Scientific and Manuscript Writing

Dr. Ronald Gobina is the Director of the Health Policy and Research Program. He is a Nephrologist, working with the Regional Hospital in Buea. He is Director of the Health Policy and Research Program at the Nkafu Policy Institute and the Director of the COVID-19 taskforce for the DLF foundation. He is member of the Cameroon Society of Nephrology (CASONEPH), the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and the Initiative to Strengthen Health Research Capacity in Africa (ISHReCA).

He is passionate about sharing knowledge and skills through every means possible. He believes that being a specialist is not about being superior but about being a better coach to advance expertise in any given sphere. As a general practitioner, he initiative several teaching and coaching opportunities including the hospital-based teaching program at the Buea Regional Hospital for practicing nurses, doctors and trainees, and the Renal Summit for the South West Region of Cameroon which saw its maiden edition bring together experts from around the world to capacitate health personnel in the region on renal diseases. A regular choice for health education on radio platforms and with several community events for sensitization and screening organized, his determination continues to be seen in communities.

Dr. Rondi Marie Kauffmann is a General Surgery Specialist in Nashville, with over 18 years of experience in the medical field. She holds a BS in Physiological Sciences from the University of California, Los Angeles as well as a MD and MPH from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Her area of expertise include surgical oncology, benign and malignan breast diseases, breast cancer surgery and melanoma. She is affiliated with Vanderbilt University Medical Center and her research work focuses on Disparities in cancer care and outcomes, Public health interventions targeting early detection of malignancy, International Medicine and Cancer Care, Global Surgery and Surgical Education.

Desmond Jumbam is a global surgery research and health systems consultant. He earned his bachelor's degree in biological sciences with a minor in chemistry from Taylor University (magna cum laude) in 2015 and a master of science in global health from the University of Notre Dame in 2016. Currently, he serves as Director of Health Policy and Advocacy at Operation Smile, an international non-governmental organization that aims to improve access to safe and timely surgical care globally. Desmond is also a 2022 News Voices Fellow at the Aspen Institute and the president and co-founder of the Jumbam Family Foundation, based in Cameroon. The Jumbam Family Foundation aims to provide psychosocial and reintegration support to victims of the ongoing Anglophone war in Cameroon. Desmond serves on the editorial boards of BMC Health Services Research, PLOS Global Public Health, and Frontiers. He is a board member of King’s Global Health Partnership at King’s College London.

Dr. Ngo Valery Ngo is a Medical Doctor and a Senior Health Researcher at Nkafu Policy Institute, a think tank at the Denis & Lenora Foretia Foundation in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Before his appointment, he was a volunteer research assistant under Professor Bright Nwaru at the Krefting Research Centre in Gothenburg, Sweden, during which he conducted various researches in global health and contributed to various systematic reviews to synthesize existing evidence on major global health issues. Between 2012 and 2018, Dr. Ngo worked as a clinician at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Keffi, Nasarawa State, Nigeria, and rose to the position of senior medical officer and chief resident in charge of training. At FMC Keffi, he worked in different clinical departments, including surgery, medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics, gynecology, clinical hematology, accident, and emergency. He also coordinated the HIV/AIDS program at Innovative Biotechnology in Keffi, Nasarawa State, Nigeria.

Dr. Asahngwa Constantine holds a PhD in Medical Anthropology from the University of Yaounde 1, Yaounde, Cameroon. He obtained his Master’s Degree in Medical Anthropology and Bachelor’s Degree in Anthropology both from the University of Yaounde 1, Cameroon. He has served as Director for the Cameroon Center for Evidence Based Health Care for 10 years as an evidence synthesis, translation and utilization expert. He has also served as a Senior Adjunct Lecturer at the School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Adelaide, South Australia for 10 years, His research areas are in health policy, health systems, infectious diseases and reproductive health.

Dr. Odette Kibu is a Senior Health Policy Analyst at the Nkafu Policy Institute and PhD holder in Public Health at the University of Buea. She hold a Masters Degree in Chemical Pathology and a Bachelors Degree (Hons) in Biochemistry also from the University of Buea. Prior to joining the Foundation Ms. Kibu was a Research Assistant in Public Health at the University of Buea under the supervision of Prof. Dickson Shey Nsagha. She also previously worked at the Clinton Health Access Initiative.

Prof. Simplice Asongu is a Policy Fellow in Economic Affairs at the Nkafu Policy Institute. He is a Distinguished Professor. He holds a PhD from Oxford Brookes University and is also currently the Lead Economist and Director of the African Governance and Development Institute (Yaoundé, Cameroon) and Adjunct Professor at the University of Cape Town. He is also a: Senior Research Fellow at the Africa Growth Institute (Cape Town, South Africa); PhD Supervisor at Covenant University (Ota, Nigeria), the University of Ghana (Accra, Ghana) and Midlands State University (Gweru, Zimbabwe); DBA Supervisor at Management College of Southern Africa (Durban, South Africa) and Research Associate at the University of South Africa (Pretoria, South Africa), University of Buea (Buea, Cameroon) and Oxford Brookes University (Oxford, UK). He is also Associate Editor in some journals including the Journal of Economic Surveys, the Journal of African Business and the International Journal of Education Economics and Development.

Dr. Ignatius Esene is a Neurosurgeon-Scientist. He works as a Consultant neurological surgeon, Public, International & Global Health Physician. He is currently the Head of the neurosurgical unit of the Garoua regional hospital. Dr Esene is also the Deputy Editor-In-chief, Journal of Global Neurosurgery (J GNS) and the Co-Founder/Scientific Editor of the Pan African Medical Journal-Clinical Medicine. He was recently elected Secretary general of the Continental Association of African Neurosurgical Societies (CAANS).

Dr Ignatius Esene obtained his Medical Doctorate Degree from Cameroon and was awarded the Academy of Research and Higher Education scholarship to undertake a Masters in Public Health (in Brussels, Belgium) which he obtained with a Magna Cum Laude. He then proceeded to Cairo for his residency in Neurosurgery. He obtained a Masters in Neurosurgery/Neurology (cum laude) and Doctorate Degree (Ph.D) in Neurological Surgery under the aegis of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies and auspices of the Cameroonian government.

He equally holds Postgraduate Certificates/Diplomas in Health Economics, International Health, Advanced Research Methods, Pediatric Neuro-Oncology, Skull Base and Neuro-Vascular Surgery. He has received a myriad of accolades, travel/boarding grants and a manifold of scholarships (WFNS Foundation Scholarship, FIENS-Basset Global Neurosurgery Fellowship, NIH-StrokeNet Fellowship, InWEnt-Health Division Grant).

Ghyslaine Bruna Djeunang Dongho, Ph. D., is the Senior Researcher in Global Health and Public Health at the Nkafu Policy Institute.

She recently ended a Post-doc at the National Institutes of Health, working between the Laboratory of Immunogenetics (LIG) and the Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research (LMVR). She has served as part-time Lecturer at the Evangelical University of Cameroon and has been Mentor at the Sintieh Research Academy helping medical students with their end of studies research. She has volunteered as Head of the Research Unit at Projet Intégré Pour la Promotion de l’Auto-Développement (PIPAD).

Bruna Djeunang holds Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Epidemiology and Public Health from The Department of Biomedical Sciences of the University of Dschang and a Ph.D. from the Sapienza University of Rome in Infectious Diseases, Microbiology and Public Health under the supervision of Dr. Gianluca Russo and Dr Martin Sanou Sobze.

She is among the pioneer nutrition educators trained by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for Francophone Africa in 2015. Her recent research activities include malaria epidemiology and host factors, Nutrition, STDs/HIV and AIDS and Neglected tropical diseases. She is currently involved in research on Plasmodium vivax malaria in Cameroon, and is a member of the Women in Malaria Association, and the Pan African Vivax and Ovale Network (PAVON Consortium). Bruna Djeunang serves as reviewer for MDPI Journals and Journal of Public Health in Africa.

She was awarded two travel grants to attend the International Conference on Plasmodium vivax Research (2017 and 2019 editions). She was also awarded a Travel grant by the RSTMH to attend the advanced residential course on Neglected Tropical Diseases and Poverty Related Diseases in Pemba, 2017.

Bruna Djeunang loves research and beyond every aspect of research, she is passionate about mentoring early career scientists and students and translating data into impactful public Health strategies.

Wilfred NGWA is an Epidemiologist / Microbiologist.
He is the founding Director of epiGuider (a consultancy organisation in epidemiology and research). He has 8 years of experience working as an epidemiologist and Microbiologist.

Wilfred NGWA started his career as a Microbiologist / Laboratory technician in Cameroon and has worked with MSF (in Mauritania, Guinea, DRC Congo and Zimbabwe). He is skilled in data analysis, map creation, mobile data collection, M and E and most statistical packages.
He has a particular passion in contributing to the growth of his country, Cameroon.

Jean Cedric Kouam is a fellow, Deputy Director-Economics Affairs Division and the Head of Fiscal and Monetary Policy Sub-section at the Nkafu policy Institute. He holds a doctorate in economic policy and analysis (monetary and financial macroeconomics) from the University of Dschang in Cameroon. Since obtaining the Diploma of Advanced Studies in Mathematical Economics and Econometrics at the University of Yaoundé II in 2012, he has provided courses in economics, finance, and macroeconomic modeling in several private higher schools in Cameroon. Member of various groups of researchers and laboratories in Cameroon and abroad, his research interests relate to the economic development of Africa, the economic resilience of States, the effectiveness of cyclical and structural policies, the policy mix of the monetary union, and sustainable development.

Former Fellow of the French Government (Doctoral research grant), he has been invited several times to the University of Poitiers in France (Centre de Recherche sur l’Intégration Economique-CRIEF) as well as international conferences of the Canadian Society for Economics in Canada (SCSE). In addition, Dr. Kouam has carried out research stays at the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) where he is currently engaged in numerous research works with executives. He is actively following online training provided by the Institute for Capacity Building of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of which he holds a certificate in Viability and Public Debt Management in Low-Income Countries.

Dr Fuein Vera Kum is a Research Fellow at the Nkafu Policy Institute. Since 2017, she has been working as an Economic Policy Analyst with the Institute. Her research interests focuses on Health Economics and development policy. She has a passion for research and knowledge dissemination.

She equally serves as a Lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences of the University of Bamenda in Cameroon. Vera holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Benin, Nigeria.