H3Africa vise à améliorer l'utilisation d'approches génomiques dans l'étude des déterminants génomiques et environnementaux des maladies en Afrique.

1. 20197th - 12th April
THE THIRTEENTH MEETING OF THE
H3AFRICA
CONSORTIUMTUNIS
THETHIRTEENTHMEETINGOFTHEH3AFRICACONSORTIUM
LAICO HOTEL TUNIS

2. www.h3africa.org

3. H3AFRICA CONSORTIUM CONFERENCE
Overview of H3Africa
The Human, Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) initiative is a partnership among the National Institutes of Health
(U.S.A), African Academy of Sciences/Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AAS/AESA), Wellcome Trust (U.K)
and the African Society for Human Genetics. H3Africa aims to enhance the use of genomic approaches to the study
of the genomic and environmental determinants of disease in Africa. The initiative supports African population-based
genomic studies of common, non-communicable disorders such as heart and renal disease, as well as communicable
diseases such as tuberculosis. The studies are led by African scientists, and use genetic, clinical and epidemiologic
methods to identify hereditary and environmental contributions to the risk of illness.
The goals of H3Africa are to:
•
population-based research;
• Establish collaborative networks of African investigators pursuing genomics-based, disease-oriented projects; and
• Create or expand genomics research infrastructure.
• H3Africa also plans to build capacity for genomics research on the African continent by supporting a bioinformatics
network and pilot biorepositories projects.H3Africa also funds training and the study of the societal implications of
genetic/genomics research in order to achieve its goals.
Ethiopia
Morocco
Nigeria
Cameroon
Burkina Faso
Uganda
Tanzania
Zambia
Malawi
Mozambique
Namibia Botswana
South Africa
Mauritius
Kenya
Benin
Sudan
Tunisia
Egypt
Niger
Mali
Senegal
Guinea
Sierra Leone
Côte D’Ivoire
Democratic
Republic of
Congo
The Gambia
Ghana
NIH Primary Award Institution
AESA/Wellcome Primary Award Institution
Collaborating Instituition
Other collaborating institutions are in
Belgium, Canada, France, the United Kingdom
and the United States of America
Zimbabwe
Rwanda

4. Overview of H3Africa
L’initiative H3Africa sur l’homme, l’hérédité et la santé en Afrique est un partenariat entre les Instituts nationaux de la
santé (États-Unis), Académie africaine des sciences / Accélérateur d’excellence scientifique en Afrique (AAS / AESA),
Wellcome Trust (Royaume-Uni) et la Société africaine de génétique humaine. H3Africa vise à améliorer l'utilisation
d'approches génomiques dans l'étude des déterminants génomiques et environnementaux des maladies en Afrique.
L’initiative soutient les études génomiques des troubles courants non transmissibles tels que les maladies cardiaques
et rénales, ainsi que les maladies transmissibles telles que la tuberculose. Les études sont dirigées par des
scientifiques africains et utilisent des méthodes génétiques, cliniques et épidémiologiques d'identification des
contributions héréditaires et environnementales au risque de maladie.
Les objectifs de H3Africa sont les suivants:
• Augmenter de manière significative le nombre de scientifiques africains compétitifs au niveau international en
recherche génomique des populations.
• Établir des réseaux de collaboration d’enquêteurs africains poursuivant des projets axés sur la maladie et axés sur la
génomique.
• Créer ou développer une infrastructure de recherche en génomique.
• H3Africa prévoit également de renforcer les capacités de recherche en génomique sur le continent africain en
soutenant un réseau bioinformatique et des projets pilotes de bio-banques.H3Africa finance également des formations
et l’étude des implications sociétales de recherche génétique / génomique afin d’atteindre ses objectifs.

5. H3AFRICA CONSORTIUM CONFERENCE
Welcome to the
Thirteenth H3Africa
Consortium Meeting
the North African Region. We are very pleased to have collaborated with Professor Alia Benkahla’s
H3ABioNet Node and Professor Sonia Abdelhak from the Institute Pasteur, Tunis. With the
leadership of Steering Committee, we have dedicated time for Grants Writing, where Funders
and senior Principal Investigators will be engaged. Professional Development modules have been
other early career scientists will have the opportunity to showcase their research during oral and
have also dedicated some time to engage with keen stakeholders and will hear about advanced
consortium collaborations.

6. H3AFRICA CONSORTIUM CONFERENCE
Dignitaries & Special Guests
Government Ministries
Hon. Khalil Amiri
Secretary of State to the Minister of Higher Education
Tunisia
Khalil Amiri is Secretary of State to the Minister of Higher Education and
in computer engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University. From 2004 to
2006, he was professor of computer science at Imperial College London, also
he became Dean of the Mediterranean Institute of Technology - Medtech.
and holds several patents.
Institut Pasteur de Tunis
Prof.

7. H3AFRICA CONSORTIUM CONFERENCE
Prof. Alia Benkahla
Bioinformaticist, Institut Pasteur de Tunis
Alia Benkahla is a bioinformaticist. She did her PhD studies at the IGS-CNRS
in Marseille. Her initial training was in Mathematics. She worked as Post-
Doctoral fellow at the Max-Planck Institute in Berlin and moved to the Institut
Pasteur de Tunis in January 2005. She initiated the Group of Bioinformatics
and Mathematical Modeling and invested her initial period at IPT in capacity
looking for funds in Bioinformatics for Tunisia’s and Africa’s health issues. She
is the President of the African Society of Bioinformatics and Computational
Bioinformatics, bioMathematics and biostatistics (BIMS). She was the PI of 6
for Malaria Elimination in Sub-Saharan Africa (DELGEME)” and is member of the Technical Advisory Committee of
processes of regulation, interaction, signalling mechanisms activated in response to diseases (i.e., leishmaniasis and/or
chapters.

8. H3AFRICA CONSORTIUM CONFERENCE
Prof. Sonia Abdelhak
Institut Pasteur de Tunis
Dr Sonia Abdelhak DSc, PhD, is head of the Research Laboratory on Biomedical
Genomics and Oncogenetics at Institut Pasteur de Tunis. She is mainly
involved in the study of the molecular basis of inherited rare disorders in
publications. She is also involved in R&I training activities and capacity building
in human molecular genetics, genomics and bioinformatics. Dr Abdelhak acts
as an independent expert for national and international institutions (Tunisian
Research framework programme…). She is currently involved in the EU-H2020
Recherche en Action (React-tn) www.react.org.tn.
Funding Agencies
Dr. Thomas Kariuki
Director, Alliance for Accelerating Excellence In
Science In Africa (AESA)
Dr Thomas Kariuki is the Interim Executive Director of African Academy
of Sciences. He is also Director of the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence
of Sciences and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)
agency. An internationally recognised leader in immunology, Dr Kariuki
leads AESA’s efforts to accelerate world-class research, foster innovation,
of diverse programmes focused on funding the research, development and
commercialisation of novel, high-impact solutions and is cultivating strategic partnerships with academic institutions,
governments and industry globally to build the momentum needed to transform Africa’s future through science-led,
knowledgebasedeconomies.PriortohisappointmentatAESA,DrKariukiservedasDirectoroftheInstituteofPrimate
Research / National Museums of Kenya, a biomedical and conservation biology organisation. He has published widely
policy issues related to biomedical research and funding and is a recipient of several international grants and awards.
Dr. Jennifer Troyer
National Human Genome Research Institute
Dr. Jennifer L. Troyer joined the National Human Genome Research Institute
administering Human Health and Heredity in Africa (H3Africa), a Common
Fund (trans-NIH) initiative that facilitates applying contemporary research
approaches to the study of genomics and environmental determinants of
common diseases with the goal of improving the health of African populations.
Dr. Troyer earned a B.A. in Biology from Earlham College, a Ph.D. in Genetics
from the University of Connecticut, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the
National Cancer Institute and Colorado State University. She started her
career in classical and molecular genetics using Drosophila as a model organism
to study the phenomenon of concerted evolution. She then moved on to lentiviruses and became interested in viral and
host interactions. Her research has ranged from cats to lions to humans, but primarily focused on genetic variations in
the virus and host that alter the outcome of infection. She has experience in leading Genome Wide Association Studies
and has participated in international consortium efforts to identify host restriction factors for HIV/AIDS.

9. H3AFRICA CONSORTIUM CONFERENCE
Dr. Audrey Duncanson
Wellcome Trust
Audrey Duncanson is a Senior Portfolio Developer within Science Funding at
theWellcomeTrust.Herroleistohelpdevelopandimplementstrategicfunding
initiatives in genetics, genomics and the molecular sciences and to oversee
the portfolio in these areas. After receiving a BSc (Hons) in Molecular Biology
and a PhD from the Department of Genetics, University of Glasgow, Audrey
of Genetics, University of Leicester. Her current responsibilities include the
the H3Africa Consortium.
Dr. Jenniffer Mabuka-Maroa
African Academy of Sciences
Jenniffer Mabuka-Maroa works for the African Academy of Sciences funding
andprogramimplementationplatform-AESA.Sheoverseestheimplementation
of the Human Heredity and Health in Africa program which promotes use
of genomic tools to generate crucial data to leapfrog the African continent
towards delivering precision medicine or precision public health to its people.
involved antibody research to inform antibody-based vaccine efforts. She has
Ph.D from the University of Washington’s Department of Global Health.
Independent Expert Committee Chairs
Prof. Barry Bloom
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH)
Barry R. Bloom is Joan L. and Julius H. Jacobson Professor of Public Health and
Former Dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He received
a bachelor’s degree and an honorary ScD from Amherst College, and a PhD
immunology, infectious diseases, vaccines, and global health. He has made
important discoveries in immunity to tuberculosis and leprosy. He served as
and served as President of the Federation of American Societies for
and Tuberculosis. Dr. Bloom has served on the National Advisory Councils of
the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, NIH, the Center for Infectious Diseases of the CDC and
the National Advisory Board of the Fogarty International Center at NIH. He has received numerous awards for his
achievement in research, and shared the Novartis Award in Immunology. He was elected to membership of the U.S.
National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American
Philosophical Society.

10. H3AFRICA CONSORTIUM CONFERENCE
Prof. Kay Davies
University of Oxford, Oxford, United
Kingdom
Professor Dame Kay Davies is the Dr Lee’s Professor of Anatomy and a co-
Director of the MDUK Oxford Neuromuscular Centre. She is also Associate
the University of Oxford. Her research interests cover the molecular analysis
of neuromuscular and neurological disease, particular Duchenne muscular
dystrophy (DMD). She has an active interest in the ethical implications of
genetics research and the public understanding of science. She was Director
experience of biotechnology companies as a conduit for translating the results
of experimental science into new therapeutics and diagnostics. She co-founder of Summit Therapeutics and Oxstem.
She has published more than 400 papers and won numerous awards for her work. She is a founding editor of Human
Molecular Genetics and a founding fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society
Independent Expert Committee Members
Dr. Philip Awadalla
Associate Professor of Population and Medical
Genomics in the Department of Pediatrics at the
University of Montreal
Philip Awadalla, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Population and Medical
Genomics in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Montreal,
trained at the University of Edinburgh, and has now developed a population
and medical genomics group whose main research interests have focused
on the development of next-generation genomics approaches, model-based
tools and population-based approaches to study disease. These tools have
Project publications. New tools focus on systems genomics approaches, including genomic, transcriptomic and other
molecular approaches to capture signal in population-based samples as well tools to capture rare or de novo variants
diseases in Quebec through the CARTaGENE project; 2) the genetic and environmental control points of developing
world disorders such as sickle cell anemia and infectious diseases such as malaria; and 3) developing -omic approaches
Society for Clinical Investigation, Investigator of the Year Award.

11. H3AFRICA CONSORTIUM CONFERENCE
Dr. Rex L Chisholm
Professor in Cell and Molecular Biology, Center for
Genetic Medicine and Surgery
committee chair. This project uses Electronic Health Records linked biobank
samples (www.nugene.org) to study the genetics of disease susceptibility,
therapeutic outcomes and pharmacogenomics. My group is also interested
technology.
Professional Education
Center for Community Health – Institute for Public Health and Medicine
Center for Genetic Medicine
Feinberg Cardiovascular Research Institute
Interdepartmental Immunobiology Center
Northwestern University Institute of Neuroscience (NUIN)
Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center
Dr. Ayo MJ. Oduola
Retired: Professor and Director at the Postgraduate
Institute for Medical Research
Ayoade MJ Oduola recently retired as Coordinator for Stewardship and
Capacity Building for Research at the Special Program for Research and
Training on Tropical Diseases at the World Health Organisation (WHO/TDR).
He served as Professor and Director at the Postgraduate Institute for Medical
Research (IMRAT), College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
He received a US National Research Council (NRC) Fellowship and worked as
an Investigator at the Water Reed Army Institute for Research, Washington
DC, USA. His research focused on drug discovery and drug resistance in
parasiticdiseasesandapplicationsofbiotechnologies.AsaCoordinatoratTDR,
he managed and led several research and capacity building initiatives including
regional training centers for bioinformatics created by the Committee on
South African National Bioinformatics Institute (SANBI), Cape Town, South Africa and CBAG, Mahidol University,
Thailand, the South-south Initiative for research on infectious diseases; High Level Ministerial Forum for research on
infectious diseases of poverty, and TropIKA.net, a platform for research information sharing (www.tropika.net). He led
a team that produced the Global Report for Research on Infectious Diseases launched by the European Commission in
populations through Universities and initiatives in West Africa including the West Africa Institute for Research on

12. H3AFRICA CONSORTIUM CONFERENCE
Dr. Charmaine D. M. Royal
Associate Research Professor, Institute for Genome
Sciences & Policy and the Department of African and
African American Studies Duke University
Dr. Charmaine Royal is an associate research professor at the Institute
for Genome Sciences & Policy and the Department of African and African
AmericanStudiesatDukeUniversity.ShereceivedgraduatedegreesinGenetic
Counseling and Human Genetics from Howard University and completed
postgraduate training in Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health. Prior to
in the National Human Genome Center at Howard University.
Dr.Royal’sresearchandscholarshipfocusprimarilyonissuesattheintersection
ethnicity, and ancestry in research and clinical practice; gene-environment interactions in health and health disparities;
genetic and genomic research; and genomics and global health. She has taught, presented, published and received
funding in these and related areas.
Bioethics Advisory Committee, March of Dimes Foundation; Editorial Board, The American Journal of Bioethics;
Board of Directors, Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R); Ethics Committee, African Society
of Human Genetics; Medical Genetics Working Group, National Center for Biotechnology Information, NIH; and
Steering Committee, Registry and Surveillance System for Hemoglobinopathies (RuSH), Centers for Disease Control
Professor Francine Ntoumi
University Marien Ngouabi, Republic of Congo
Francine Ntoumi is Founder, Chair and Executive Director of the Congolese
Foundation for Medical Research, Republic of Congo, lecturer in Immunology
at the University Marien Ngouabi, Republic of Congo, and Research Group
Leader at the University of Tübingen, Germany. She is a member of several
main area of research is malaria, and throughout her career, she has trained
African scientists of various nationalities in disciplines such as immunology and
in developing health research capacities in Central Africa through the Central

13. H3AFRICA CONSORTIUM CONFERENCE
Invited Guests
Professor Nuno Ferrand De Almeida
Professor Nuno Ferrand de Almeida is the Director of CIBIO, Research Centre
Sciences, University of Porto, where he teaches genetics and evolution. He is
Prof. Ferrand holds a BSc and a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Porto,
and he is interested in evolutionary biology, particularly in genetic diversity
patterns of natural populations, ecology, conservation, domestication, and
speciation. He has developed several research projects in these areas using the
rabbit as the main model. He has also studied the evolution of many amphibian
and reptile species in the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa.
Evolution, PloS Genetics, Evolution, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Genetics, Molecular Ecology, Molecular
chapters.
The research projects Prof. Ferrand coordinates are associated with multiple international collaborations including
Universities of Cambridge, York and East Anglia (England). In the last decade, this network has been extended to
African context, Prof. Ferrand has launched the TwinLab initiative, consisting in partnerships for research, advanced
in southern Africa.
He also works and advises national governmental and non-governmental conservation bodies and private and public
enterprises. He has established several contracts with industry, including four sponsored research chairs.
Contacts
University of Porto
Campus de Vairão

14. H3AFRICA CONSORTIUM CONFERENCE
Dr. Samantha Nicholson
I completed a PhD in biochemistry at the University of Cape Town between
the University of Edinburgh. I then went on to complete a postdoc at the
University of the Witwatersrand in gene therapy to treat chronic HBV and a
second postdoc at the University of Pretoria in the application of engineered
for Africa for advanced genomics, molecular biology and cell culture. In this
role, my focus has been on protocol and assay development, as well as skills
across the continent. It is my privilege to work for one of the world’s largest
science and technology companies and use my work to help advance the

15. H3AFRICA CONSORTIUM CONFERENCE
H3Africa Chairs
H3Africa Steering Committee Chairs
Prof. Nicola Mulder
University of Cape Town, South Africa
ProfMulderheadstheComputationalBiologyDivisionattheUniversityofCape
Town,andleadsH3ABioNet,alargePanAfricanBioinformaticsNetworkof~30
capacity to enable genomic data analysis on the continent by developing and
providing access to skills and computing infrastructure for data analysis. Prior
Institute (EBI) in Cambridge, as a Team Leader for bioinformatics resources. At
UCT her research focuses on genetic determinants of susceptibility to disease,
African genome variation, microbiomes, microbial genomics and infectious
diseases from both the host and pathogen perspectives. Her group also
for high-throughput biology. Her team has also been involved in the development of new and improved algorithms for
the analysis of complex African genetic data as well as for downstream analysis and interpretation of GWAS data. Prof
Mulder is actively involved in training and education as well as curriculum development in bioinformatics and genomic
medicine.
Dr. Mogomotsi Matshaba
Botswana-Baylor Children’s Clinical Centre of
Excellence, Botswana; Baylor College of Medicine,
USA
Dr. Mogomotsi Matshaba, Principal Investigator for Collaborative African
Genomics Network (CAfGEN) Group is Assistant Clinical Professor of
Pediatrics, Retrovirology, Baylor College of Medicine, and Executive Director-
Botswana-Baylor Children’s Clinical Centre of Excellence. He is a medical
graduate of University College of Dublin, Ireland. He worked as a medical
completed his residency training in pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine,
Director. He continues to be active in the clinical, research, training and administrative capacities at the COE. He sits in
several Ministry of Health Committees as the pediatric expert; Botswana National HIV Guidelines Committee, TB/ HIV
IntegrationTechnicalWorkingGroup,DrugForecastingandPurchasingCommittee,TB/HIVDrugResistanceTechnical
Working Group, Adolescent HIV Guidelines Committee. Internationally he is a member of the Southern African HIV
Clinicians Society, serves in the Adolescent HIV Prevention and Treatment Implementation Science Alliance (AHISA) at
the Forgaty Institute, NIH and member of the Child Survival TWG, Inter-Agency Task Team (IATT), UNICEF.

16. H3AFRICA CONSORTIUM CONFERENCE
Condensed Agenda
Sunday 7thApril 2019 (Arrival / Registration)
IFGeneRA Meeting (by invitation) H3Africa Fellows Professional
Development Session
AAS/AESA Monitoring and
Evaluation Workshop
Monday 8th April 2019
Grants Writing Workshop (NIH/Wellcome/AAS)
Lunch
Grants Writing Workshop (Breakout sessions) Fellows Professional Development Sessions
Opening
Tuesday 9th April 2019
Principal Investigators & Fellows Presentations
Wednesday 10th April 2019
Principal Investigators & Fellows Presentations, WG Sessions
Thursday 11th April 2019
Working Group Sessions, Professional Development, Report Back and Closing
Friday 12th April 2019
Excursions & departures
Thirteenth H3Africa Consortium Meeting
Venue: Laico Tunis, Tunisia

17. CONTACTS
Dr Alia Benkahla : 22 938 439
Dr Melek Chaouch : 98 576 979