Dorrit (Dori) Posel holds the Helen Suzman Chair in Political Economy and is a distinguished professor in the School of Economics and Finance at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). Before moving to Wits, she was the NRF/DST Research Chair in Economic Development in the School of Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). Dori completed a PhD in economics in 1999 at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst), and has been the recipient of numerous research awards, including the Vice-Chancellor’s Research Award at UKZN. She has published widely on issues relating to labour force participation, unemployment, labour migration, the gender division of labour, marriage, and psycho-social wellbeing. Her latest research on mental health explores the implications of job loss for mental health, and gender differences in the vulnerability to depression.

Cyprian M. Mostert is an Assistant Professor of Global Health Economics and a Chief Economist at the Brain and Mind Institute hosted by the Aga Khan University. Cyprian has worked in higher education for more than ten years, teaching and conducting research for universities and international financial institutions, including the World Bank Group (Washington DC), Roche Diagnostics (Switzerland), University of Twente (the Netherlands), University of Maastricht (the Netherlands), Universitat Pompeo Fabra (Spain), Barcelona Graduate School of Economics (Spain), University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) and University of Pretoria (South Africa). Cyprian has also garnered socio-cultural experience by living and working in several world regions, mainly Africa, the Americas, and Europe. His research interests are in applied econometrics, development economics, health inequality, mental health, poverty, health technology assessment, public health policy, and healthcare financing. He is among the leading voices in global health economics. He has published in top international peer-reviewed journal articles such as BMJ Global Health, Health Affairs, Value in Health, Economics & Human Biology, Public Health in Practice, Preventive Medicine, Social Science & Medicine, Public Health,  Children & Youth Services Review, BMC Health Services Research and many more. He is frequently invited to international conferences – covering health economics issues for health systems in Cuba, Brazil, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Malawi, South Africa, OECD countries, Oman, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Cyprian is a winner of the Henry Bradlow and John Lemer Academic Excellence Award. His memberships include the Golden Key International Honorable Society based on his cum laude degrees he earned, the International Health Economics Association, the International Society for Urban Health, and the European Association of Labor Economics.

Dr Madhavi Bhargava is an Associate Professor in the Department of Community Medicine at Yenepoya Medical College, Mangalore, India and Deputy Head, Center for Nutrition Studies at Yenepoya (Deemed to be University). Her current work focuses on the intersection of TB and nutrition and as Co-Principal Investigator of recently completed RATIONS trial (Reducing Activation of Tuberculosis by Improvement of Nutritional Status) reported the importance of nutrition support in preventing TB in the household contacts of patients with transmissible TB and improving the outcomes these patients.

Her other areas of interest include public health nutrition, social determinants of health and public health in low resource settings. Her prior works public health nutrition issues in young adults, pregnant mothers, and adolescents.

Prof. Andre Mochan is an Associate Professor in the Division of Neurology, the Clinical Head of Neurology at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital since 2009 and the Academic Head of Neurology in the Department of Neurosciences in the School of Clinical Medicine. He is the current Secretary of the College of Neurology and recent office bearer of the Neurology Association of South Africa (NASA).

In 2014 he established a dedicated multidisciplinary Motor Neuron Disease / Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (MND/ALS) Clinic at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. Through the MND/ALS clinic he participates in the drive for genomic research on African ALS patients and is Co-Principal Investigator of the newly launched ALS-Africa NET study employing cutting edge WGS techniques, performed locally, to characterise uncharted genes in ALS. He also is the initiator and Principal Investigator of the South African Neurology COVID-19 database.

Dr. Kirti Ranchod is a neurologist from South Africa, Global Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health, co-founder and chair of the Africa Brain Health Network and has served on the board of Alzheimer’s South Africa. She has extensive clinical experience in medicine and neurology. Kirti founded Memorability to make brain health tools accessible, practical and effective including online and in person courses, talks ,and workshops. She runs a series of talks on “Investing in Our Cultural Capital for Better Brain Health’ at the Origins Centre, University of Witwatersrand. She completed a project with REMI East Africa in Uganda to support healthcare workers with practical mental health tools and has run several corporate brain health workshops. Interests include the role of traditional practices and Indigenous Knowledge Systems in promoting health, the neuroscience of art, and understanding the different perceptions of memory.

Wambui Karanja is a psychologist and independent consultant who works in research, advocacy, and caregiving of people with dementia in various African settings. Wambui coordinate the Africa Brain Health Network, an organization that aims to promote awareness of brain health across the lifespan in Africa and beyond. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Kenyatta University, was a graduate attaché at the British Institute in Eastern Africa and researched perceptions of cognitive decline and dementia among informal caregivers. She is an alumnus of Young African Leadership Initiative, (YALI) East Africa, and a global Atlantic fellow for Equity in Brain Health.