Martin Meremikwu Prof Martin M. Meremikwu is the Director of Cochrane Nigeria and a tenured professor of Paediatrics and Child Health at the College of Medical Sciences University of Calabar in Cross River State, Nigeria where he also leads the clinical trials and evidence-based healthcare programme of the Institute of Tropical Diseases Research and Prevention. He holds a specialist fellowship of the Faculty of Paediatrics of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria and is a Fellow of Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, United Kingdom. He teaches disease control, clinical trials, research ethics, evidence-based healthcare, and research synthesis in postgraduate programs and as short courses. He pioneered the Cross River Health and Demographic System which became an INDEPTH member site in 2013. He is the current Chair of the Nigerian National TB/HIV Technical Working Group, served as Editor in the Cochrane infectious Diseases Group and was awarded the Kenneth Warren Prize for excellence in developing Cochrane systematic reviews in 2009.
	Taryn Young Prof Young, distinguished professor at Stellenbosch University, has a driving passion to enhance capacity to advance the conduct of and use of regionally relevant research. She has experience in coordinating international and national collaborative projects which facilitate the use of best evidence in healthcare policy and practice, and has supported activities of Cochrane Africa for many years. She leads the Centre for Evidence-Based Health Care at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, and co-leads the Southern Eastern Hub of Cochrane Africa.
	Simon Lewin Dr Lewin is a Senior Researcher at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and a Chief Specialist Scientist at the South African Medical Research Council. He has worked for over 25 years in the field of health policy and systems research, and has a keen interest in how research evidence can be used to strengthen health systems and services, through informing decisions at national and global levels. Simon’s methodological interests include approaches for undertaking systematic reviews of complex health system interventions, and methods for synthesizing the findings of multiple qualitative studies and assessing confidence in such findings. As Joint Co-ordinating Editor of Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC), he has played a key role in strengthening Cochrane’s work in the field of health systems and in developing Cochrane methods for qualitative evidence synthesis.
	Emmanuel Effa Dr Effa is an associate professor of Medicine at the University of Calabar and honorary Consultant Nephrologist to the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. He is the Co-lead of the West African hub of the Cochrane Africa network, an editor with Cochrane kidney and transplant and has authored and co-authored Cochrane and non-Cochrane systematic reviews. Emmanuel coordinates training in evidence synthesis and organizes stakeholder engagement at Cochrane Nigeria.
	Mohammed Nasir Sambo Mohammed Nasir Sambo is a professor of Health Policy and Management with a strong bias in Healthcare Financing. He is the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). An alunmus of the World Bank Institute For Healthcare Financing, he was a member of various Ministerial Technical Working Groups (TWGs) that shaped key health policies in Nigeria. Prof Sambo trained as a public health physician and was a visiting scholar to the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. He has been a consultant to UNDP, UNICEF DFID, the British council, GTZ amongst others. Before his present appointment, he was Deputy Dean, Faculty of Medicine, ABU and provost of the Faculty of Medicine, Kaduna State University. Sambo has supervised 14 fellowship programmes, 35 Master's degrees in Public Health and Epidemiology and 4 Phds, in addition to over 70 published articles in national and international journals. He is also a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Loans and Risk Management. He is married and has children.
	Michael McCaul Dr McCaul is a clinical epidemiologist and emergency care clinician by background. He holds a MSc in Clinical Epidemiology and PhD in Public Health. As a senior lecturer in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, much of his works involves postgraduate teaching, research synthesis, knowledge translation and recovering from weekly biostats consultations with students. His interests include meta-epidemiological research, evidence synthesis and guideline development. Michael has experience in conducting systematic reviews and has contributed as a guideline methodologist in various topics, including the World Health Organisation. Michael is married to an orthopaedic consultant, who is twice as beautiful as she is strong. In his spare time, Michael enjoys gaming and trying to convince his daughter that he is not a rideable dinosaur.
	Ekpereonne Esu Dr Esu is a Lecturer at the Department of Public Health, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria, where he teaches Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He is a member of the Cochrane Trainers Network. He has published over ten systematic reviews. He is a mentor in the Cochrane African Network (CAN) who aims to guide naive systematic review authors within West Africa. He also provides technical support to health professional groups on the development of practice guidelines. Dr Esu is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health and a member International Society for Evidence-Based Healthcare. He has recently been appointed Associate Director (Strategy/Methods Coordination) at Cochrane Nigeria.
	Olabisi Oduwole Dr Oduwole is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Achievers University, Owo, Nigeria where she teaches Medical Parasitology and Entomology. She is a member of the Cochrane Trainers Network and a Senior Research Associate at Cochrane Nigeria and has published up to 10 systematic reviews. She was a research officer at Cochrane Nigeria and the coordinator for the Cochrane Africa Network, West Africa hub. She is a mentor in the Cochrane African Network (CAN) who aims to guide naive systematic review authors within West Africa. During her employment at Cochrane Nigeria, she and her colleagues facilitated trainings for healthcare professionals on how to develop practice guidelines. Dr. Olabisi Oduwole was recently awarded the prestigious Aubrey Sheiham Africa Leadership Award in Evidence Based Healthcare, an international award managed by Cochrane South Africa.
	Tamara Kredo Dr Kredo is a specialist in clinical pharmacology and holds the position of senior specialist scientist at the Cochrane South Africa, South African Medical Research Council. Kredo has a special interest in evidence-informed healthcare decision-making, rational therapeutics and clinical practice guidelines. She is involved in work about the quality and content of clinical practice guidelines in southern Africa. She is also currently involved in conducting reviews on various COVID-19 treatments informing national guidelines for the South African Department of Health. She has fulfilled several leadership roles including being Deputy Director of the Centre; co-directing Cochrane Africa, and as co-lead of SA GRADE Network. She has been on several strategic and advisory committees including acting as organising committee chair of the Global Evidence Summit in 2017. In 2020 she was elected as a Board member to Cochrane’s Governing Board.
	Karla Soares-Weiser Dr Soares-Weiser, MD, PhD, MSc, is the Editor-in-Chief of the Cochrane Library, one of the most reputable sources of best evidence worldwide. A board-certified clinician, she also has a doctorate in evidence-based health care and has been working in this field since 1997. She is the author of over 60 Systematic Reviews, including 33 Cochrane Reviews. She has held numerous positions in Cochrane Groups, including the Iberoamerican and UK Cochrane Centres, where she provided training in systematic review production. Outside Cochrane, Dr. Soares-Weiser has held academic faculty positions in Brazil and Israel and established her own consultancy business providing evidence synthesis services to government agencies and not-for-profit organizations. As editor-in-chief, Dr. Soares-Weiser is responsible for ensuring that the Cochrane Library meets its strategic goals of supporting health care decision-making by consistently publishing timely, high-priority, high-quality reviews and responding to the needs of its many users.
	Stanley Okolo Professor Stanley Okolo, an obstetrician and gynaecologist, is the Director General of West African Health Organisation (WAHO). He graduated from the University of Nigeria, had postgraduate medical training in Nigeria, United Kingdom and Canada, and spent the vast majority of his professional career in England before being nominated in March 2018 to head WAHO as one of Nigeria's Statutory Appointees to the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS). Prior to his appointment as WAHO Director General, Prof. Okolo served from September 1995 to February 2018 as a Professor & Consultant Gynaecologist at North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust in London, UK. An award winning leader, clinical academic and executive coach, Professor Okolo has had key regional and international leadership roles in healthcare, academic partnerships, and professional organisations. He has a PhD from the University of London, a professorship at University College London, and numerous scientific publications to his name
	Babatunde Salako Prof Salako is the Director General of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research and a 1986 graduate of the University of Ibadan.  Dr. Salako joined University College Hospital, Ibadan in1990 for Residency training in internal Medicine, obtained the FWACP in October 1994 and rose to become Professor in 2006. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and London. A Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science, Foundation Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Medicine, Prof Salako is a Principal investigator in the H3Africa Kidney Disease Research Network. He worked with Neimeth Pharmaceuticals International to formulate the drug Miniplus in 2003. He is a member of the WHO/TDR Standing Committee and temporary adviser to the WHO.
	Bridget Nwagbara Bridget Akudo Nwagbara started her public health career as a research intern with Cochrane Nigeria over a decade ago. Since then she has progressed in her public health career to became a strong public health practitioner with excellent track record in designing and leading large-scale health programs, developing and implementing strategic plans and collaborating with diverse teams and stakeholders to improve development outcomes in difficult and resource constrained settings. She has worked with the international and local non-profits. She is currently the Associate Director for Special Projects for FHI 360 Nigeria Country Office where she incubates and accelerates innovative health programs and leads private sector engagement. Her efforts have won her the prestigious Lynda Cole Award. She is passionate about data-driven  and evidence-based health care. She is the Vice Chair of the African Branch of the Guideline International Network. She is a happy mother of two energetic male toddlers.
	Charles Wiysonge Prof Wiysonge is the Director of Cochrane South Africa at the South African Medical Research Council, an Extraordinary Professor of Global Health at Stellenbosch University, and an Honorary Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Cape Town, in South Africa. Charles chairs the Vaccine Hesitancy Working Group of the South African National Advisory Group on Immunisation and is a member of the African Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety, the WHO Expert Working Group on Measuring Behavioural and Social Drivers of Vaccination, and numerous national and international advisory committees on vaccination and evidence-based health care. A substantial proportion of Charles’ current research focuses on vaccine uptake and hesitancy in Africa.
	Asli Kulane Asli Kulane (MD, MSc, PhD) is Associate Professor in International Health at the Equity & Health Policy Research Group, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institute, Sweden. Areas of research include Vaccine Acceptance/Hesitancy, Vaccine trials in LMIC, HIV/ AIDS, Tuberculosis, Migration and Health, Equity etc.  Has a MD from Somali National University;  Master of Medical Sciences from Karolinska Institute and a PhD in Immunology from Stockholm University.
	Moriam Chibuzor Moriam Chibuzor Is a senior research officer (Communications and information science) at Cochrane Nigeria. She has authored and co-authored Cochrane and Non-Cochrane reviews and is an active member of the Cochrane trainer’s network. She has experience in facilitating trainings on conducting and accessing Cochrane systematic reviews for people interested in conducting Cochrane reviews, Cochrane review authors and other stakeholders. She has a science background and holds a postgraduate graduate diploma in education and a Master’s degree in information science.
	Dachi Arikpo Dachi is a Senior Research Officer at Cochrane Nigeria and the Coordinator of the West African hub of the Cochrane Africa Network. She has authored Cochrane and non-Cochrane systematic reviews, and is a member of the Cochrane trainer’s network, consumer network and the Economics Methods Group. She has experience in conducting systematic reviews and meta-analysis, stakeholder engagement, and field research on HIV/AIDs and economic evaluations. Her research interest are systematic reviews, health economics, and data mining.
	Ameer Hohlfeld Ameer Steven-Jorg Hohlfeld is the coordinator of Cochrane Africa, a network of four hubs situated across the sub-Saharan African region. He conducts systematic reviews and teaches evidence-based health care at Stellenbosch University and the University of Cape Town. Furthermore, Ameer recently joined the Pan African Clinical Trials Registry team based at Cochrane South Africa. Ameer obtained a Master’s degree in Public Health specializing in epidemiology at the University of Cape Town. Whilst also working in the public service (Department of Health) of the Western Cape, from 2010 until April 2016 as a physiotherapist. His experience with working in the public health sector has given him the chance to work as a Street level bureaucrat with marginalised communities. Thus, giving him a basic understanding of the needs of both patients and clinicians in the public sector.
	Babasola Okunsanya Dr Okusanya is a Senior Lecturer in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos. He is an advocate of evidence-based medical practice. He is a member of Pregnancy and Childbirth and Fertility Regulation groups of the Cochrane Collaboration.
	Sara Cooper Dr Cooper is Senior Scientist in Cochrane South Africa at the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and Honorary researcher in the Division of Social & Behavioural Sciences in the School of Public Health at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Sara has a PhD in medical sociology from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and a Master’s in Public Health from the University of Cape Town. Her research interests include the application and explanatory potential of social science theories and methodologies within public health research, policy and practice, and how qualitative health research can be both ‘critical’ and ‘applied’. Her previous research focused on these issues in the realm of long-term chronic illnesses, particularly mental illness. Her most current research is exploring these issues in the fields of vaccination research and qualitative evidence synthesis. Sara is on the editorial board of Critical Public Health and teaches and supervises students in Critical Public Health theory and methods at UCT.
	Bey-Marrie Schmidt Dr Schmidt is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Public Health, University of the Western Cape. She has training in anthropology and epidemiology. Bey’s expertise are in qualitative and quantitative systematic reviews of public health and health system interventions, and implementation science and knowledge translation methods that can bridge research evidence into health policy and practice.
	Eleanor Ochodo-Opondo Dr Ochodo-Opondo is an Assistant Principal Research Scientist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and honorary senior researcher at the Centre for Evidence-based Health Care, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. She leads the evidence synthesis and knowledge translation research group at the Centre for Global Health Research at KEMRI. Her research revolves around evidence-based health care and diagnostic test evaluation. She is an academic editor with the Cochrane collaboration (infectious diseases group) and has authored seven Cochrane reviews  of diagnostic test accuracy. She has also served as a methodologist/ systematic reviewer to the World Health Organization (WHO) informing guidance on Covid-19 and diagnostic testing for TB and HIV. She was awarded the prestigious 2019 UK MRC/DFID African Research Leader award and 2020 UK NIHR developmental award to advance the science of evidence synthesis and research translation in Kenya in collaboration with South Africa, and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
	Clémence Ongolo-Zogo Clémence  is a medical student at the University of Toronto. She holds a MSc in Health Research Methodology from McMaster University and an Honours BHSc. from the University of Ottawa. Her research focuses on the development and use of local evidence mapping tools to better understand the burden of emergent diseases, identify research gaps and assess country-specific barriers and facilitators to knowledge translation. In 2020, she co-founded the Cameroon Health Research and Evidence Database (CAMHRED). As a Queen Elizabeth Scholar in Strengthening Health and Social Systems, she worked on the evidence databases at the McMaster Health Forum to help inform her master’s research.  Clémence has supported a variety of community-based HIV research projects involving African, Caribbean, and Black communities in Ontario (weSpeak, CRAIF, AC-Track). She has also made contributions to Cochrane Africa projects related to evidence use in decision making and guidelines in francophone African countries.
	Pierre Ongolo-Zogo Prof Ongolo-Zogo is a consultant radiologist, Head of service medical imaging and radiology at the Central Hospital of Yaoundé and  Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, The University of Yaoundé 1.  Pierre is the founding director since 2008 of the Director, Centre for Development of Best Practices in Health (CDBPH) that hosts Cochrane Cameroon and promotes evidence-informed health decision-making in Africa. Pierre’s research activities comprise radiology and medical imaging, health policy and systems research related to to governance, financing, immunization, knowledge translation, access to medicines, non communicable diseases, m Health and quality improvement. Pierre graduated as MD from the Faculty of Medicine of Université R. Poincaré Nancy,and as a Clinical radiologist from the Université C. Bernard Lyon- France. He is completing his PhD in Health Policy at the Makerere University Kampala, Uganda.
	Solange Durão Solange is a Senior scientist at Cochrane South Africa, South African Medical Research Council, co-Director of Cochrane Nutrition and of Cochrane Africa. She holds a Masters in Public Health (specializing in epidemiology) and a BSc in Dietetics. She has experience in conducting Cochrane systematic reviews and evidence synthesis methods research, has been involved in priority setting projects and in guideline development work with the World Health Organization. Solange is a contact editor for Cochrane Public Health. She also has experience in building capacity to do and use reviews to inform healthcare decision-making. Her interests include research synthesis addressing public health nutrition issues and building capacity to use and conduct systematic reviews in the African
	Lawrence Mbuagbaw Dr Mbuagbaw is an associate professor of research methods at McMaster University where he teaches courses in biostatistics and randomized trials; an associate professor extraordinary of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Stellenbosch University; and research methods scientist in the Research Institute of St Joseph’s Health Care Hamilton (SJHH) where he provides methodological and statistical support for other researchers as the Director of the Biostatistics Unit. He also the co-Director of Cochrane Cameroon and co-Lead of the Francophone Hub of Cochrane Africa. He has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications and technical reports for national and international institutions. His research interests are infectious diseases, mother and child health, mHealth, health systems strengthening and the intersection of these fields.