Pan African Travel Medicine Federation Launch

Lin H. Chen, MD, FACP, FASTMH, is the Director of the Travel Medicine Center at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Chen is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a Fellow of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. She serves on the Professional Education and Training Committee of the International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM), and is an Associate Chair of the Scientific Program Committee for CISTM15 in Barcelona, Spain.

She has served in the past as chair of the ISTM course, member of the Research Committee, and a counselor on the ISTM Executive Board. She also serves on the Certificate Examination Committee of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) and several editorial roles including the Journal of Travel Medicine, Current Infectious Disease Reports, Travel Medicine and Infectious Diseases, and the book Infectious Diseases: A Geographic Guide. She served on past scientific program committees of International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Conferences of the ISTM. She is a collaborator/site director for the GeoSentinel® Surveillance Network, the Boston Area Travel Medicine Network, and Global Travel Epidemiology Network.

Interim Executive Committee Member

Dr. Paul Yonga is an infectious disease and tropical/travel medicine specialist, as well as a clinical epidemiologist at Fountain Health Care Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya, where he heads the Fountain Tropical/Travel Medicine and Infectious Diseases (FOTROMID) Centre and the Fountain Projects and Research Office (FOPRO).

He graduated in 2012 from Kampala International University in Uganda, with specialty training in internal medicine (MRCP) from the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and subspecialty training in infectious diseases from multiple centres in Europe. He also holds a Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) specializing in Tropical Medicine and International Health from the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium.

He has undertaken additional training in qualitative research at the Centre for International Health at the University of Bergen, Norway, high-resolution anoscopy (HRA) at the Amsterdam University Medical Centre-AMC, the Netherlands, clinical epidemiology from Utrecht University, the Netherlands, and travel medicine from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. He has seven publications in peered review journals and has presented 21 abstracts and lectures at international conferences and courses.

He is the recipient of several awards, including the 2012 New Voices in Global Health and Sustainable Development Award at the World Health Summit in Berlin, Germany; the 2015 UNESCO-Merck Africa Research Summit (MARS) Emerging Infectious Diseases Research Award in Geneva, Switzerland; the 2018 Brain Chapman medal for clinical excellence in geriatric medicine by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in the UK; the 2019 Violet Williams Scholarship from the International Association for Medical Assistance to Travelers to train in travel medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand, SA; and the 2019 Guerrant International Investigator Award by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) in Washington DC for research excellence in infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa.

His clinical and research interests are infectious diseases and tropical medicine, infectious diseases in the elderly, HIV co-infections, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the setting of HIV infection, travel medicine, and HRA in immunosuppressed patients.

Dr. Alakija is currently the Medical Director at Q-Life Family Clinic and one of the foremost Travel Medicine Consultants in Nigeria. He has practised Travel Medicine for the past 12 years and has been engaged in the screening of numerous travellers on behalf of various Embassies in Nigeria.

Ade is passionate about provision of quality healthcare and raising the bar of health services to globally acceptable standards in Nigeria.

He is a graduate of the College of Medicine of the University of Lagos (MB:BS). He is an alumnus of the Lagos Business School and also has an MBA from IESE Business School Spain. He obtained a Diploma in Travel Medicine from The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Glasgow and is a Full Member of the Faculty of Travel Medicine, MFTM RCPS (Glasg).

In recognition of his excellence in the field of travel medicine, he was awarded a Certificate in Travel Health (CTH©) from the International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM). He is also a member of the ISTM. He is a Trustee of the Nigerian Society of Travel Medicine (NSTM).

In addition to his medical background, Dr. Alakija has worked in the corporate world and has board experience in Construction, Insurance and Oil and Gas. He rose up the ranks to be the Deputy Managing Director of a construction company. Dys Trocca Valsesia (DTV & Co).

Dr. Alakija is an avid golfer, enjoys swimming, tennis and brisk walking. He is a member of many social clubs, including The Metropolitan Club, Lagos Motor Boat Club, Lagos Polo Club, Yoruba Tennis Club, Ikoyi Club 1938 and other national and international associations and societies. He is on the Board of DFAF (Dr.Funmi Alakija Foundation) and Council Member of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF). He is a past member of the Governing council of FOCI (Federation of Construction Industry) which is the Federation of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors in Nigeria.

He is currently the Chairman of the Board of LASHMA (Lagos State Health Management Agency)

He is married with children.