Advisory Board

Chair: Collins O. Airhihenbuwa, MPH, PhD - Nigeria
Collins O. Airhihenbuwa, PhD, MPH, is a Professor and Head, Department of Biobehavioral health, the Pennsylvania State University. Director of Penn State AESEDA Center for Global Health and Georesources Management. He is also the Director of the Center for Health and Culture, a private consulting firm.  He is the author of the PEN-3 cultural model for health behavior with a focus on people of African descents.  He is known internationally for his research on culture and the social contexts of health behavior for which he has published numerous articles and book chapters. He was voted the 1998 Scholar of Year by the American Association for Health Education, the 2000 Symbol of HOPE award recipient by the American Journal of Health Promotion, and the 2006 David Satcher award recipient by the Centers for Disease Control and the Directors of Health Promotion and Education. He was the 2004/2005 President of the Society for Public Health Education.

Michael Adewumi, PhD - Nigeria
Michael A. Adewumi, PhD is the Vice Provost for Global Programs at Penn State and Professor of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering. As vice provost for international programs, Michael provides leadership for all Penn States global engagements, ranging from hosting thousands of students from more than 100 countries, sending thousands of Penn State students to more than 200 study abroad programs overseas and building strategic partnerships with institutions around the world. Prior to assuming this position in October 2007, Professor Adewumi was the Executive Director of AESEDA. The Alliance for Earth Sciences, Engineering and Development in Africa (AESEDA), is a major international multidisciplinary partnership among Penn State University, a select group of African Universities, select Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the US and public and private-sector organizations. The mission of AESEDA is to develop and foster interdisciplinary framework for integrating research, education and outreach aimed at harnessing georesources for sustainable livelihoods in Africa.

Kamau Gachigi, PhD - Kenya
Dr. Kamau Gachigi is the Chairman and Coordinator of the University of Nairobi (UoN) Science and Technology Park (S&TP) and serves on the National Steering Committee on Science and Technology Parks. He also runs a Fab Lab (the Fab Labs Network was founded at MIT and include over 40 Fab Labs around the world) which serves as a rapid prototyping center within the S&TP. He was also appointed to the  in the Ministry of Higher Education Science and Technology. He is a lecturer and researcher in the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Nairobi where he teaches materials science. His current areas of research include activated carbon from agricultural wastes for use in affordable potable-water filtration, and investigation into value addition of titanium and iron bearing ores.  He has published 6 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, and was awarded a U.S. patent during his doctoral studies. He obtained his PhD (1996) in Solid State Science at the Pennsylvania State University, USA where he specialized in electronic ceramics for capacitor applications, and spent 2.5 years in Japan as a researcher for the electronic, and component manufacturer TDK.

Bongi Mkhabela - South Africa
Sibongile (Bongi) Mkhabela is the Chief Executive Officer of the Nelson Mandela Childrens Fund. She served as a UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) consultant to help establish its presence in South Africa. Bongi is also the Chairperson of Black Sash and she serves on the boards of both Legal Resources Centre and the African Futures Institute. She is presently a non-executive director of Barloworld. Bongi is also a Fellow of the Joel L Fleishman Civil Society, Duke University, North Carolina USA. Bongi has published a book Open Earth Black Roses based on her role in the June 1976 Soweto Student uprising.

Josephine Nzerem - Nigeria
Josephine Nzerem is a Social Entrepreneur. She holds a degree in Dramatic Arts from the renowned Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife and a Masters Degree in Public and International Affairs (MPIA) from the University of Lagos, Akoka. In 2002 she was elected an ASHOKA fellow for her innovative work in the advancement of women’s human rights, with emphasis on protection of women from disinheritance and other socio economic abuses. In 2004 she received an award from the Junior Chambers International as the outstanding young person for the year, in the area of contribution to children, world peace and/or human rights. Josephine believes that women’s human rights must be recognized and upheld at all times and she speaks with great passion and insight on this crucial issue at various fora, whenever she is called upon, year round. In addition to running her own organization, Josephine also serves as the Ashoka Representative for Anglophone West Africa, an area covering Nigeria, Ghana and The Cameroon. She is currently the Executive Director at Human Angle, a Non Governmental Organization which she co-founded in 1998.

Lindiwe Sangweni-Siddo - South Africa
Lindiwe Sangweni-Siddo sees herself as driven, intense and impatient but this passionate and powerful woman has been patience personified as Chief Executive of the Zatic Group who, after lengthy negotiations, now holds the franchise and a 25-year management contract to the first township-based Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Soweto.  Sangweni-Siddo is also adamant that the Holiday Inn Soweto will fill a critical need for top-class accommodation for international tourists wanting to re-live the Kliptown-vibe of the 1950s.  Sangweni-Siddo graduated from Waterford School in Swaziland, and then studied at the renowned Les Roches School of Hotel Management in Switzerland.  Her passion for the industry compelled her to complete a BSC in Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management at Pennsylvania State University (USA) from where she joined the Global Hyatt Corporation in Washington DC.  She returned to South Africa in 1995 remaining with the Hyatt group at the Park Hyatt, Johannesburg.  Sangweni-Siddo is one of the founder members of Zuka Africa Tourism and Investment Corporation, known as the Zatic Group and holds the positions of Director and Chief Executive Officer.  The Zatic Group was established in 2005, as a majority black owned entity with interests in the tourism sector, including hotel management, procurement, hospitality skills training and hospitality security solutions.

Miriam K. Were, MPH, PhD - Kenya
Miriam Were is the co-founder of the UZIMA Foundation and a distinguished public health personality in Africa.  Prof. Were is the current chairperson of the National AIDS Control Council (NACC) Kenya which coordinates the national HIV/AIDS response in Kenya. Dr. Were is also the serving Chairperson of the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) Board where she focuses on the process of bringing basic medical services and health rights to women and children in the villages of East Africa. In addition, she serves on the Advisory Board of the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission (KACC) as well as on the Board of Directors of Medical Assistance Programs (MAP) International (US).  Were was Director of the United Nations Population Fund Country Support Team (UNFPA/CST) for East and Central Africa and Anglophone West Africa, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Prior to that she was the World Health Organization (WHO) Representative and Chief of Mission in Ethiopia. Before WHO, she was Chief of Health and Nutrition in UNICEF, Ethiopia. She was the 2008 winner of the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize.


Miriam Were, Anne Petersen, Michael Adewumi, Lindiwe Sangweni-Sido, Collins Airhihenbuwa


Anne Petersen, Michael Adewumi, Bongi Mkhabela, Collins Airhihenbuwa Miriam Were