Mr Winfried Amoaku is Associate Professor/Reader and Hon Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon, with subspecialty interest in medical retinal diseases at the University Hospital, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham. He undertook his basic medical training in the University of Ghana Medical School, Korle Bu, after which he proceeded to UK for his postgraduate specialisation.

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Most of this training was in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast and associated hospitals in Northern Ireland, and subsequently in Birmingham, and Leeds. He undertook a fellowship in Ghent, Belgium. His main research interests are ocular wound healing, pathogenesis and therapies of macular diseases including age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and retinal vein occlusions. He is local principal investigator in clinical trials. He is Vice President, and Chairman of the Scientific Committee of The Royal College of Ophthalmologists, UK and chairs the AMD Service Provisions Subcommittee which is evaluating and advising on the introduction of anti-VEGF treatments and their impact on ophthalmic services in the UK. He is also Chairman of the VISION 2020 UK Macular Group.
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Dr. Elsie Effah Kaufmann is a Senior Lecturer and the Head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Ghana. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE), a Master of Science in Engineering (MSE) and a PhD in Bioengineering, all from the University of Pennsylvania. After her graduate studies she received her postdoctoral training at Rutgers University before joining the University of Ghana in June, 2001.

Samuel is currently a registered PhD student in Bioinformatics at the South African National Bioinformatics Institute, University of the Western Cape (UWC). He is a part-time Lecturer and Researcher at the School of Science and Mathematics Education. His MSc in Structural Biology was jointly awarded by the University of Cape Town and UWC. He also earned a PGCE Cum Laude from UWC.

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He obtained a BSc Biochemistry (Hons.) degree from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. Samuel has previously worked as Marketing and Research Manager at Kinapharma Limited in Accra. His current area of research involves development of Hepatitis C Virus knowledgebases and computational drug design.
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For his post-doctoral training, Dr. Acquaah-Mensah worked through 2004 with Dr. Lawrence E. Hunter at the Center for Computational Pharmacology at the University of Colorado's School of Medicine. His research interests include the study of mechanisms of oxidative stress, transcriptional regulation in disease, and of ethanol neurotoxicity. In addition to molecular techniques, Dr. Acquaah-Mensah uses computational tools, such as machine learning and a variety of computational algorithms, to elucidate and predict aspects of drug action and toxicity. He currently teaches pharmacokinetics, biopharmaceutics, and pharmacogenomics in an accelerated Doctor of Pharmacy program.
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Prof. Duca is currently involved in diverse research such as IP policy formulation and tertiary educational curriculum development. She is also researching on tropical diseases such as malaria and her specialty involves the usage of computational systems biology applications.
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His work on Tyrphostins which are currently available commercially as Research Lead tools was recognized with a M.Sc (Magna Cum Laude in Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry ) and the Hebrew University's Michael Sherwood Prize for graduate research. Peter Atadja continued his graduate studies and obtained a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Oncology from the University of Calgary, Canada, where his research yielded important fundamental observations in molecular mechanisms of aging and their linkage with cancer development. His doctoral dissertation was also nominated for two prestigious Canadian research awards (the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Award and the Canadian Graduate Research Award). In 1997, he joined Novartis Pharmaceuticals in New Jersey to work on their efforts to develop drugs that target epigenetic mechanisms for anti-cancer therapy.

Through his work at Novartis, Peter Atadja, is currently an internationally acknowledged research expert and pioneer in the therapeutic targeting of histone deacetylase (HDAC), a promising approach in treatment of cancer and other diseases. His leadership of anti-cancer drug development in this area has resulted in several novel scaffolds, an important patent estate and ultimately two compounds that are undergoing clinical evaluation. The most advanced anti-cancer drug discovered by Dr. Atadja, LBH589, is currently in pivotal clinical trials for treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), with USFDA submission expected in 2009. In clinical trials, LBH589 (INN: Panobinostat) produced dramatic complete and partial remissions in CTCL, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, multiple myeloma, prostate and breast cancers. Dr. Atadja’s work is also opening up opportunities for treatments in disease areas such as cardiac hypertrophy, spinal muscular atrophy, neurodegeneration, transplant rejection, etc. In recognition of his innovative and groundbreaking discoveries resulting in substantive advances in the treatment cancer, Novartis conferred one of its highest titles in drug discovery and Development “The Novartis Leading Scientist” on Dr Peter Atadja for the year 2008.

Peter Atadja has published more than 60 peer-reviewed original articles, a number of invited reviews and book chapters, as well as hundreds of meeting abstracts and presentations. Peter is married to Cynthia and is blessed with three "daughters of Africa" Makafui (16), Aseye (14) and Nuna (12).

Three Major Academic and/or Professional Achievements: (1) Pioneered and led Anti-cancer drug research in histone deacetylases from therapeutic target validation through drug candidate selection and preclinical development, resulting in two clinical investigative drugs (LAQ824 and LBH589) which are demonstrating clinical remissions in multiple cancer types. (2) Designed, synthesized and characterized bisubstrate analogs of the earliest tyrosine kinase inhibitors Tyrphostins which are currently commercially available as research reagents and therapeutic lead compounds. (3) 2008 recipient of Novartis’ highest Award for Vision, Innovation, Value and Achievement in Drug Discovery and Development. The title “Novartis Leading Scientist” bestowed.
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His research interest centers on rational development of drugs for diseases, with special emphasis on therapeutic agents to treat sickle cell disease and cancers. The research in sickle cell disease has culminated in the discovery of a non-toxic but the most potent antisickling agent, 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural (5HMF). He is the author of two patents for 5HMF and its derivatives. 5HMF is currently licensed to AesRx Inc. for further development. Dr. Safo is also actively conducting research to elucidate the structure and function of two vitamin B6 salvage enzymes involved in vitamin B6 metabolism and regulation. This area is exciting as emerging studies suggest that several neurological disorders, including autism, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, epilepsy, schizophrenia, etc, as well as neurotoxic side effects of several drugs could be due to vitamin B6 deficiency. Dr. Safo is the author of over 60 peer-reviewed publications, as well as several book chapters, abstracts and patents.
He teaches medicinal chemistry, biochemistry and pharmaceutical analysis courses to undergraduate, graduate and professional students. He is also the manager of The Institute for Structural Biology and Drug Discovery X-ray Crystallography Core Facility. He has served on a number of Special Review Study Sections at the National Institute for Health, USA. He has also served as a reviewer for several internationally recognized journals, including Journal of Biological Chemistry, Biochemistry, PNAS, Proteins, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, Journal of Molecular Biology, Journal of Bacteriology, etc.
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While in school, she had the opportunity to serve as the secretary of the national society of black engineers(nsbe- legon chapter) as well as serve on a number of commitees including the programs and events commitee of the Purpose group network. Curently she is a member of the local organising commitee of the Ghana biomedical convention 2009 and the student board member of the Ghana biomedical convention 2008/09.
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