Speakers
KeyNote Speakers

Prof. George Gao
Former Director-General – Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention
China
Dr. Christian Abnet is a leading expert in the etiology of esophageal and gastric cancer and in the study of the oral microbiome. Dr. Abnet earned a Ph.D. in environmental toxicology from the University of Wisconsin and an M.P.H. in epidemiology from the University of Minnesota. He joined the NCI as a Cancer Prevention Fellow in the Division of Cancer Prevention and subsequently was appointed as a tenure-track investigator in DCEG. In 2014, he was awarded scientific tenure by NIH and then named Director of the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch the following year. In recognition of his commitment to training the next generation and his skills as a mentor, Dr. Abnet received the DCEG Outstanding Mentor Award in 2009.
Dr. Abnet serves as a principal investigator for the Nutrition Intervention Trial, the Golestan Cohort Study, several case-control studies, and the Connect for Cancer Prevention Study cohort. He is an elected member of the American Epidemiological Society.

Christian C. Abnet, Ph.D., M.P.H.
NCI/DCEG, NIH, USA
Dr. Christian Abnet is a leading expert in the etiology of esophageal and gastric cancer and in the study of the oral microbiome. Dr. Abnet earned a Ph.D. in environmental toxicology from the University of Wisconsin and an M.P.H. in epidemiology from the University of Minnesota. He joined the NCI as a Cancer Prevention Fellow in the Division of Cancer Prevention and subsequently was appointed as a tenure-track investigator in DCEG. In 2014, he was awarded scientific tenure by NIH and then named Director of the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch the following year. In recognition of his commitment to training the next generation and his skills as a mentor, Dr. Abnet received the DCEG Outstanding Mentor Award in 2009.
Dr. Abnet serves as a principal investigator for the Nutrition Intervention Trial, the Golestan Cohort Study, several case-control studies, and the Connect for Cancer Prevention Study cohort. He is an elected member of the American Epidemiological Society.
Plenary Speakers

Prof. Martha Chadyiwa
Title: "Stronger Together: Collective Action for Global Health Solutions"
Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University,
South Africa
Prof Martha Chadyiwa is an accomplished leader and Associate Professor of Public Health specializing in Environmental and Occupational Health. She holds an MBA from Twente University and a PhD from the University of the Witwatersrand. Between 2012 and 2017, she served as Head of the Department of Environmental Health at the University of Johannesburg, where she played a key role in developing the Master of Public Health curriculum. As a strategic thinker, Prof Chadyiwa has supervised over 20 Masters students and received numerous accolades, including being named one of South Africa’s InspiringFifty women in STEM in 2021. She has strong international experience, having served as vice-chair of the U21 Sustainable Development Goals committee from 2019 to 2024, where she led global initiatives to shape health policy and sustainable development. Prof Chadyiwa is now ready to leverage her leadership, policy expertise, and vision to help drive TIIKM’s commitment to internationalisation, networking and collaboration as a representative from Southern Africa.

Dr. Brian A. Primack
Title: "How to Thrive in a Tech-based World with Lifestyle Interventions"
Oregon State University
USA
Brian A. Primack is a higher education administrator, medical researcher, author, and speaker with expertise in interrelationships among media, technology, and health. He is dean of the College of Health at Oregon State University. He is the author of You Are What You Click: How Being Selective, Positive, and Creative Can Transform Your Social Media Experience. Dr. Primack received his BA from Yale University in English and Mathematics in 1991 and his master’s degree in psychology and education from Harvard University in 1993. He subsequently graduated first in his class from Emory Medical School in 1999. Now, on the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Dr. Primack combines his expertise in education, technology, human development, and medicine by researching both positive and negative effects of media messages on health. He is a pioneer on the use of media literacy education in preventing adolescent smoking, underage drinking, and other harmful adolescent health behaviors. He has also conducted extensive research on the new phenomenon of waterpipe (“hookah”) tobacco smoking. He is the recent recipient of regional, national, and international awards for research, teaching, and overall achievement, including the Robert Wood Johnson Faculty Physician Scholar Award (2006-2009), the Early Career Research Award from the Society of Behavioral Medicine (2010), the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute Junior Faculty Scholar Award (2010), and the Outstanding Pitt Medical Student Research Mentor Award in 2013.

Assoc. Prof. Melissa A. Davis MD, MBA
Title: “Innovation and the Future of Imaging”
Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging
Yale University, USA
Dr. Davis an associate professor and Vice Chair of Medical Informatics in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging. She completed her BA in Chemistry and Psychology at Wellesley College in Wellesley, MA. In 2009 she received her medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, SC. Subsequently she completed a Diagnostic Radiology residency and a Neuroradiology fellowship at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC. Dr. Davis obtained her MBA in 2017 from Yale University with a focus in healthcare management. Dr. Davis’ academic areas of interest include organizational change and innovation within the healthcare space.
Panel Speakers

Prof. Olanrewaju Oladimeji
Professor of Epidemiology and Implementation Research
Head of Doctoral Programs in the Department of Public Health
Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University
South Africa
Olanrewaju Oladimeji, MB;BS, MSc, MPA, FRSPH, PhD is a Professor of Epidemiology and Implementation Research. He is the head of Doctoral Programs in the Department of Public Health at Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University. He is a member of the South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS), an NRF-Y1-rated researcher, and a former visiting scholar in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He obtained a PhD in Public Health from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He later received a prestigious scholarship award for his Postdoctoral Fellowship in Global Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, USA. He has spent over a decade in science leadership and research coordination. He has adjunct professorial affiliations with a few Universities where postgraduate candidates and junior researchers are supervised and mentored. He is an adjunct Professor of Public Health at Durban University of Technology in South Africa and a visiting Professor of Community Health at the University of Jos in Nigeria. He has supervised over 45 postgraduate candidates up to date. He has been a Co-Investigator in many funded research projects, Principal Investigator of implementation and capacity development grants. His academic and research outputs have earned him several publications in DHET-accredited journals, and the impact of his research is reflected in many high-profile citations (Google Scholar: citation index is 47,976, h-index is 33, and his i10-index is 62. Based on his scholarly visibility, He is a Guest Editor for the Scientific report of a special collection, “Health disparities,” and an Editorial Advisor to F1000 Gateway Global Public Health. He is also an editorial board member for Nature Scientific Reports, academic editor for PLOS One, Pan Africa Medical Journals, and associate editor for Biomedical Central. He serves as a grants review consultant for grant applications for various international organizations, including the United Nations Office of Special Projects and the Stop TB Partnership in Geneva. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH), a Fellow of the African Scientific Institute (ASI), a Fellow of Southern African Science Leadership Program (S-ASLP), a member of the American College of Epidemiology (MACE), a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Public Health Association (APHA) and the American Thoracic Society (ATS). In March 2024, he received a Bronze Scientific Merit Award for his exceptional contributions to Health Research in South Africa.