Chairs and Speakers – K

Dr. Robert Kalyesubula is a senior lecturer, nephrologist and head of department of the Physiology at Makerere University who received his degree in Medicine and Surgery from Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. Dr Kalyesubula undertook a masters of internal medicine from Makerere University College of Health Sciences (MakCHS) graduating on top of his class. He did part of his residence training in McMaster University in Canada. Thereafter, he competitively won the ISN training fellowship and undertook training from Yale University, USA under the mentorship of Prof Asghar Rastegar and Prof Mark Perazella. In order to enhance his skills and patient care Robert, undertook several courses in interventional nephrology from Shiraz University under Prof Reza Gangji in Iran and at the University of Cape Town under Prof Mignon McCulloch. He holds a PhD in epidemiology of non-communicable diseases from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine under the mentorship of Prof Liam Smeeth and Prof Laurie Tomlinson. Dr Kalyesubula is the founder and president of Uganda Kidney Foundation, a researcher and mentor with over 75 peer reviewed publications. He is an adjunct Asst prof. at Yale University, University of Vermont, both in USA and Mc Master University in Canada.  

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Medicine and Surgery (MBChB) from Kampala International University and a certificate in Emergency Care (European Certified Trauma care-Uganda). He also doubles as CEO Nilee Africa and a Co-Founder of SDC International Hospital. Finally, he is a member of Buganda Kingdom Royal Family (Uganda).   

Richard is the Global Vice President and Medical Director at Almac Diagnostic Services. He graduated in medicine from Queen’s University Belfast in 1995. As a post-graduate he trained as a medical oncologist and received a PhD in Molecular Biology in 2004. From 2004-2007 he worked as an Instructor in Oncology at Harvard Medical School, USA, where he identified novel biomarkers and drug targets for cancer treatment. This work was published in several high impact journals and the associated patent was in-licensed by a Boston-based start-up company in 2007. In August 2007 he joined Almac Diagnostic Services, part of the Almac Group, an international contract research and manufacturing organisation. In this role he has been involved in the design and international delivery of over 100 clinical trials using biomarkers on behalf of multiple large pharmaceutical companies. In 2011 he also established a research group at Queen’s University of Belfast focussed on various aspects of precision medicine. He currently sits on the MATRIX NI Government science advisory panel and Faculty of Pharmaceutical medicine Oncology expert group and has recently been involved in the response to COVID-19 as a committee member of the NI COVID-19 Testing Consortium. He completed his tenure as a member of the CR-UK new agents committee this year. 

She is a member of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, the WHO Council on the Economic of Health for All, Council Chair to the World Health Summit in Berlin and vice-president of the European Health Forum Gastein. She has been involved in German G7 and G20 activities relating to global health and the global health initiatives of the German EU presidency in 2020. She chaired the international advisory board for the development of the German global health strategy and advised on the establishment of the WHO Hub on Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence.  She works on a continuous basis with EU presidencies on global health. She publishes widely and serves on many commissions and boards. She initiated the @wgh300 list of women leaders in global health. She is program chair of the leaders in health network SCIANA. She is co-chair of a Lancet FT Commission on “Governing health futures 2030: growing up in a digital world.”  She is honorary professor at the Charité, Berlin.  Professor Kickbusch has had a distinguished career with the World Health Organization. She was key instigator of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion and WHOs Healthy Cities Network. She was the director of the Global Health Division at Yale University School of Public Health and responsible for the first Fulbright Programme on global health. She has received many prizes and recognitions. She has been awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesverdienstkreuz) and the WHO Medal for contributions to global health.  

Professor Zelijko Krznaric is a full Professor of Internal Medicine & Gastroenterology, Zagreb School of Medicine. He currently serves as the President of Croatian Medical Association and is the head of the Croation delegation to the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEM) and head of Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology & Unit of Clinical Nutrition, University Hospital Zagreb. In addition, Professor Krznaric serves as the Deputy Head of Medical Studies in English School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, President of Croatian Society of Clinical Nutrition, Croatian Medical Association, and President of 44th ESPEN Congress, Vienna, Austria, 2022. He is currently the Head of Training Recognition Committee of EBGH (European Board of Gastroenterology and Hepatology), UEG (United European Gastroenterology) Educational Committee Member. 

Ann Kurth, PhD, CNM, MPH, FAAN, FACNM is Dean and Linda Koch Lorimer Professor, Yale University School of Nursing, and Professor of Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health. Dean Kurth is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Medicine and of the American Academy of Nursing. She is past chair of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health, the 175+-university member association supporting “academic institutions to improve the wellbeing of people and the planet.” At Yale Dr. Kurth co-founded the Yale Institute for Global Health, a cross-university effort; and she co-chairs sustainability at Yale. Dr. Kurth has published 227 peer-reviewed articles, chapters,
and scholarly monographs and presented at hundreds of scientific conferences and invited talks. Dr. Kurth currently co-chairs the National Academy of Medicine Board on Global Health, which includes a focus on the climate crisis and health. Dr. Kurth believes that attention to equity is crucial for the response to the climate crisis and that a planetary health approach can bring hope for humans and all of the earth’s species.