Pharma in Africa

In celebration of Black History Month in the UK, we'll be discussing 'Pharma in Africa' for our last 'Conversations with Black Pharma' episode, for the year.

Africa is seen as one of the fastest growing regions worldwide which has experience growth in every segment of the pharmaceutical market over recent years. During the recent pandemic however, Africa relied on the western world to deliver vaccine, demonstrating the importance for the continent to further develop the pharma industry to serve itself.

Join us on the 7th of October as we'll have a panel discussion with African organisations in pharma. We'll be looking into the uniqueness of the industry in Africa, insights and perspectives on ways to strengthen the African pharmaceutical industry, the issues the industry faces on the continent and much more.

HOST: Dr Adaugo (Diggi) Onyeador is a medical doctor with both medical and surgical experience and a passion for women’s health. Dr Diggi volunteered her time running TEDxEuston, with goals to challenge the perception of Africa. For almost 10 years she hosted the event with over 600 guests and talks with up to 2 million views. Passionate about tackling health inequality she runs Alafia: a health and wellness hub, an organisation that educates the African & Caribbean community about health issues that affect them the most. She is also the founder of the podcast 'Debunking medical myths', where she discusses misconceptions behind coronavirus and vaccines to diet fads and fillers. GUEST SPEAKER: Mutiah Ipaye-Macaulay, is the Founding Partner/CEO of Reliance Clinical Limited, a Contract Research Organization bridging the gap of clinical research in Africa. Mutiah advises healthcare leaders around the world, is a frequent speaker at major healthcare conferences on quality improvement and is a tireless advocate for change. Considering 15 years’+ experience, she has adept knowledge in Clinical Research, Serious Adverse Events (SAE) reporting, Good Clinical Practice (GCP), Auditing and Subject screening protocols. Utilizing her master’s degree in Public Health, she intends to use her education and experience to benefit those in her community with a dream of opening a free clinic in an underserved community offering healthcare in the traditional and holistic sense. GUEST SPEAKER: Adebukunola Telufusi serves as the Executive Director of Xcene Research, a Contract Research Organization based in Nigeria. She is a Clinical Research Management Expert with over 10 years of global clinical research experience. She has worked with top-ten global pharmaceutical companies and CROs as a Consultant, Project Manager and Clinical Research Associate (CRA). She has in-depth expertise in regulatory requirements regarding the conduct of clinical trials in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and the US. She has performed extensive trial management responsibilities across international borders. Buki is a member of the Nigeria Clinical Trial Technical Working Group, a group set up by the Director General of the National Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to realize the goal of making Nigeria a clinical trial destination hub. Buki is passionate about health care delivery and policy reform in Africa. In her spare time, she works with NGOs that focus on improving access to healthcare delivery and high-quality education in remote areas across Sub-Saharan Africa. GUEST SPEAKER: Kemi Williams is a clinical research executive with over 20 years experience in the medical device and pharmaceutical industries, delivering strategic transformation in biotech organizations and creating impactful healthcare solutions for patients in advanced and emerging markets. She is the VP, Clinical and Regulatory Affairs at 54gene, an African genomics start-up, where she oversees establishing the enabling infrastructure, processes, and network to expand the clinical research ecosystem in Africa and drive more robust end-to-end clinical development activities in the region. Prior to joining 54gene, Kemi held leadership positions in major biotechnology companies, such as Roche, Abbott, and Medtronic. Most recently, she was the Head of Clinical Affairs for Siemens Healthineers US molecular business, where she led the development of strategies, structures, and processes for delivering global clinical studies for the organization. Some of her accomplishments include building and establishing a clinical and regulatory affairs group from the ground-up, launching a new and profitable clinical research business within a biotech organization, and developing teams to design and conduct many clinical trials (phases I-IV, PMA, 510(k).