Committee Members

Zineb Ben Khadda is a young Moroccan researcher who earned her PhD in December 2023 from the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Fès. Her doctoral research focused on Chronic Interstitial Nephritis of Unknown Cause (CINAC), also known as CKDu, with a particular emphasis on farmers exposed to pesticides. Passionate about public health, she continues her research on the links between environmental factors and chronic diseases, aiming to contribute to the prevention and management of emerging diseases.

Caleb D. Alterman As an ambitious and diligent student, I am deeply committed to expanding my knowledge in Biology and Chemistry. Concurrently, I am devoted to refining my written and verbal communication skills while pursuing academic excellence. My overarching aspiration is to pursue a medical education after college. Beyond academic endeavors, I enjoy downhill skiing, cycling, and global travel.

Odette is a Kuku Yalanji/Torres Strait Islander Senior Research Fellow at the Wardliparingga Aboriginal Research Unit (SAHMRI) and the Sansom Institute for Health Research (University of South Australia). With extensive expertise in Aboriginal health policy, systems, and inequity, she explores how institutional practices impact health disparities among Indigenous populations. Her innovative approach involves using community-level data to address variations in disadvantage and involve Aboriginal communities in defining their well-being. Her research spans evidence-based policy, health services, and epidemiology, focusing on primary health care, Aboriginal-specific well-being frameworks, and chronic disease prevention. Odette’s work aims to enhance health and social system responses to better support Aboriginal people.

Dr. Janaka Karalliedde is a Clinical Reader in Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease at King’s College London and a Consultant Physician in Diabetes and Endocrinology at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London. He holds a distinction in medicine from the University of London and completed his PhD with a focus on cardiovascular and renal disease in diabetes, under the mentorship of Professor Giancarlo Viberti.

Dr. Karalliedde’s research, supported by prestigious grants from institutions such as the UK Medical Research Council and Diabetes UK, is dedicated to developing new therapies and identifying biomarkers to mitigate cardio-renal disease risks in diabetes. He leads specialist clinics for diabetes-related complications and has pioneered community-based multi-disciplinary clinics aimed at early detection and management of high-risk patients.

Professor Kamm began his career at Northwestern University earning a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He subsequently earned both a Master’s and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering at MIT. Since 1978, he has been a professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. Professor Kamm was one of the founding members of the Biological Engineering department when it was created in 1998.

Patrick Honoré, graduated from Louvain Medical School as MD (1988) with high distinction, Specialist in Internal Medicine (1993) with the Highest Distinction , Intensive Care Specialist (1994) with the Highest Distinction and Nephrologist (1995) with the Highest Distinction. During his internship, he completed more than 2 1/2 years specialisation in Nephrology and Dialysis. For almost 5 years, he received ICU training abroad (United Kingdom, Australia and USA). Pr Honoré is Board member of the Belgian Intensive Care Society and closely involved in the Nephrology section of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine. He is also a distinguished member or consultant of many scientific committees and decision-making organizations dedicated to diagnosis, treatment, and research in the field of acute kidney injury in the critically ill. Pr Honoré authored or co-authored more than 500 peer-reviewed papers ,more than 750 abstracts and more than 85 book chapters . He was also editor of three books dedicated to Critical Care Nephrology.He has been invited as a speaker at more than 750 national and international conferences in almost 100 different countries. He acts as reviewer for more than 45 international journals, including top-ranking journals in the field of critical care medicine and nephrology. He is a member of the editorial board of several 25 high-standard journals. He is also Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Translational Internal Medicine (open access) since 2013 (in pubmed since 2016), editor-in-chief of Journal of Translational Critical Care Medicine & Journal of Translational Kidney Research since 2015 (open access too).He is also appointed as section editor for Renal in Annals of Intensive Care starting from February 2016.Since 2009, he fulltime fulfils the position of Head of Clinics in the Intensive Care department of the University Hospital, Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB) and became Clinical Tutor and Senior Lecturer at the VUB Faculty of Medicine.Since 2012, he fulfils the position of Full Professor at the VUB Faculty of Medicine. In the ICU department, he leads the Critical Care Nephrology Platform which incorporates intensivists, nephrologists and nurses dedicated to daily education, research and treatment of acute kidney injury. In particular, he directs and organizes continuous renal replacement therapy on a 24/24; 7/7 on-call basis.He has also start a CRRT program using citrate dedicated to small children (less than 10 kg) in the UZB -PICU since 2013.Since January 2018, he is holding the position of Co-Director of ICU Department and ICU Research Director, Prof of Medicine at the ULB University.Since the 01 Jan 2022, he is holding the position of Full Director of ICU Dept at CHU-Brugmann..Since November 2022, he is holding the position of Head of ICU, CHU UCL Namur Godinne and Prof at the UCL University sinds July 2022..

Dr. Mohan, a distinguished physician-scientist, trained in Pathology and Rheumatology at the National University of Singapore and Singapore General Hospital. He completed his doctoral thesis on the cellular immunology of lupus at Tufts University, Boston, and his post-doctoral training focused on the genetic analysis of murine lupus. As an independent investigator, his research has centered on elucidating the cellular, molecular, and genetic factors leading to murine lupus nephritis, with corresponding translational studies in human lupus nephritis. His recent work has focused on translating basic biological findings towards the early diagnosis of end-organ involvement in autoimmune diseases. Currently, Dr. Mohan’s studies utilize proteomic platforms to discover new biomarkers and targets in chronic rheumatic diseases and selected cancers, applying advanced bioengineering technologies to enhance the management of these ailments.

Dr. Hess is trained in emergency medicine and global environmental health. His teaching, research and service focus on climate change and health, and he has particular interest in climate change vulnerability and adaptation assessment, surveillance for climate-sensitive health outcomes, developing and implementing interventions to support climate change adaptation in the health sector, and the health impacts of climate change mitigation.

Dr. Muthusamy Thangaraju (Raju) is a breast cancer research scientist. I started my research career as a breast cancer Scientist in 1991 when I was a graduate student at the University of Madras, India. Then I moved to the McGill University, Montreal, Canada as a post-doctoral fellowships and studied the role of protein tyrosine phosphatases, SHP1 and SHP2, in breast cancer growth and progression. Then I joined at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, and expanded my research in breast cancer and investigated the role of BRCA1 and BRCA2, the two breast cancer susceptibility genes, in the regulation of DNA damage repair and apoptosis in breast cancer. Then I joined the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Frederick, MD where I explored the functional implication of CCAAT/Enhancer Binding Protein delta (CEBPD) in mammary gland development and its relevance to mammary tumor growth and progression. Currently, I am a Professor at the Augusta University and studying the role of epigenetics and regulation of mammary gland development and its association with mammary stem cells (MaSC) and breast cancer stem cell (BCSC) self-renewal. I also studies the role of GPR109A, Netrin-1, and Epigenetics in Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD).

Sergio L Schmidt has completed his PhD at the age of 31 years from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and postdoctoral studies from the Deparment of Psychiatry at University of Alberta (Canada).  He is the director of Neurology Post-Graduate Program in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil . He has published more than 100  papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of reputed journals.

Zhang Sen obtained a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Shandong University in 2002, and then received a master’s degree and a doctor’s degree from Peking Union Medical College, China, respectively. From 2008 to 2011, he as a visiting scholar at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He has been engaged in the research and development of novel drugs for almost 20 years. He has conducted and participated in a number of national grants including basic research and R & D of the new drugs. As the first author or corresponding author, he has published more than 20 SCI indexed papers, applied for 10 patents and 3 new drugs are currently under research.

Dr. Farsad Afshinnia is Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Michigan. He is trained in Internal Medicine and Nephrology. His clinical responsibilities include ICU and general nephrology care in the inpatient and outpatient settings. His research focuses are on understanding metabolic risk determinants of progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD), and identification of prognostic metabolites predicting CKD progression using multiomics platforms in established CKD cohorts with and without diabetes. To that end the impact of novel biomarkers in risk stratification and early diagnosis, besides their impact on renal and cardiovascular outcomes beyond currently used traditional biomarkers are under investigation.