Celebrating a New Era for Pharmacometrics in Africa: Building on Global Momentum
5 September 2025
- Kampala, Uganda
- Hybrid
Join us as we explore Africa’s dynamic journey in pharmacometrics – from its roots to its future potential.
Under the theme “Celebrating a New Era for Pharmacometrics in Africa: Building on Global Momentum,” PMXAC-2025 brings together leaders and innovators to align cutting-edge science with Africa’s public health priorities.
Discover the latest in regulatory science, including BA/BE studies for generics, AI-driven dossier review, MBMA, and PBPK modeling for underserved populations. Gain practical insights into strengthening local capacity, enhancing medicine access, and advancing career pathways in pharmacometrics.
Designed for students, researchers, scientists, regulators, industry professionals, and policymakers, PMXAC-2025 is a must-attend for anyone shaping the future of pharmaceutical science and healthcare in Africa.
Proudly organised by:
About the Conference
We’re excited to announce that PMXAC-2025 will take place in person at the renowned Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI), located within Makerere University College of Health Sciences in Kampala, Uganda, on Friday, 5 September 2025.
Set at one of Africa’s leading centers of health research and innovation, this intimate, high-impact event will bring together up to 100 delegates for a full day of cutting-edge science, collaboration, and inspiration. With a venue capacity of 70–100 participants, you’ll be part of a focused, interactive environment designed to foster meaningful connections and advance the field of pharmacometrics across the continent.
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to connect with leaders in regulatory science, pharmacometrics, and healthcare—right at the heart of Africa’s health innovation hub.
Funders and Supporters
Organisers
Catriona Waitt, MBChB, PhD
Catriona Waitt is a Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and Global Health at the University of Liverpool, and has been based at the Infectious Diseases Institute, Makerere University College of Health Sciences since 2014. Her research focuses on drug dosing, efficacy and safety in complex and understudied populations, particularly pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and their infants. Her work draws together clinical trials, observational clinical studies, pharmacometrics, social science and public engagement and involvement. Because of the importance of pharmacometrics to study design and interpretation in these complex populations, her team emphasises continued capacity building in the discipline, including with the launch of the Uganda Chapter of Pharmacometrics Africa in 2021.
Aida Kawuma
Aida is a PhD Student and joined the pharmacometrics group in February 2019. She holds a master’s degree in Pharmacology and a bachelor’s degree of science in Pharmacy from Makerere University, College of Health Sciences in Uganda. Aida has previously applied modelling techniques to study efavirenz central nervous system side effects in African patients, as well as the dosing of a novel monoclonal antibody in a drug development setting. Her studies currently focus on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of dolutegravir, a new anti-retroviral agent that has been widely adopted across Africa.
Innocent Asiimwe, PhD
Innocent Gerald Asiimwe is a pharmacist who is originally from Uganda. He worked in Uganda and Botswana before pursuing further study in the UK at the University of Liverpool. Here, he obtained an MSc in Clinical Research, an MRes in Biomedical Sciences and Translational Medicine (Biology of Cancer), and a PhD in Pharmacology with a focus on warfarin pharmacogenomics in sub-Saharan Africa. He is currently working as a postdoctoral research associate in Prof Sir Munir Pirmohamed’s group at the Wolfson Centre for Personalized Medicine (University of Liverpool) on a project evaluating the relationships between diseases, drugs and their therapeutic targets using existing large-scale data from electronic health records, genome-wide association studies and randomised clinical trials. Innocent aspires to become a leading African pharmacometrician and is an alumnus of the Applied Pharmacometrics Training (APT) 2023 program.
Dr. Linda Chaba
Dr. Linda Chaba is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where she develops translational tools to optimize tuberculosis drug regimens with the goal of accelerating drug development. A biostatistician by training and a 2022 Applied Pharmacometrics Training (APT) fellow, she previously served as Senior Lecturer and Academic Director at the Strathmore Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Strathmore University.
Samer Mouksassi
Samer Mouksassi is a Full Professional Researcher at the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences at University of California San Francisco.
His role at the Savic Integrative Pharmacology Research Laboratory involves mentoring and overseeing PhDs, postdocs and fellows working on translational and clinical research projects in Tuberculosis, Malaria, HIV and Diabetes. Previously, while with Certara, he helped in starting two pharmacometrics Consulting offices in Cairo and Cape town strengthening the ecosystem of pharmacometrics in Africa. Samer has a passion for building tools that empower non-coders to communicate efficiently with R packages (ggquickeda, coveffectsplot and tidyvpc).
Samer works closely with the fellows in our Applied Pharmacometrics Training program as a program leader and mentor.
Francis Williams Ojara, BSc, MSc, Dr. ret. Nat
Francis Williams Ojara is currently Post-doctoral pharmacometric modeler at the Infectious Diseases Institute and a lecturer of pharmacology at Gulu University, both in Uganda. He holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Biochemistry; a Masters of Science in Pharmacology and a Doctorate in Natural Sciences (focusing on Pharmacometrics). His research has covered modelling of pharmacokinetic-(and pharmacodynamic) data in oncology and infectious diseases, with current interests in understudied populations such as the pediatrics and pregnant mothers. He has strong interest in training and mentoring scholars into pharmacometrics and establishing potent global networks to support the growth of pharmacometrics in Uganda and Africa.
Dr. Veshni Pillay-Fuentes Lorente
Medical doctor – Clinical Pharmacologist, Diploma in Medicines Development, MMed (Clinical Pharmacology), and PhD candidate (SU)
Focus area:
Veshni has an interest in dose optimization in special populations. Part of her current PhD work involves population pharmacokinetic and PK-PD modeling of colistin in critically ill adult and paediatric patients. She is focused on building pharmacometrics and, student and peer teaching on the clinical utility of pharmacometrics within Stellenbosch University, in South Africa and on the African continent.
Paolo Denti, PhD
Paolo Denti is a professor of pharmacometrics in the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Cape Town. His work focuses mainly on tuberculosis, HIV, and malaria and involves the use of mathematical models to characterize the relationship between drug dose, concentration, and response, while quantifying the effect of patient characteristics, trial information, and other factors on this relationship. Overall, he aims to achieve quantitative understanding how of how these drugs work, so that we can suggest dose adjustments for treatment optimization and individualization, particularly needed for neglected populations, such as paediatrics and pregnancy.
Babatunde Adeagbo
Babatunde Ayodeji Adeagbo is a senior lecturer and a tenured staff member of the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy of Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. He graduated with Distinction as a Pharmacist in 2001, as one of the best in the class. He holds a PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry with a research focus on integrating pharmacokinetics, pharmacogenetics, and pharmacometrics in solving clinical problems in chronic disease and vulnerable populations. His PhD resulted in the first documentation of a population pharmacokinetic study in Chronic myeloid leukaemia in Nigeria and perhaps in Africa. He is presently leading the Translational Pharmacokinetic Research Group, Obafemi Awolowo University, and the Therapeutic Drug Monitoring team of the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. His research interests include the use of pharmacogenetics and pharmacometrics tools to identify biomarkers that could help monitor the clinical outcome of drugs in chronic non-communicable diseases like cancer to optimise their use in special populations, and over the years, he has gained expertise in the use of basic modelling and simulations for the prediction of dosage and adverse reactions with a special focus on the use of antimalarial, anti-infectious and anti-cancer drugs in vulnerable groups like neonates, children, pregnant women and comorbid conditions to optimize therapy in these groups. He has a keen interest in the evaluation of specially designed drug and vaccine formulations for communicable and non-communicable diseases.
He has published over 28 journal articles in high-impact journals and three others under review. He has presented his research findings at several international conferences and enjoyed several supports for capacity development in pharmacometrics and clinical trial management for young African Scientists. In the last five years, He won six different fellowships/grants listed as follows: (a) Clinical Research Development Fellowship by UNICEF/UNDP/WORLD BANK/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (b) WHO–TDR Re-integration Grant, worth $25,000.00; (c) European and Developing Countries Clinical Trial Partnership Career Development Fellowship, worth Euro 149,999.43, (d) Two National Research Fund from tertiary education trust fund (TETFUND) Nigeria worth about 80 million Naira (e) iProtecta SCD (sub-grant $160,000.00 from African Institute of Biomedical Science and Technology, Harare, Zimbabwe (AibST). He is the Secretary of the Consortium of Genomics and Therapeutics in Africa, a group interested in the implementation of pharmacogenetics in clinical practice.
Dr. Cassius Phogole
MSc and PhD in Pharmacology (SU) | Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Phogole is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in Pharmacometrics at Stellenbosch University. His research focuses on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of anti-infective therapies, with particular emphasis on tuberculosis (TB) and HIV. He was a member of the 2024 cohort of the Applied Pharmacometrics Training (APT) program.
Colin Pillai, PhD
Goonaseelan (Colin) Pillai is committed to driving programs that develop scientific capability in low and middle-income countries.
A clinical pharmacologist who trained in Durban, South Africa, Colin previously worked at the corporate headquarters of Novartis and Roche in Switzerland. He has a specialist interest in the application of non-linear mixed effects models to pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic data across a wide range of therapeutic areas.
In Pharma, he played leadership roles in bringing internal and external acceptance of applying mathematical models to decision making in drug development. His most recent Pharma role involved establishing programs that allowed sharing scientific expertise and infrastructure with researchers and institutions in LMIC.
Colin has held teaching, research and management positions at the Universities of Durban-Westville and Witwatersrand. He acquired his clinical and research experience in hospital and community pharmacy and as a consultant with the SA Medical Research Council’s Tuberculosis Research program, where he ran a unit conducting Phase 1 clinical trials. Colin continues to maintain active academic links with numerous institutions in Africa including via formal Honorary Professorships and Board Member status. Since November 2017, he is a Senior Advisor on capacity development and training programs for global health to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Gabriel McClelland
In the midst of a seemingly infinite landscape of soulless, dull, and otherwise unqualified producers, there is still hope. Here is a person who knows the fine line between rock-solid management skills and improvised genius. He knows the difference between good and evil, and isn’t afraid to use both to get the job done. For him, breakfast comes with a dose of unfettered creative energy and dinner is served with the satisfaction of a job well done. Does this sound too good to be true? Think again. You’re reading his profile. With over two decades of experience and three days of junior college education, Gabriel McClelland prides himself on an exemplary track record bringing top-notch creative where it’s needed: whether it be Fortune 500 or the little store around the corner. Gabriel lives in Switzerland with his husband and countless houseplants.
Ochuko Orherhe
Ochuko is a lecturer at the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Administration, Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. Her research interest is optimising medication use in special populations such as paediatrics, pregnant women, lactating mothers, and in patients with chronic diseases using pharmacokinetics, pharmacogenetics and pharmacometrics research tools. She obtained her B.Pharm. degree from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria, her M.Sc. degree in Clinical Pharmacy from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and she recently completed her M.Phil. programme in Pharmacology at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. Her M.Phil. thesis focused on population pharmacokinetics of Amodiaquine in the Nigerian population. She is currently a PhD scholar with the Translational Pharmacokinetics Research Group, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria where she is exploring pharmacokinetics, pharmacogenetics, and pharmacometrics to optimise therapeutic management of sickle cell disease.
Ochuko is a fellow of the 2023 cohort of the Applied Pharmacometrics Training (APT) Programme organised by Pharmacometrics Africa in collaboration with Certara where she gained hands-on experience in modelling and simulation, and she completed a real-world data-based project on ‘Pharmacometric Analysis to describe the Pharmacokinetics and Exposure-Efficacy Response of Ivermectin in Adolescents infected with Trichuris Trichiura’ working with her APT project partner. She is also a fellow of the West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists.
Dr. Nour Chtiba
Docteur en Pharmacie (PharmD) spécialisée en Pharmacie hospitalière et industrielle (DES) diplômée de la faculté de pharmacie de Monastir et titulaire d’un Master en pharmacométrie de la faculté de pharmacie, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1. Elle a fait partie du programme APT 2024 (Applied Pharmacometrics Training) co-organisé par l’Université de Stellenbosch, PMX Africa et CERTARA.