Saad Subahi, President PASCAR National Council
MBBS Khartoum University, FRCP London, FRCPI.
Consultant cardiologist with interest in echocardiography and cardiac imaging, Ribat University Hospital, Khartoum, Sudan.
Associate Professor, College of Medicine, Alribat National University Khartoum, Sudan.
President Sudan Heart Society from 2012 - 2014.
Member, Cardiology advisory Council, Federal Ministry of Health, Sudan.
Member, Cardiology Board, Medical Specialization Council, Sudan.
Vice President Cardiology Board, Sudan Medical Council.
Member, National Committee for Control of RHD Sudan.
Member, Human Drugs Committee, National Council for Drugs and Poisons, Sudan.
Bongani Mayosi, Ex Officio (In Memoria)
Prof Bongani Mayosi passed away on 27 July 2018, he was a South African cardiology professor who was awarded his county's highest honour, the Order of Mapungubwe in 2009. He was the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town South Africa.
He qualified in medicine from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, and trained in internal medicine and cardiology in Cape Town. He was the Nuffield Oxford Medical Fellow in cardiovascular medicine at the University of Oxford from 1998 to 2001. His research interests included genetics of cardiovascular traits, treatment of tuberculous pericarditis, prevention of rheumatic fever, and epidemiology of heart failure in Africa. He was the Chairman of the South African National Health Research Committee, Immediate Past President of the Pan-African Society of Cardiology (PASCAR), and Associate Editor for Circulation.
Elijah Ogola, Secretary General
Professor Elijah Nyainda Ogola is the chairman of the department of clinical medicine at the University of Nairobi (Kenya). He is a clinical cardiologist. His main research interest is the emergence of cardiovascular risk factors in Africa.
Amam Mbakwem, Treasurer
Dr Amam Chinyere Mbakwem (MBBS, FWACP, FACC, FESC) is a professor of Medicine at the University of Lagos and a consultant cardiologist to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. She has also undergone training in Medical Education at theFAIMER institute in Philadelphia, USA and earned a fellowship in Medical education in 2009.
Dr Mbakwem’s research interest includes Heart failure, systemic and pulmonary hypertension, heart disease in women, effective communication in disease management and the psychosocial issues in cardiovascular diseases.She has is a member of the Nigerian Hypertension society guidelines writing committee.
She is the current President of the Nigerian Cardiac Society and a member of the European Society of Cardiology working group on Peripartum cardiomyopathy. She is also a member of the Heart and Brain working group of the European Society of Cardiology.
She is passionate about taking CVD management from the ivory towers to the community and as such gives a number of public health lectures and CVD screening for people in the ‘market place’ and is involved in advocacy issues for CVD management in Nigeria.
Ibrahima Ali Toure, Vice President of the Western region
Professeur Titulaire De Cardiologie
Diplome De Medecine Tropicale
Doyen Honoraire De La Faculte Des Sciences De La Sante
Chef Du Departement De Medecine Et Specialites Medicales
Universite Abdou Moumouni Tel/ 0022796966250 Bp /13220
Niamey Niger
Karen Sliwa, Vice President of the Southern region
Prof. Karen Sliwa, MD, PhD, FESC, FACC, DTM & H- is the Director of the Hatter Institute for Cardiovascular Research in Africa (www.hatter.uct.ac.za), University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Born in Germany, studying Medicine, undergoing training as a physician and cardiologist in a number of countries, she lives in South Africa since 1992.
Cardiovascular disease in pregnancy and postpartum is one of her main areas of clinical and pathophysiological research. Recent progress in understanding underlying pathophysiology of Peripartum Cardiomyopathy, enabled by novel experimental approaches interlinked with unique international efforts has led to great progress in awareness and management of the disease. In order to coordinate efforts even better, a Study Group, ‘Peripartum Cardiomyopathy’, of the Heart Failure Association of the European Cardiac Society, chaired by her and others was formed in 2009. That has led to a large international registry under the EuroObservational Programe on Peripartum Cardiomyopathy.
Together with her long-term collaborator, Prof. Simon Stewart, Melbourne, Australia, she established a population study in Africa called the ‘Heart of Soweto Study’ to investigate the prevalence, presentation and management of cardiac disease in an urban African population. This study, on more than 8000 patients, highlighted the high prevalence of hypertension, obesity and cardiac disease in women of childbearing age. She has recently expanded her population studies (under the umbrella of the ‘Heart of Africa studies’) to other African countries, including Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya and Sudan. She has designed a number of innovative research programs and leveraged funding for several major research projects, not only in South Africa and the rest of Africa, but also internationally. She has published more than 200 articles and her work is highly cited.
In recognition of her work Prof Sliwa has received several prestigious awards.
Karen Sliwa serves on a number of editorial boards and is also an editorial consultant to ‘The Lancet’. Furthermore, she is the past president of the South African Heart Association, serves on the board of the South African Heart Failure Society (Hefssa; www.hefssa.org), which was established under her leadership 2005. She also president elect World Heart Federation (2017-2019), a member of the European Cardiac Society International Affairs committee and is board member of the Pan African Society of Cardiology.
Anastase Dzudie, Vice President of the Central region
MD; FESC; Assistant Secretary General; Chair, PASCAR task force on hypertension
Anastase DZUDIE is a consultant cardiologist at the Douala General Hospital (DGH) where he practices general cardiology and cardiac pacing, he teaches cardiovascular medicine at the Buea Faculty of health sciences. Born in Cameroon. Anastase graduated in medicine at the University of Yaounde I where he also trained and qualified as specialist in internal medicine (2004). He further trained and qualified as cardiovascular specialist in 2007 (Claude Bernard University, Lyon I, France) with competence in cardiac pacing, and with fellowships in cardiac echography and vascular ultrasound (2 years) and also in sports cardiology (1 year). In 2007, he was laureate of the twin center fellowship of the World heart federation. As scientific secretary of the Cameroon Cardiac Society since 2008, he has organized several congresses and CME. He is Regional Editor of the Cardiovascular Journal of Africa and serves on the editorial board of Tropical cardiology and reviewers of more than 10 peer review medical journals. His scientific and significant contribution in clinical cardiovascular research was acknowledged by the European Society of cardiology as he was elected to the fellowship in 2012. As a passionate of clinical research, Anastase has participated in a number of multicentric and international studies including THESUS-HF, RELY AF, PAPUCO, EIGHT and has also established the Cameroon Cardiac Society investigator team that locally conduct national studies. In the recent years, his main focus of research has related to systemic hypertension, heart failure and pulmonary hypertension owing to left heart diseases (PhD candidate, University of Cape Town, South Africa). Please contact Anastase at aitdzudie@yahoo.com.
Harun Otieno, Vice President of the East region
Harun Otieno is an Interventional Cardiologist at Africa Heart Associates based in Nairobi. He was the Director of the Cardiac Program (January 2009 - December 2012)and The Catheterization Laboratory (2008 - December 2012) at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Kenya. Here, he developed an Invasive/Interventional Cardiology Program at AKUHN being the first regional radial access cardiac catheterization laboratory performing advanced heart procedures percutaneous coronary interventions through the wrist artery. He was Assistant Professor in Department of Medicine from 2008 to 2012. Dr. Otieno is a Member and Advisor for specialty health care in Cardiology, Internal Medicine and Noncommunicable diseases to Government of Kenya, Vision 2030 Technical Committee: Health & Medical Tourism (2012-2013). Working together with Kenya Cardiac Society as Vice Secretary PASCAR East, he organized the first East African Cardiovascular Forum bringing over 70 clinicians from the East Africa region to discuss local perspectives on cardiac diseases. Additionally he worked on developing course content for several educational programs in March 2014 Cape Town, South Africa Meet as an fricaPCR Course Co-Director, 2014. In 2014, he has organized cardiac camps in Siaya and Narok Counties, i rural Kenya to improve access to cardiac diagnosis and treatment demonstrating the value of handheld ultrasound in the diagnosis of heart disease in rural communities. He is a regular speaker on interventional cardiology and acute coronary syndromes. His interests include integrating technology in Healthcare, improving rural access to modern cardiac diagnosis and treatment and providing medical education for Doctors and Allied Health Professionals in Kenya, East africa and beyond. He has co published several research papers on acute coronary syndromes in Kenya and atrial fibrillation. E mail: harun@healthyheart4.me or africaheartmd@gmail.com, harun.otieno@aku.edu Cell: +254-718173303
Sani Mahmoud, Assisitant General Secretary of the Western region
MBBS, PhD, FWACP, FACP, FACC, FRCPEdin
Professor Mahmoud Sani is a Cardiologist with the Department of Medicine, Bayero University Kano/Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital and the Deputy Provost (Academic), College of Health Sciences, Bayero University, Kano. Prof Sani received his medical degree in 1993 from the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria. He completed his Internal Medicine and Cardiology Residency in 2002 and won the SF Kuku price for the best graduating Fellow of the West African College of Physicians for the year. He obtained PhD in Medicine from the University of Cape town, South Africa in 2016.
His areas of interest include Acute Heart Failure, Echocardiography, Cardiovascular epidemiology and Cardiovascular Disease in HIV and sickle cell disease. He has published over eighty peer-reviewed scientific papers some of which in leading medical journals. He has been involved in collaborative researches across the African continent, which includes THESUS –HF, PAPUCO and REMEDY registries as well as the IMPI,B-A-HEFand the CREOLE trials as centre principal investigator. He has also participated in international registries likethe RELY – AF Registry and the INTERSTROKE study, among others. Together with other colleagues, he also co-founded the Nigerian Heart Failure Registry and the Registry for acute coronary events in Nigeria (RACE – Nigeria). He is a project lead for the SickleGenAfricacentre looking at the genetic determinant of cardiovascular genotypes in sickle cell disease.
Professor Sani was Head of Department of Medicine Bayero University Kano/Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (2012 – 2014), Council Member, Nigerian Cardiac Society (2006-2012), Chair, Pan African Society of Cardiology (PASCAR) task force on Pacemaker re-use and an Examiner to the West African College of Physicians since 2008. He is a World Heart Federation (WHF) emerging leader from 2015.
Mpiko Ntsekhe, Assisitant General Secretary of the Southern region
MD PhD F.A.C.C is the current Hellen and Morris Mauerberger Professor and Chair of Cardiology, at the University of Cape Town and Head of Clinical Cardiology at Groote Schuur Hospital. After graduating from Columbia University School of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City he completed his clinical and research training at UCT. Ntsekhe is an NRF rated researcher with a well-established research and publication track record and serves on the editorial board of Circulation and Heart among others. He is passionate about teaching and training in post graduate clinical cardiology and cardiovascular research, and improving patient access to cardiovascular care through advocacy policy and practice throughout the African continent. Ntsekhe is Chair of the Astra Zeneca Research Trust and serves in a leadership capacity in a number of organizations including AfricaPCR, SA Heart, SASCI, EuroPCR, and the Pan African Society of Cardiology.
Marc Nimburanira, Assistant General Secretary of the Central region
Doctorate Degree in General Medicine in 1997 at National University of Bujumbura.
2007: ”Attestation de Formation Spécialisée” in Cardiology and Vascular Diseases at Teaching-Hospital of Rennes, Rennes I University in France.
2008, Higher Specialized Doctorate in Internal Medicine orientation Cardiology at ”Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc” of Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium.
Consultant cardiologist at Military Hospital of Bujumbura
Member of the founding team of the Burundian Association of Medical Specialities
President of the Burundian Society of Cardiology
Professor of Cardiology at Hope Africa University in Bujumbura
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Military Hospital of Kamenge in Bujumbura
Emmy Okello, Assistant General Secretary of the Eastern region
Dr. Okello, PhD, is an adult interventional cardiologist, and Director of the Cardiac Catheterization laboratory at the Uganda Heart Institute (UHI), the institute charged with the cardiovascular health of Uganda. Dr. Okello’s research interest is in rheumatic heart disease and oversees the Uganda Rheumatic heart disease registry. Dr. Okello is currently a THRIVE postdoctoral fellow and has over 30 publications in rheumatic heart disease, heart failure and cardiac electrophysiology work.
Anas Bedawi Babiker, Assistant General Secretary of the Northern region
FESC, MRCPI, MRCP-UK
Master of medical Science- Ireland
Interventional cardiologist
Academic Sec Sudan Heart Society 2012 - 2014, 2016-2018
Member of Sudan Medical Council- Cardiology committee
Member of Sudan Medical Specialisation board
Associate Professor of Cardiology
