Professor of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases
Antonios Papadopoulos, MD, PhD, graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Athens. Trainee in HIV infection through EACS Exchange Program (Saint Pierre University Hospital – Prof. N.Clumeck, Brussels 1996). Professor in the 4th Department of Internal Medicine in the University General Hospital “Attikon”, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. He is specialist in Infectious Diseases. His main research interests are HIV infection, sepsis, viral infections and bone and joint infections. Supervisor of Outpatient HIV Unit and the Bone Infection Unit. He has participated in many clinical studies, especially in HIV Infection, viral and bone infections and he is author in >200 papers and abstracts in international journals. He has written 70 chapters in 10 books. Invited speaker in >300 International and Greek Congresses. Founding Member, Secretary and Vice Chair of ESGIAI [ESCMID – Study Group on Implant Associated Infections (2010 – 2019)]. Coordinator of Urinary Tract Infections Guidelines of the Greek Infection Society (2025). Member of the Greek Medical Guidelines Writing Committee on ART and Opportunistic Infections in HIV Infection (2018-2024). Chair of the Organizing Committee (2011) and the Scientific Committee (2026) of the Panhellenic AIDS Conference. Secretary of the Hellenic Society for the Study and Control of AIDS (2016-2023). Founding Member of The Euroguidelines in Central and Eastern Europe (ECEE) Network Group for HIV. Chair of the Greek National Pharmacovigilance Committee and Chair of the Study Group for the Pharmacovigilance of pandemic vaccines of the Greek National Organization for Medicines (2018-2023).
Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Cyprus Medical School
Dr. Georgios Nikolopoulos is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Cyprus Medical School, Cyprus. He is a Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology, certified in Public Health (CPH) by the U.S. National Board of Public Health Examiners, and a certified Guideline Methodologist through the International Guideline Training and Certification Program (INGUIDE).
His research interests include infectious disease epidemiology and prevention, with an emphasis on chronic infections (HIV and hepatitis viruses), evidence synthesis, research methods, environmental epidemiology, health policy and services research (implementation and evaluation), and guideline development and adaptation.
Internal Medicine & Infectious Diseases Specialist
Head of HIV reference clinic, Larnaca General Hospital, Cyprus
Dr. Georgios Siakallis is a medical school graduate from the University of Crete, Heraklion, (2006) – (grade 8.0). Following his undergraduate studies, Dr Siakallis continued his studies with the successful completion of the post-graduate program on “genetics and molecular basis of human diseases” (2009, grade 9.0).
During the following period from 2009-2015, he worked as internal medicine residence at the University Hospital of Heraklion, Crete, until the successful completion of his residency in internal medicine in 2015. He continued his studies as an infectious diseases fellow at the University Hospital “Attikon” in Athens, until 2018, with the successful completion of his Infectious Diseases fellowship.
He is a recognized HIV physician and is currently a PhD candidate at the medical school of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (EKPA).
During the aforementioned period, Dr Siakallis participated in numerous national, multicenter clinical trials, signed authorship for book chapters and original articles regarding infectious diseases, and focused on the care of HIV patients and patients with multi-drug resistant infections.
He actively participates in international peer reviewed publications and as an invited speaker in local and international scientific conferences. He is currently the head of the Gregorios HIV reference clinic in Cyprus.
He has been appointed as a National Focal point in Cyprus for HIV infection since 2022 and a member of the Cyprus HIV/AIDS National Committee.
Head of Division of Non-Communicable Diseases – Ministry of Health
Dr. Gladwell Gathecha is the Head of the Division of Cancer and Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) at the Ministry of Health, Kenya. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Dental Surgery and a Master’s degree in Applied Epidemiology. Her work spans several critical areas, including policy development, surveillance, research and health economics. Dr. Gathecha brings a systems-thinking approach to public health, championing integrated, data-driven, and sustainable responses to halt and reverse the rising tide of NCDs in Kenya. In addition, she supervises postgraduate students undertaking NCD research. Through these efforts, she plays a key role in strengthening the evidence base for public health decision-making. Her other interest include policy development for injury prevention and tobacco control. Dr. Gathecha also serves on the Steering Committee of the Coalition for Access to NCD Medicines, contributing to global efforts to improve access to essential medicines and technologies. Dr. Gathecha brings a systems-thinking approach to public health, championing integrated, data-driven, and sustainable responses to halt and reverse the rising tide of NCDs in Kenya and beyond.
Head of the Public Association “Protecting the Rights of Users of Mental Health Services”
Expert in harm reduction, HIV, and drug policy
Oxana Ibragimova is the Head of the Public Association “Protecting the Rights of Users of Mental Health Services” “Overcoming” and an expert in harm reduction, HIV, and drug policy. She has been working in public health since 2009, beginning her career as an outreach worker and progressing to a national expert and program leader. She represents the interests of people who use drugs and women living with HIV at both national and international levels.
She has over 15 years of experience in designing, implementing, and evaluating HIV prevention, harm reduction, and advocacy programs. Oxana actively contributes to the development of national strategies and regulatory frameworks, with a strong focus on ensuring the sustainability of harm reduction programs and expanding government ownership and support.
Physician, Implementation Scientist and Assistant Professor with the Department of Global Health at the University of Washington (UW)
Dr Masyuko is a physician, implementation scientist and assistant professor with the Department of Global Health at the University of Washington (UW). Dr Masyuko also serves as the Associate Director of the Global Cardiovascular Health program at UW. Previously, she served in several national roles in Kenyan Ministry of Health where she led the HIV prevention team, the HIV testing services and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) program, and the adolescents and young people program. Her research spans from designing, optimizing, implementing, disseminating and bringing to scale evidence-based health interventions. My work centers on the direct translation of research results into policy and practice in HIV Prevention, Care and Treatment and Non-communicable diseases in low- and middle income countries. Prior to joining UW, Dr. Masyuko led the national roll out of pre-exposure prophylaxis, HIV self-testing and assisted partner services in Kenya successfully translating these research efforts into policy and practice. These studies and policy work have impacted national and international guidelines and resulted in translation of research into policy and practice. Over the past 20 years, Dr. Masyuko has examined a wide range of innovations and evidence-based clinical practices in HIV, cardiometabolic diseases and geriatric syndromes.
Currently, I co-lead the Implementation science core for the American Heart Association funded RURAL-PROCARE network that supports 5 implementation science projects in the US focused on improving cardiovascular health in rural America. In addition, I am currently engaged in several implementation science research projects in several countries on assisted partner services , pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), ART adherence for women involved in sex work, perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, elimination of vertical transmission of HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B, and Chagas disease, frailty, osteoporosis and heart failure prevention in women aging with HIV.
Marios Atzemis was born in Athens on th 6th December 1974. He graduated from Athens College in 1992 and from the American College of Greece in 2003 with a bachelor in Sociology. He was a user of psychoactive substances for many years. In his social rehabilitation, at 18 Ano, he actively participated in the activist group”Collective Actions of Social Solidarity.” He started to publish texts inwebsites and magazines to communicate his experience of problematic drug use and the turning point of his seroconversion . Marios was one of the many people who were recordedin the collective consciousness as a case of the HIV outbreak among injecting drug users in the centre of Athens between 2011-2013, an outbreak that changed many things in the way the average Greek perceives harm reduction strategies . From the summer of 2014 up to the summer of 2024 ,Marios worked at the Greek Association of PLHIV “POSITIVE VOICE” as a harm reduction officer. Since 2016, he has been a regular member of the European AIDS Treatment Group and represented it from 2019 until 2024 in the Civil Society Forum on Drugs( official consultative body of the EU and the Commission regarding drug policies and Civil Society)He represented the national Greek delegation for numerous times in the UN convention regarding drugs (United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime – Committee on Narcotic Drugs)He is also a board member of the Drug Policy Network of South East Europe (DPNSEE) an umbrella scheme for civil society frontline harm reduction organisations .Furthermore he was from 2019 up to January 2024 a board member of AIDS Action Europe Also an elected member of the Board of Correlation EuropeanHarm Reduction Network. Since January 24 he is deputy chair of the Addiction Prevention Centers ATHENA YGEIA and a municipal associate for the City of Athens .Moreover he has participated in numerous workshops and conferences as a guest speakerboth in Greece and abroad. As an expert for harm reduction and humane drug policies in all of the above organisations , he deliversregularly lectures in postgraduate programmes at the Medical School of Athens onaddictions, harm reduction and the humane treatment of usersHe has also organized and participated in seminars on HIV/HCV and harm reduction in universities, rehabilitation centers and law enforcement units.
Dr. Roula Hawa is Associate Professor in Family Studies and Human Development, Faculty of Health Sciences at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. She brings expertise in mixed-methods interventions and community-based participatory research using anti-oppressive and arts-based approaches. Dr. Hawa is the Principal Investigator of the YSMENA program centred on sexual health, HIV prevention and wellbeing of diaspora Middle Eastern and North African young adults, with a focus on key populations, including sexual minorities, trans and gender diverse populations.
Her research program is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR), the Ontario HIV Treatment Network, and CIHR Pan-Canadian Network for HIV and STBBI Clinical Trials Research (CTN+). Roula serves as an Associate Editor at Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action, Johns Hopkins University Press.
For more information about Dr. Hawa’s research, please visit her webpage: https://www.uwo.ca/fhs/fns/about/faculty/hawa_r.html
Dr. Linnet Ongeri is a Principal Clinical Research Scientist and Psychiatrist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), where she heads the Mental Health Department. She has over 15 years of experience in mental health research, clinical practice, and health policy in Kenya and across sub-Saharan Africa. Her research focuses on implementation science and developing scalable, evidence-based approaches to integrate mental health into primary healthcare and non-communicable disease (NCD) services.
Her work spans depression, suicide prevention, substance use, trauma, and the intersection of mental health with HIV and other NCDs. She has led and collaborated on numerous national and international research projects evaluating digital health innovations, task-shared care, and integrated service delivery models to improve access to quality mental healthcare. Dr. Ongeri has also contributed to the development of Kenya’s national mental health policies and guidelines and is committed to translating research evidence into policy and practice to strengthen health systems and improve population health outcomes.
