Sc. degree in Mathematics (minor in Physics) from Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1999. He received the M.Sc. degree in Mathematics in the Applications of Modeling in the Natural and Social Sciences Graduate Program from Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, in 2003 and the Ph.D. degree in Applied Mathematics (Scientific Computing) from the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, in 2007. He worked as a Post-Doctoral Fellow and as a Research Associate in the Radiation Physics Department, Radiation Medicine Program at Princess Margaret Hospital, University Health Network where he established single as well as multi-parametric MR image feature based algorithms for use in tissue classification, segmentation and also response quantification of patients treated for high grade brain cancers. In 2011, he joined the UHN Bio-photonics Program as a Research Associate at the Ontario Cancer Institute (OCI), UHN where he worked on development of an automated scheme for use in identification and classification of chronic wounds. Dr. Haile’s major research interests include signal and image analysis, color image processing, medical image analysis, scientific computing, and bioinformatics. Most recently, his collaborative research efforts involve translationally-driven imaging research that exploits advanced mathematical and image analysis assets for applications in preclinical and clinical biomedicine research. Dr. Haile is currently an Assistant Professor and Chair of the Biomedical Computing Division at the Center of Biomedical Engineering, Addis Ababa Institute of Technology, Addis Ababa University.

Member

Edwin Andione Khundi

Edwin Andione Khundi is both Biomedical Engineer and Mechanical Engineer. He studied his MSc in Biomedical Engineering at University of Strathclyde, UK in 2015. He also studied his BSc in Mechanical Engineering at University of Malawi –The Polytechnic in 2014. He is currently working as a lecturer and Head of Engineering Department at Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST). The engineering Department at MUST offers three undergraduate engineering programs namely: Chemical, Biomedical and Materials Engineering. He has been involved in different novel research projects such as “development of software applications to be incorporated in motion capture systems for visualisation and parameter calculations for spine geometry of patients with scoliosis”, “mapping and modelling of care flow of patients with diabetes retinopathy, design of hybrid power plant for hospitals and schools to mitigate power outage and climate change problems” and many other projects related to renewable energy, food processing, chemical engineering and materials engineering. His team has specialised professionals in fields of biomedical engineering, materials and metallurgy engineering, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, food processing, manufacturing and software engineering.

The team is collaborating with both international and local universities such as University of Strathclyde and University of Malawi in terms of implementation of some of the projects. Edwin Khundi is currently pursuing his split site PhD degree programme in Biomedical Engineering at University of Strathclyde.

Member

Gizeaddis Lamesgin Simegn

Gizeaddis Lamesgin was born in July 07, 1987 in East Gojjam, Ethiopia and attended his High school education in Debremarkos Preparatory school. After completing high school in 2006 he joined Jimma University and studied Electrical Engineering from September 2006 – June 2010. Then he was hired in this department for assistant lecturer position and has served until March 2012 in the department by lecturing undergraduate students, advising students for their final year project and participating in the departments extracurricular activities. In March 2012 Gizeaddis has joined the Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa institute of Technology, Center of Biomedical Engineering for Postgraduate education. He studied his master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from March 2012 to July 2014 and he was hired as a part-time assistant lecturer in the center of Biomedical Engineering in the meantime. After completing the master’s program he went back to Jimma University in September 2014 and is working as a Lecturer in the Department of Biomedical Engineering until now. Gizeaddis has been working in different design projects and published a conference paper in Afro-European Conference for Industrial Advancement series. He is an Executive committee member of Ethiopian Society of Biomedical Engineers since May 2015. He working in Curriculum development for Biomedical Imaging master’s program to be launched in September 2016. Gizeaddis got an admission in university of Cape Town, South Africa for his PhD studies in Biomedical Engineering for September 2016.

Member

June Madete

Brief track record June Madete is a Biomedical engineer specializing in biomechanics, a researcher and senior lecturer at Kenyatta University with special interest and expertise in collections, analysis and interpretation of gait data using various motion analysis software and hardware. Her previous research involved combination of this technique with animal research in the field of euro science, video fluoroscopy, x-ray and CT data. In 2011-2012 , she did a study that looked at a specific group of patients who underwent total knee replacement, the study aimed at understanding the relationship between surgical accuracy and joint function. Much of her research is intimately linked to Biomechanics of the lower limb. She seeks to develop biomechanics within Kenya through knowledge and skill transfer with students, lectures and scientists across various sets of expertise. She has served as member on various sub-committee looking into the establishment of various policy’s and standard to be followed at the newly build Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral university hospital. In addition she was part of the local organising committee for the International Conference on Appropriate Technology, committee in charge of developing a dialysis centre at Kenyatta university, and that in charge of developing a state of the art 3-D printing innovation centre for research and training One of Dr Madete ‘s specialities is Motion Capture a topic she became immersed in when she worked as a research associate following graduation. Since then she has trained {students, teachers, lecturers} at Cardiff University, Egerton University (Kenya), Kenyatta University (Kenya), and Addis Ababa Institute of Technology. She previously worked for Egerton University, firstly as a Senior Technologist and then as a Lecturere. Dr. Madete received her Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Medical Engineering her Ph.D in the same specialising in Biomechanics, motion capture, imaging studies and patient data collection from the Cardiff University, Wales, United kingdom. She is the current Coordinator of African Biomedical Engineering Consortium.

Member

Okuonzi John

Eng. Dr(s). Okuonzi John, the programme coordinator who successfully coordinated all activities pertaining to the running of the biomedical engineering programme. Currently a Lecturer at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Kyambogo University, and Coordinator of the Biomedical Engineering Programme. Okuonzi completed a Phd in Information Technology majoring in m-health and has is also a PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering, started in Ghent University and sandwich with Institut Superieur de Technologies in Burkina Faso. He has: Good knowledge of Educational Management and Capacity Building. Good skills on PC, Soft & Hardware Systems, Network Designing and Management, Web-Design, Database Management Systems and Programming for Education. Experience in Educational Project Management, Curriculum Development and Management of Engineering Programs Experience in Instructional Design and E-learning Environments like Blackboard and Moodle using Multimedia and Hypermedia Educational applications software. Experience in Electromechanical/Biomedical Engineering Systems Design, Fabrication and Production Methods, and Applications to Real Problems Solving. He is initiator of two Biomedical programme at Kyambogo University and currently the lead researcher in the computerization process of Kyambogo University. Was intrumemental in coordinating the activities the Biomedical Engineering Summer school co-hosted by Kyambogo University and Makerere University held in Kampala in 2012. Developed the first ABEC website. Has initiated and coordinated collaborative links for building capacity in the field of biomedical engineering in Uganda, particularly in. Facilitating information exchange and creation of learning platforms; Facilitating and coordinating the Biomedical training of trainers; Mobilizing resources to expand Biomedical engineering training activities; the development of the Bachelors Programme to be started in August, 2016

Member

Philip Kangogo Talam

Philip Kangogo Talam received B.Sc.(1995) degree in Agricultural Engineering( Power Systems and Machinery) from Egerton University and M.Phil (2005) degrees in Physics (Electronics, Signal Processing and Microprocessors) from Moi University. He is currently finalizing a Doctor of Philosophy (D.Phil) in Physics (Semiconductor device physics and fabrication, Semiconductor Sensors, Microprocessors, Signal generation and propagation and Signal Processing) from University of Eldoret. Since 1995, he has worked in different Kenyan Government departments until 2006 when he joined to teach and research in the Universities. He has been teaching courses on Digital and Analog Electronics, Signal Processing, Power systems and Machines, Instrumentation-Measurement and Control, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning. His main research area includes semiconductor sensors, Signal Processing and Micro-Processing. He is currently a lecturer in the department of Agricultural and Bios-systems Engineering and also coordinate ABEC activities within the University.

Member

Philippa Ngaju Makobore

Ms. Philippa Ngaju Makobore is an Electrical Engineer and is currently the Department Head of the Instrumentation Division at the Uganda Industrial Research Institute (UIRI). She graduated from the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with a BSc in Electrical Engineering in 2008. She briefly worked at a South African telecommunications company, MTN from 2009 to 2010 as an intern telecommunications engineer and thereafter sales engineer before venturing into electronics applications design and development at UIRI in early 2011. Her team comprises of electrical and computer engineers that design and develop electronic applications for Healthcare, Agriculture and Energy. To date the Division’s portfolio has over 7 projects which she supervises, with 3 medical device prototypes in their advanced stages. These projects have won both international and local awards including a 1st place Innovation Award at the 2016 World Patient Safety, Science and Technology Summit. The Division has a 100% acceptance rate for oral presentations at highly regarded Medical Engineering Conferences including the Canadian Biomedical and Medical Engineering Conference, the IEEE and the World Congress for Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics of which she was once a session chair for the Medical Devices track. Furthermore, Ms. Makobore has laid the foundation for close relationships with academia, research institutes, private companies and societies both locally and internationally for knowledge transfer and capacity building. A few of these partners include Columbia University in New York, Addis Ababa University, Makerere University and Mbarara University of Science and Technology. Ms. Makobore’s primary interest is in the improvement of the disadvantaged healthcare sector in Uganda.

Member

Robert Ssekitoleko

Dr Ssekitoleko completed his MEng Degree in Medical Engineering at Queen Mary University of London in 2007. He then held a Teaching Assistant position at the same university for one year. During this time he taught Mathematics, Material Science and supervised BSc student projects. He also coordinated a programme entitled Student Centred Learning (SCL) where the students learnt through problem based learning (PBL). He then pursued his Doctor of Engineering Degree in Biomedical Engineering from University of Strathclyde, Glasgow which was awarded in 2014. During this time he supervised three MSc Students and was a mentor to three PhD students in their early years. His doctorate research involved designing and fabrication on microscale ultrasound transducers in a needle for in-vivo diagnosis. Through this research, he worked in three Universities; University of Strathclyde, University of Dundee and Heriot-Watt University. Since January 2013, Robert has been coordinating a project under the Ugandan Maternal and Newborn Hub to improve Biomedical Engineering practices in eight Ugandan Hospitals through building capacity of local technicians. Through this project, Robert is involved in training technicians to build their skills in Biomedical Engineering. Robert also works as a lecturer on the BSc in Biomedical Engineering offered at Makerere University. He is responsible for the curriculum review and strategic plan of the training at the University. He is very keen on building capacity in Biomedical Engineering in Uganda especially making appropriate links locally as well as internationally.

Member

Tania Douglas

Tania Douglas holds the South African Research Chair in Biomedical Engineering and Innovation at the University of Cape Town. She completed degrees in electrical/electronic and biomedical engineering at the University of Cape Town, Vanderbilt University and the University of Strathclyde, and conducted postdoctoral research in image processing at the Japan Broadcasting Corporation. She also completed an executive MBA at the University of Cape Town. She has been a Humboldt Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research in Cologne, an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at University College London, and a visiting Professor at Kenyatta University. Professor Douglas is a fellow of the South African Academy of Engineering and a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa

Member

Martin Nieuwoudt

Martin Nieuwoudt has degrees in Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, and a PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Pretoria (UP). From 2002 until 2011 Martin worked as a Researcher and Manager for a Tissue Engineering and Molecular Biology Lab located in the Dept of Immunology at UP. The flagship project of that lab and the subject of his PhD was Bioartificial Liver (BAL) Technology, which resulted in a Medical Device product. In the latter part of his time at UP Martin’s role evolved into that of a Project Commercialisation Officer. From 2011 to 2017 Martin was employed as a Modelling Researcher at SACEMA at Stellenbosch University (SU). His studies there focused on merging Mathematical models with empirical Biomarker data for the Immune system in states of Health and Disease. This was to improve Statistical methodologies and to inform Public-health decision-making regarding Anti-retroviral treatment outcomes. At SU he also furthered his education in the Commercialisation of Intellectual Property and Strategic Management. Presently, he is the Director for the IBE. The IBE enjoys broad-based institutional support in SU. BME is intrinsically inter-disciplinary and requires a team for success. However, in SU BME has historically not been available as a post-graduate degree direction for Scientists and Medical graduates, only as a research direction within Engineering. For this reason, an important mandate of the IBE is to develop new BME degrees in SU. Additional mandates include the consolidation of disparate BME efforts across SU, initiating new research programs both locally and internationally, synchronizing with the Medical Devices Industry and Government in Southern Africa, commercializing products arising from these efforts and, from all of the above, developing a long-term sustainable Business model. Martin’s mission is to scale up these efforts going forward.

Member

Martin Nzomo

Acting Dean and Senior Lecturer, School of Engineering and Technology, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. He is a registered Engineering, certified in strategic leadership and management. In the last few years he has attended numerous workshops and conferences including all the Biomedical Engineering summer schools. He is currently engaged in literature review work for doctoral research in digital signal and image processing for Biomedical Engineering.

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