Fixed-Dose Combination Expert Group

Professor Habib Gamra obtained his medical degree from Sousse University School of Medicine (Tunisia) in 1987 before starting a residency in Cardiology at Charles Nicolle Hospital, Rouen (France) and a fellowship in interventional cardiology at the Good Samaritan Hospital and University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA that he completed in 1993. He is currently professor in cardiology at the university of Monastir (Tunisia) since 1996 and he currently holds the following positions: – Head of Cardiology A Department at Fattouma Bourguiba University Hospital – Monastir, Tunisia – Chairman of the Pan African Course on Interventional Cardiology (PAFCIC) that is held annually since 2000 (www.pafcic.org) – Vice president North of PASCAR – President of the Tunisian Heart Foundation – Co-editor of The European Heart Journal for North Africa – Director of Africa PCR – Co-Director of CSI Africa congress – Co-Chairman of Cardio Vascular Clinical Trialists MEMA meeting – Past President of the working group on interventional cardiology of the Tunisian Society of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery (GTCI) – Past President of the African Heart Network – Board member of The Panafrican Society of Cardiology (PASCAR) Interventional Cardiology Task Force – Stent Save A Life country champion for Tunisia – President of the regulatory specialised commission at the Tunisian ministry of health He is also in the editorial board of various national and international journals.

After completing a BSc at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, Dr. Castellano gained his medical degree in 2005 at the University Clinic of Navarra in Spain. He subsequently completed a fellowship in Cardiology at the University of Navarra in 2010, where he obtained his PhD degree studying the role of Cardiotrophin-1 on cardiac structure and function in the context of the metabolic syndrome. Dr. Castellano completed a PostDoc degree on advanced clinical research under the direction of Dr. Fuster at Mount Sinai Cardiovascular Institute in New York. Currently, Dr. Castellano holds a position as adjunct Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital. He is currently the coordinator of Clinical Trials at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC) in Madrid, National Coordinator for Cardiovascular research at Grupo HM Hospitales, and Associate Professor of Medicine at CEU San Pablo. He is involved in numerous studies worldwide that study the various interventions in promotion of cardiovascular health and preventive cardiovascular medicine such as the SECURE trial (funded by H2020).
Dr. Castellano currently develops his research activity at the CNIC as IP or Co-IP of several international projects that study the role of different strategies for health promotion and cardiovascular prevention, among which are the SECURE study (funded by H2020), TANSNIP and the CNIC-HM Cardio-oncology program funded by Severo Ochoa. In February 2020, Dr. Castellano assumed the Scientific Direction of the HM Hospitales Research Foundation, a non-profit organization, with the main objective of promoting and managing the development of biosanitary R + D + i and managing the Social Work of the HM Hospitals group.

Mark is a Professor of Medicine and Co-Director of the Global Health Center at Washington University in St. Louis. He also has a secondary appointment as a Conjoint Faculty at The George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales in Australia. He is a practicing cardiologist, researcher, and educator and have more than a decade of experience in global cardiovascular epidemiology, clinical trials, implementation research, and health policy research and training. Mark’s research seeks to improve global cardiovascular health and health care in low- and middle-income countries and to bring lessons learned back to the United States.

Philip Joseph is an Associate professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada. His research interests include cardiovascular prevention, global health, and heart failure. He was a co-investigator for the TIPS-3 study testing the impact of a polypill in primary CVD prevention. He is also a co-investigator for the multi-national PURE study, and G-CHF registry.

Adrianna is an Associate Professor of Health Systems Research and Policy and Co-Director of the Centre for Global Chronic Conditions at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her research uses mixed methods to study access to essential medicines for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in low-income and conflict-affected settings. Adrianna currently holds a UK Research and Innovation Future Research Leader Fellowship to work with KEMRI Wellcome Trust in Nairobi, to study implementation of fixed dose combinations for treatment of hypertension and cardiovascular disease in Kenya. She previously held a Wellcome Trust Fellowship to study the impact of medicine costs treatment adherence and risk of impoverishment in South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Other work has included studies of a new hypertension and diabetese care model in Kenya, implementation of the polypill for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and mental health care utilisation among Syrian refugees. She has also worked with partners on NCD health systems research in Ukraine, the Republic of Georgia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger and India. Adrianna is Canadian. She has a SM from Harvard School of Public Health and a PhD from LSHTM.

Prof Elijah Ogola is a professor of internal medicine and cardiology at the University of Nairobi. He graduated from the University of Nairobi in 1979, followed by residency in internal medicine at the same institution. He undertook a visiting fellowship in cardiology at the University hospitals of Cleveland in the US in 1989-1990. He is the President of the Pan African Society of Cardiology (PASCAR) and governor of the African chapter of the American College of Cardiology. He is a past president of the Kenya Cardiac Society. His main research interests are hypertension, emerging cardiovascular risk factors in Africa and heart failure. He is a fellow of the American college of cardiology, the European society of cardiology and the international society of hypertension (ISFH).