Eleni Aklillu is a Professor of Tropical Pharmacology, senior research scientist, and research group leader at the Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. She is a pioneer in leading major clinical pharmacology and pharmacogenetics research projects focusing on poverty-related infectious diseases including HIV, tuberculosis, Malaria, and various Neglected tropical diseases in low-middle income countries (https://staff.ki.se/people/eleakl). She has received several major external research grants in competition as principal investigators from various national and international research funding agencies. Currently, she is a principal investigator and coordinator of a 5-year multinational project entitled PROFORMA (https://proforma.ki.se) – focusing on pharmacovigilance, and medicine regulatory capacity-building in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda. Aklillu supervised > 17 completed PhDs and is currently supervising 10 PhD students from Africa working on various Global Health clinical pharmacology research projects (https://ki.se/en/labmed/research-group-eleni-aklillu). She is author of > 130 original peer-reviewed publications. Professor Aklillu is a board member of the Swedish research council’s scientific advisory committee for development research, a fellow of Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh (FRCPE), a fellow of African Academy of Science (FAAS), a former vice-chair and member of the Strategic Advisory Committee for European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP).

Graduated in Medicine at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Fellowship in Internal Medicine at IPSEMG Hospital, followed by a fellowship in Oncology at the Brazilian National Cancer Institute. Masters and PhD in Oncology. Experience in clinical research in oncology. Head of the Clinical Research Division at the Brazilian National Cancer Institute.

Colin Pillai runs two social ventures that develop scientific capability in drug discovery and development in low- and middle-income countries. Previously, he worked as a pharmacometrician and a senior leader at Roche and Novartis in Switzerland. He acquired his clinical and research experience in hospital and community pharmacy, academia and at the South African Medical Research Council’s Tuberculosis Research programme running Phase 1 clinical trials. Colin is a Honorary Professor at UCT, a Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and a Senior Advisor on capacity development for global health to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Websites: www.cpplusassociates.org; www.pmxafrica.org
Email: colin@cpplusassociates.org Twitter: @colpil

Dr Joel Tarning started his scientific research career in 2007 at the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) in Bangkok, Thailand. Since 2013, he has been leading the MORU department – Clinical Pharmacology, comprising a large and diverse team of 30 people. The main scientific directions within the department are pharmacometric data analysis, bioanalytical method development, drug quantification of clinical study samples, omics-based research, and medicine quality. His main research is focused on dose-optimisation in neglected tropical diseases, with a particular focus on vulnerable populations at risk of treatment failure and resistance development, such as children and pregnant women. His work on population pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modelling of oral dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine in children with uncomplicated malaria, and intramuscular artesunate in children with severe malaria started the debate on new dose recommendations in young children, which resulted in revised WHO Guidelines for the treatment of malaria, 3rd edition (2015). He is a Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Oxford, UK (2016), and a visiting professor at the Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Thailand (2016).

Krisantha Weerasuriya is a distinguished Sri Lankan physician and clinical pharmacologist with a wealth of experience in the field of medicines use. He began his medical training in Sri Lanka before completing postgraduate degrees in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Since then, he has continued to educate himself on the latest developments in the field of medicines use, both in Sri Lanka and in the countries where he has worked.

Throughout his career, Krisantha has been a tireless advocate for better medicines use, working at national, regional, and global levels to promote ethical, scientific, and regulatory principles in the use of essential medicines. Up until his retirement in 2014, he held a range of roles, including physician, professor, medicines regulator, regional advisor for the World Health Organization (WHO), and finally as a Secretary of the WHO Expert Committee on Selection and Use of Essential Medicines.

Krisantha’s professional journey has taken him to a range of organizations, including NGOs and civil society organizations, where he has worked on issues such as intellectual property, medicines pricing, health technology assessments, clinical trial monitoring, as well as health care financing mainly in middle and low income countries.

Overall, Krisantha Weerasuriya’s commitment to promoting better medicines use has been unwavering throughout his career. His dedication to ethical and scientific principles, provides for an optimistic outlook to the potential of essential medicines being realised for low and middle income countries within Universal Health Care in his lifetime.