Advisory Board

Chair: Collins O. Airhihenbuwa, MPH, PhD - Nigeria
Collins O. Airhihenbuwa, PhD, MPH, is a Professor and Interim 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 International 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.

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.

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.


Judi Wangalwa Wakhungu PhD - Kenya
Prof. Wakhungu is the Executive Director of the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) in Nairobi, Kenya. Prof. Wakhungus research interests include science, technology, and innovation; agriculture and food security; biodiversity and natural resource management; energy and water security; and gender issues in science and technology. She has published widely in these fields. Prof. Wakhungu serves on several national and international boards, task-forces, and committees. These include the African Conservation Centre (ACC), High-Level Consultative Group with United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-4), Innovation Africa, the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), the GoDown Arts Centre, the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), the Lemelson Foundation, Legatum Centre at MIT, Scientists Without Borders, the STEPS Centre-University of Sussex, and the World Bioenergy Association (WBA).


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.