APRU Mini Certificate in Health Research Ethics for Students - Feb 2024

The APRU Global Health Mini Certificate in Health Research Ethics is a free virtual and interactive training designed for students with limited backgrounds in research ethics. Join students from around the world to develop competencies to conduct ethical health research.

The course includes lectures taught in English by six world-renowned bioethicists as speakers plus 30 experts to facilitate breakout sessions and small group discussions on case studies, with self-paced online homework.

Background

Proper training in the conduct of ethics involved in medical and health research with human subjects is to ensuring that students conduct research ethically. However, some universities in the Asia-Pacific region do not incorporate ethics training as part of their public health curricula. Meanwhile, the pandemic has forced most of the world’s higher education institutions to conduct teaching, research, and learning activities remotely. 

This mini certificate training is offered by the APRU Global Health Working Group on Bioethics.

Learning Objectives

  • Outline the main principles that guide the ethical conduct of research with human subjects
  • Describe some of the historical cases of unethical research with human subjects which have led to the need for more human subject protection.
  • Explain the importance of community participation in health research
  • Analyze real-world cases of ethical challenges in health research
  • Describe best practices in ethical health research and practice to protect human subjects
  • Identify major documents, protocol and systems in place to ensure adherence to ethical principles in health research.
  • Discuss the function of IRB/RECs

Download a flyer here.

Registration

Please register here before February 1, 2024
(*Registration is now closed to students from Canada, Ecuador, Hong Kong, China, the Philippines and Mexico due to the high demand and to ensure a diverse group of trainees.)

Notes:

  • The training is free of charge and exclusive for APRU undergraduate and graduate students. Find out if you are from an APRU member university here.
  • Due to the high demand, we will use a quota system per economy to have a diverse cohort suitable for the program. 
  • The APRU Global Health Program reserves the rights of the final decision on application acceptance.
  • The training will be conducted in English via Zoom in three sessions, 2 hours each. Students will  be required to complete online exercises in between the sessions.
  • Those who successfully complete all live session hours plus the required “homework” will receive a certificate of participation.
Time & Program

Date & Time (time converter)

  • Feb 15 at 5-7:15pm (Pacific Time)/ Feb 16 at 9-11:15am (UTC+8)
  • Feb 22 at 5-7:15pm (Pacific Time)/ Feb 23 at 9-11:15am (UTC+8)
  • Feb 29 at 5-7:15pm (Pacific Time)/ Mar 1 at 9-11:15am (UTC+8)

Program

Each session consists of two lectures, which include a 20-minute talk by an expert speaker, followed by small virtual breakout rooms for 30 minutes for students to discuss case studies and/or complete interactive exercises that will help concretize the key concepts.

See the program here.

Speakers
Mellissa Withers (Moderator)
University of Southern California

Mellissa Withers, PhD, MHS is Associate Professor at the Keck School of Medicine in the Department of Preventive Medicine. She is based at the University of Southern California Institute on Inequalities in Global Health. She also is also Director of the Global Health Program of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, a non-profit network of 56 universities. She received a PhD from the Department of Community Health Sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health with a minor in cultural anthropology. She also holds a Master’s in International Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a BA in international development from UC Berkeley. Her research interests lie in community participatory research, mental health, gender-based violence, immigrant health, and global sexual and reproductive health. Dr Withers is the editor of two books: Global Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health Across the Lifecourse, and Global Health Leadership: Case Studies from the Asia-Pacific (in press). She has also published more than 40 scientific articles and serves on the editorial boards of six international global health journals. She also writes a blog on human trafficking titled Modern-Day Slavery for Psychology Today.

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Angus Dawson (Speaker)
National University of Singapore

Angus Dawson is a Professor of Bioethics at the Centre for Biomedical Ethics (CBmE) at National University of Singapore. He has worked previously at universities in the UK, Canada and Australia. His main research interests are in public health ethics, research ethics, and methodology in bioethics. Angus’s work is increasingly focused on working with organisations to embed ethics into policy and everyday practice. He is currently writing a series of papers about key concepts in public health including solidarity, community, and trust as well as working on projects on Antimicrobial Resistance, Vaccine Prioritisation and the Ethics of Migration. Dr Dawson is the joint editor-in-Chief of the journal Public Health Ethics and was one of the editors of the casebook Global Perspectives on Public Health Ethics.

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Monique Jonas (Speaker)
University of Auckland

Monique Jonas is an ethical theorist based at the School of Population Health at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She has a Doctorate in Medical Ethics from Kings College London. Her current research focuses on the ethics of advising, ethical aspects of parenting and decision making for children and the relationship between the family and the state. Monique is the Chair of the Health Research Council Ethics Committee and has served on the National Ethics Advisory Committee and the National Health Committee in New Zealand.

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Marielle Zosa (Speaker)
University of the Philippines Diliman

Marielle Antoinette Hermoso Zosa is Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of the Philippines Diliman (UP Diliman). She also currently serves as Assistant College Secretary at the same college. She attained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, summa cum laude, in 2015 and Master of Arts degree in Philosophy in 2020 from UP Diliman as well. She has taught various undergraduate courses related to philosophical analysis, logic, approaches to philosophy, ethics, and social and political philosophy. Her current research interests focus on the capabilities approach, solidarity-based bioethics, and resilience ethics.

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Diego Silva (Speaker)
The University of Sydney

Dr. Diego Silva is a Senior Lecturer in Bioethics at Sydney Health Ethics and School of Public Health of The University of Sydney. His research centers on public health ethics, particularly the application of political theory in the context of infectious diseases and health security, e.g., tuberculosis, COVID-19, antimicrobial resistance, etc. Diego adopts a mixed methods approach to his work, including the use of qualitative methods and conceptual analysis. He is currently the Chair of the Public Health Ethics Consultative Group at the Public Health Agency of Canada and works with the World Health Organization on various public health ethics topics on an ad hoc basis.

Diego has a BA and MA in philosophy and a PhD in public health from the University of Toronto (Canada) and was a post-doctoral Research Fellow in Ethics and Philosophy of Medicine at the Hannover Medical School (Germany).

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Sharon Kaur (Speaker)
Universiti Malaya

Sharon Kaur (LLB, MA, PhD) is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Malaya, where she has designed modules on healthcare law and ethics for undergraduate as well as postgraduate students. She also teaches on the Masters of Health Research Ethics (MOHRE) programme at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya. Her research interests primarily revolved around medical research ethics and issues relating to the rights of marginalised populations. She is currently working on a number of projects related to the COVID-19 pandemic, one of which relates to the challenges of data sharing in a middle-income country. Her postgraduate training was in Medical Law and Medical Ethics and her doctoral thesis addressed the role of research ethics committees in relation to clinical trials involving mentally incapacitated adults.

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Mary Ana Cordero Díaz (Speaker)
Tecnológico de Monterrey

Mary Ana Cordero Díaz is a MD with a Diploma of Humanities and Ethics. She is a Bioethics docent and the Wellbeing and Professionalism Program Coordinator for the medical residents and fellows at the Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico. Her activities and research focus on ethics, ethics in research, professionalism, the learning environment and the well-being of medical students, residents and physicians.

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Nishakanthi Gopalan (Moderator)
Universiti Malaya

Dr. Nishakanthi Gopalan is a Senior Lecturer at the Medical Humanities and Ethics Unit (MedHEU), Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya (UM), Malaysia. She is a biotechnologist with a Ph.D in research ethics. She currently teaches ethics in various courses including the Master of Health Research Ethics (MOHRE) programme that is developed as a Fogarty International Center (FIC) project, in collaboration with the Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University (JHU), US. Dr Nisha is also a member of the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) research ethics committee. Her research interests encompass a wide spectrum of ethics, including bioethics, medical ethics, research ethics, and clinical ethics related to emerging technologies, health research, and aesthetic medicine. She is currently working on the FIC project strengthening the MOHRE programme and a project exploring the ethics of genetic testing involving Parkinson’s Disease through an institutional grant.

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Floreliz V. Ngaya-an (Moderator)
University of the Philippines Manila

Floreliz V. Ngaya-an is an Associate Professor at the University of the Philippines Manila. She is a Registered Nurse in the Philippines. As faculty of the College of Nursing, she teaches courses in Maternal and Child Health Nursing. She also teaches research both in the Graduate and Undergraduate Program.

Dr. Ngaya-an is currently the Chair of Graduate Studies Committee of the College of Nursing and a member of the Graduate Management Team of the University. She is a member of UP Manila Research Ethics Board that reviews research protocols of both students and faculty.

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Pilar González-Amarante (Moderator)
Tecnológico de Monterrey

Pilar González-Amarante is a medical graduate from Tecnológico de Monterrey (Tec), with a Master in Ethics for Social Construction from the University of Deusto, and a Ph.D. in Social Sciences from Tecnológico de Monterrey. Currently, she serves as the Leader of Preventive and Formative Strategies at the Center for the Recognition of Human Dignity for Tec Health and the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at Tecnológico de Monterrey. She is a teacher in Bioethics and qualitative research methods. A member of the National System of Researchers, her work spans in the sociology of health, the health professions and medical education, aiming for interdisciplinary and qualitative approaches. She is also a columnist at EL NORTE Newspaper.

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Wah Yun LOW (Moderator)
Universiti Malaya

Professor Wah Yun LOW is an Honorary Professor of Psychology at the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya.  She graduated with a BA (Hons) from the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and obtained her MSc and PhD (medical psychology) from the University of Surrey, Guildford, England. She has held several management positions, amongst others, Deputy Executive Director of the Asia-Europe Institute (Research & Internationalization) and former head of the Univ Malaya Research Ethics Committee (UMREC). Prof Low is actively engaged in teaching, research, service and consultancy. She has published extensively in the areas of behavioral science, sexual and reproductive health, sexuality education and public health. She is a member of many learned societies. Prof Low is the President Emeritus of the Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health (APACPH) and she is the recipient of the APACPH Outstanding Leadership and Service Award and the Merit of Merit award.  She is the President of the Malaysian Association for Scientific Research in Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine and a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia.  Currently, she is the Editor-in-Chief of the Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health, a journal solely owned by APACPH, indexed in both WOS and SCOPUS, and published by Sage Publisher, California.

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Edmar San Jose Elcarte (Moderator)
University of the Philippines Manila

Edmar San Jose Elcarte, MAN(c), RN, CNN, LPT, FRIN, FSASS, FIOASD is a registered nurse, a certified nephrology nurse, a licensed professional teacher, a trained diabetes educator, a palliative and hospice care advocate, research mentor, and educator. With his more than 10 years of nursing practice, he has gained enormous and valuable experience in the clinical, hospital management, health research, project management, and nursing education. He is an international chapter member of Asia Pacific Hospice and Palliative Care Network (APHN) Singapore, International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC), Sigma Nursing (Psi Beta and Phi Gamma Chapters), and Western Pacific Palliative Care Advocacy Network (WPPCAN).

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Sok King ONG (Moderator)
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Dr. Sok King ONG is a Clinical Associate Professor (Honorary) at the JCSPHPC, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the PAPRSB IHS, Universiti Brunei Darussalam.

She received her medical degree from the University of Melbourne in Australia, Master of Medicine from the National University of Singapore, and completed Advanced Specialist Training in Singapore. A physician specializing in public health, she has over 15 years of experience in global health initiatives. She currently serves as a consultant in the Clinical Research Unit of the Brunei Ministry of Health (MOH), having previously served as a member of the Medical & Health Research Ethics Committee. She played a crucial role as a consultant for the World Health Organization’s Western Pacific Regional Action Plan to eliminate cervical cancer. She headed the infectious disease control and noncommunicable disease (NCD) prevention teams at the MOH in Brunei, and continues her impactful work as a Consultant in Public Health. She is actively engaged in global health research initiatives through collaboration with regional and global health research consortiums and alliances. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore, and a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health, United Kingdom.

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Wipaporn Natalie Songtaweesin (Moderator)
Chulalongkorn University

Wipaporn Natalie Songtaweesin is an infectious diseases pediatrician and clinical researcher at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. She received her MBBS from St George’s, University of London and received her training in Pediatrics and Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Chulalongkorn University. She currently serves as a clinical researcher at the Center of Excellence for Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Vaccines and the School of Global Health at Chulalongkorn University.

Natalie’s research interests include HIV prevention and treatment in children and adolescents, sexually transmitted infections, hepatitis C, mental health integration to HIV care, development of models of care to address implementation-related challenges in adolescent healthcare delivery. She has previously received funding and training from International AIDS Society CIPHER Grant in 2017, an NIH R21 in 2018, and an NIH D43 in 2019 in research areas of HIV prevention, mobile health technologies and mental health integration to HIV care, involving collaborations with Duke University and Columbia University. Natalie has served on the scientific committees of the International Workshop of HIV & Adolescence since 2019 and the Asia-Pacific Conference on AIDS and Co-infections (APACC) since 2020.

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Xia Wei (Moderator)
Sun Yat-sen University

Xia Wei is an Associate Professor at the School of Nursing at Sun Yat-sen University. Her research interests focus on “intervention for addictive behaviors” and “adolescent and child health.” She was selected for the 2023 Young Scientific Talent Cultivation Program by the Guangdong Association for Science and Technology, and was nominated by the University of Hong Kong to participate in the 2021 Global Young Scientists Summit.

Dr. Xia is Deputy Director of the Academic and External Communication Working Committee of the Guangdong Nursing Association, Advisor of the Pediatric Oncology Special Committee Nursing Group of the Guangdong Anti-Cancer Association, a committee member of the Nursing Education Professional Committee of the Chinese Research Hospital Association, and a committee member of the Tobacco Dependence and Smoking Cessation Branch of the Chinese Association for Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment.

Dr. Xia is the course director of “Academic Norms, Ethics, and Writing” and “Machine Learning and Data Mining: Application and Practice in Nursing Research” for postgraduate students. She is also the course lecturer of “Advanced Nursing Research Methods” for postgraduate students, “Pediatric Nursing,” and “Community Nursing” for undergraduate students.

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Alex Phang Kean Chang (Moderator)
Universiti Malaya

Dr. Alex Phang Kean Chang is a clinical scientist by profession who earns a Ph.D. in Pathology, and dual master’s degrees in Health Research Ethics and Medical Sciences (Pathology), besides holding a bachelor’s degree in Biohealth Science. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Pathology, Universiti Malaya as well as serving as the Secretary (Manager) at the University of Malaya Medical Centre-Medical Research Ethics Committee.

His primary research interest includes molecular tests for cancer diagnosis, digital pathology, cancer & cell therapy as well as the discovery of novel biomarkers for diagnosis. In the field of research ethics, Dr. Phang received several ethics-related pieces of training and fellowships from the World Health Organization, Department of Bioethics, NIH United States, and WCG IRB-New York University Langone Health. He has a great interest in researching the ethical issues surrounding emerging technologies and epidemic ethics as well as the quality improvement of IRB’s services to ensure the protection of human subjects in health research. Besides teaching academic subjects in pathology, he is also one of the faculty members for the Master of Health Research Ethics (MOHRE). He is appointed as an affiliate member of the Academy Sciences of Malaysia (YSN-ASM) since the year 2020.

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Saida Coreas (Moderator)
University of Southern California

Saida Coreas is a PhD student in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. She graduated from California State University, Los Angeles with a B.S in Public Health. She completed a 3-year (2018-2021) post-baccalaureate Intramural Research Training Award (IRTA) fellowship at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where she worked on projects examining the racial/ethnic differences in tobacco product use patterns among U.S. adults, as well as relationships between cigarette smoking susceptibility and smoking initiation among U.S. youth. Her research focuses on understanding how factors relating to social determinants of health influence tobacco use among minority populations.

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Nenita Baltazar-Panaligan (Moderator)
Cavite State University

Nenita Baltazar-Panaligan is a Registered Nurse in the Philippines and Associate Professor at Cavite State University College of Nursing (CvSU- CON), supervising nursing and allied health undergraduate students. Prof. Panaligan handles professional courses on Research, Nursing Leadership and Management, Maternal and Child Care, and Community Health Nursing. She served as the first Clinical Coordinator and an Acting Dean of the CvSU CON, and managed the Research and Development Unit of the college. She is also involved in monitoring and supervision of the research and projects, ethical reviews and research linkages of the university. She has also served on the CvSU Ethics Review Board (ERB) and is an External /Medical Member of the De La Salle Health Sciences Institute Independent Ethics Committee (IEC).

Prior to joining CvSU, Prof. Panaligan received her Master of Arts in Nursing degree major in Nursing Administration from the University of Santo Tomas and is pursuing her Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing at University of the Philippines Manila. She is also a member of the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development Region IV-A Consortium Research Management Committee. As current president of the Philippine Nurses Association Cavite Chapter, much of her work focuses on promoting nurses’ welfare, social relevance and development. She is also the president of the Philippine Nursing Research Society Cavite Cell. Most of her research and extension works are focused on maternal and child care, community and public health, ethics, disaster research, gender and development, nursing education, administration and policy development.

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King L Chow (Moderator)
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

King L Chow, PhD, as a Professor of Life Science, Chemical & Biological Engineering, serves as the Director of Interdisciplinary Programs Office overseeing Environment and Sustainability, Public Policy, Risk Management, Technology Management and various innovation programs at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He heads the Dean of Students Office supporting various student-oriented schemes beyond academic issues, including exchange program, career development and experiential learning. While his research focuses on genetics, development, evolution and synthetic biology, he engages in various teaching pedagogy initiatives and curricular development projects, teaches project courses, experiential courses, online courses; spearheads liberal arts and interdisciplinary education at the juncture cutting across science, engineering, social science and humanity at both UG and PG levels. He was the inaugural School of Science Teaching Award winner and was awarded the Michael G. Gale Medal of distinguished teaching at HKUST.

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Catherine Zhou (Moderator)
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Catherine Zhou, PhD is a Teaching Associate at the Office of the Dean of Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Prior to this she worked at the Centre for Learning Enhancement And Research at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She has a PhD degree in computer science and engineering and currently focuses on research postgraduate student education. Her teaching and research interests include research integrity, emotional resilience and intelligence, and mentorship. She is in charge of the research postgraduate student professional development program within the School of Engineering. Catherine is interested in student-centered teaching and learning strategies, such as e-learning, blended learning, flipped classroom, and experiential learning.

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Ricardo Alfonso Peña Silva (Moderator)
Universidad de los Andes

Ricardo A. Peña Silva, MD, PhD is an associate professor at Universidad de los Andes Faculty of Medicine. He is a pharmacologist with a passion for biomedical research and education. Since the age of 16, he has been actively involved in education, from secondary school to postgraduate education in the health sciences, and engaged in biomedical research exploring the effects of aging and inflammation on cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disease.

He has worked in higher education administration, in the accreditation of academic programs, and managed research productivity programs. Three personal observations orient his interests in education and research: 1) All countries have talented people. Managing opportunities to exploit those talents is key to human and economic development. 2) Developing countries have significant functional literacy problems that impact subjects’ performance, regardless of their academic training level. The functional illiteracy in a segment of the population also makes them more susceptible to poor health outcomes. 3) Critical and innovative thinking, fostered by education and research, is key to the growth of communities, institutions, and health systems. The accelerated changes brought about by information technologies and the industrial revolution 4.0 can shrink the productivity gap between developing and developed countries if properly managed and implemented.

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Jonathan R. Guillemot (Moderator)
Universidad San Francisco de Quito

Jonathan R. Guillemot, MA, MSc, PhD is a professor and researcher in gerontology at Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador. He currently acts as Associate Dean of the School of Medicine, in charge of research and administrative affairs. He is also Director of the Institute for Social Medicine & Global Challenges. Guillemot’s research interests include the sociology of ageing and research pedagogy, using qualitative approaches, with particular focus on semi-structured interviews and Delphi panels. He is especially fond of collaborating with students on their first encounter with research, with one recent paper encapsulating such interest: Medical education from the point of view of medical students: Results from four participatory Delphi panels in Quito. Guillemot graduated from Université de Lille (Sciences Po Lille) in political sociology and from King’s College London in gerontology and completed his PhD in global health, social medicine and gerontology.

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Alexandra Belle Bernal (Moderator)
University of the Philippines Manila

Alexandra Belle S. Bernal, MOHRE, RN is a University Research Associate (URA) at the University of the Philippines Manila’s College of Nursing (UPCN). She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the same university. A recipient of scholarship support from the National Institutes of Health-Fogarty International Center, she earned her Master of Health Research Ethics degree from Universiti Malaya in Malaysia, as part of a collaborative master’s program run by the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya and the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics.

She previously served as the Senior Telehealth Nurse at the National Telehealth Center, National Institutes of Health, University of the Philippines Manila, along with being an Emergency Operating Room Nurse at the Philippine General Hospital-University of the Philippines. Her research interests revolve around nursing informatics, perioperative nursing, patient safety strategies, and ethical health and health-related research.

She currently serves on several university bodies, including the UPM Health and Safety Committee, the Research Screening and Review Section of the Institutional Biosafety and Biosecurity Committee, UP Manila, as well as a clinical educator in the operating theatre for UPCN undergraduate students. With her career development, she aspires to eventually become a member of her institution’s faculty.

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Mariam Davtyan (Moderator)
University of Southern California

Mariam Davtyan is an Assistant Professor of Research Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC) and has been studying HIV/AIDS for more than 15 years. Since 2005, she has conducted pediatric and adult HIV/AIDS research studies at the LAC+USC Maternal, Child & Adolescent/Adult Center (MCA Center) for Infectious Diseases and Virology, focusing on the effects of antiretroviral medications (ARVs) on children and pregnant women. She is the founder and liaison of the MCA Center’s English-speaking Community Advisory Board (CAB), a forum consisting of women of color living with HIV who provide critical feedback on clinical services and community needs. Dr. Davtyan’s work with the CAB inspired her to study HIV-associated stigma, a significant stressor with many devastating social, physical and psychological consequences. Since 2012, her research has also focused on HIV-associated stigma and discrimination in healthcare settings and within provider-patient interactions, as well as the impact of internalized HIV stigma on social and health outcomes.

She has received multiple grants from the University of California Global Health Institute, the University of California Irvine’s Newkirk Center for Science and Society, the Clinical Translational Science Institute at USC, and the Health Resources and Services Administration to support her research agenda. Her most recent work includes examining the impact of photo-stories on internalized HIV stigma and engagement in care in chronically non-adherent patients, appraising the association between internalized HIV stigma and ARV adherence and viral suppression in women of color, assessing resilience factors such as mindfulness, personal mastery and social support in long-term HIV survivors, and evaluating the impact of COVID-19 on the day-to-day lives of older adults living with HIV in the Coachella Valley.

Dr. Davtyan’s research has been exhibited at many professional conferences, including the United States Conference on HIV/AIDS, the International Conference on Stigma at Howard University, the American Public Health Association Expo, and the International AIDS Conference.

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María de Jesús Medina-Arellano (Moderator)
National Autonomous University of Mexico

María de Jesús Medina-Arellano, PhD obtained her law degree from the Autonomous University of Nayarit, Mexico. In January 2008 she graduated with the equivalent of an MPhil at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). During her postgraduate degree she focused on the new paradigm of Health Law, Bioethics and Human Rights in Mexico. She obtained her PhD in Bioethics and Medical Jurisprudence from the School of Law (Centre for Social Ethics and Policy and the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation) at the University of Manchester. Her PhD research focused on the regulation of stem cell research in developing countries (Mexico as a case study). From 2013-2014, Maria worked as Deputy of the Judicial School in the Local Court of Justice in Nayarit. Since September 2014 she has been a full-time researcher at the Institute for Legal Research at UNAM. Since January 2015, she has also been the Deputy of the College of Bioethics, a civil association in Mexico that gathers scientist and physicians working in the area of bioethics from practical and academic perspectives. Since April 2017, she has been a member of the advisory board at the National Commission of Bioethics in Mexico (CONBIOÉTICA). Since January 2016, she has coordinated the Diploma on Bioethics, Health and Law which is offered in the Institute for Legal Research.

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Susiana Nugraha (Moderator)
Universitas Indonesia

Susiana Nugraha earned a Bachelor of Public Health, A. Yani School of Health Sciences, Bandung. She also graduated from The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Nagasaki University, Japan. She is currently a PhD Candidate at Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Indonesia. She works as a lecturer and researcher in Public Health Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Respati Indonesia. She is also Vice Director of Center for Family and Aging Studies (CeFAS) University of Respati Indonesia. She is the founder of OASE KUTAI TIMUR, East Borneo, a non-government organization for nutritional issues in under-five children.

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Alexander Atrio L. Lopez (Moderator)
University of the Philippines Diliman

Alexander Atrio L. Lopez just passed his MA Philosophy thesis defense in the University of the Philippines Diliman where he also graduated with a BA Philosophy degree as summa cum laude and valedictory speaker. His first degree is BS Basic Medical Sciences from UP Manila, and he is about to enter the Ateneo de Manila School of Law. He is published in bioethics, philosophy and video games, and philosophy for children. He was a philosophy instructor in UP Diliman, a microeconomics Coursera teaching assistant, and a freelance writer.

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Honey Libertine Achanzar-Labor (Moderator)
University of the Philippines Manila

Honey Libertine Achanzar-Labor is Professor at the University of the Philippines Manila and Program Coordinator of its BA Philippine Arts – Cultural Heritage and Arts Management Program. She received her BA Humanities (Pre-Medicine track) degree from the University of the Philippines, completed the MS Medical Anthropology coursework, and has a doctorate in Philippine Studies from the Asian Center in the same university, with a dissertation anchored on Anthropology of Art. She is a regular member of her university’s Research Ethics Board (UPREB), and a UP Centennial and One UP Professorial Chair Awardee. She was also named as University Artist by the UP system under the lens of its Arts Productivity Program, acknowledging her contribution in creative research, publication, and promotion of cultural heritage. She also served as Director of UP Manila’s Office of Student Affairs from 2011-2014. Her research interests include Southeast Asian Art, Anthropology of Art, and Medical Anthropology.

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Akira Shibanuma (Moderator)
The University of Tokyo

Akira Shibanuma has carried out community health and economic research in resource-limiting settings for eight years. He is based in the Graduate School of Medicine at The University of Tokyo and conducts positive deviance research in Cambodia. His specialties are hygiene and public health, applied health sciences, and development economics.

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Jairus Diesta Espiritu (Moderator)
Mapúa University

Jairus Diesta Espiritu is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Liberal Arts of Mapúa University in Intramuros, Manila. He holds a bachelor and a master degree in Philosophy from the University of the Philippines-Diliman. While teaching, he concurrently worked as technical staff to the Mayor of San Mateo, Rizal, Philippines as speech writer and technical reviewer, assisting in the administrative and technical aspects of governance at the municipal level. He trained teachers from the Department of Education Public Schools Division of Nueva Ecija and has edited a senior high school textbook on philosophy.

He has published articles on Filipino Philosophy, Analytic Existentialism, Philosophy of Religion, and Philosophy of Education. He is one of the three recipients of the 2023 Don Isabelo delos Reyes Essay Prize in Filipino Philosophy of the Philosophical Association of the Philippines.

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Michael Mendoza (Moderator)
University of the Philippines Manila

Dr. Michael Antonio F. Mendoza is a dentist by profession.  His research interests in public health and health policy have made him involved in consultancy work with different government agencies and developmental partners in the Philippines.  As an Associate Professor from the Department of Community Dentistry of the College of Dentistry at the University of the Philippines Manila, he handles dental public health and research courses, and mentors dentistry students on their research projects.

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Nina T. Castillo-Carandang (Moderator)
University of the Philippines Manila

Nina T. Castillo-Carandang MA, MSc, PhD is a professor of health sociology and global health in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology, College of Medicine, University of the Philippines Manila (UPM). Professor Castillo-Carandang also has academic qualifications in clinical epidemiology and health social science. She is an active researcher on Kagalingan (wellbeing, and the sociocultural dimensions of health and health care; and is also a member of the UPM Research Ethics Board.

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Indri Hapsari Susilowati (Moderator)
Universitas Indonesia

Indri Hapsari Susilowati graduated from the Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Indonesia (UI), majoring in Occupational Health and Safety in 1999 (Bachelor degree) and 2008 (Master degree). She earned her Ph.D. in Human Science Design from Kyushu University Japan in 2012. Her interest research in ergonomics, human factors, aging, and safe transportation. She is currently the Head of Occupational Health and Safety Department, Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Indonesia, since 2016. She is also teaching Law and Ethics in Health courses in Health Cluster Science, Universitas Indonesia. In this course, students are taught to understand health problems with bioethical principles, both clinical/personal and community / public health. This course is attended by students from the UI Faculty of Public Health, Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, and Pharmacy. She has achieved numerous awards at international conferences and has many publications in international and national journals. She also is writing a book about Indonesian Fall Risk Assessment Tools (I-FRAT) and Health Promotion in the Workplace.

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Ann Toh (Moderator)
National University of Singapore

Dr. Ann Toh works as a home hospice physician delivering family-centred whole person care to children with life-threatening, life-limiting illness in StarPALS, HCA Hospice Care. She also serves as a volunteer physician and advocate for vulnerable people groups. Ann serves a clinician-educator for the School of Medicine, National University of Singapore and is actively involved in shaping undergraduate curriculum in the areas of community-based education for social determinants of health, social accountability, interprofessional education and compassion training. She has initiated and continues to nurture a local community of practice on Humanism & Humanities in Healthcare and has developed an innovative educational model for service-learning using approaches grounded in Rogerian educational philosophy to nurture the next generation of compassionate healers of tomorrow. Within academia, Ann advocates for compassionate whole person care through pursuing the development of research in medical education, applied health services research & community-based patient-centred models of care.

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Jeffrey Lee (Moderator)
Sibu Hospital, Sarawak, Malaysia

Dr Jeffrey Lee graduated with a degree of Doctor of Medicine from the National University of Malaysia in 2011. He obtained his Master of Health Research Ethics from the University of Malaya in 2022. Currently he is working in the Clinical Research Centre of Sibu Hospital, Sarawak, Malaysia. His primary research interest is in paediatric medicine and neonatology, besides having a keen interest in paediatric clinical ethics.

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Leander Penaso Marquez (Moderator)
University of the Philippines Diliman

Leander Penaso Marquez is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of the Philippines Diliman. He currently holds a graduate degree in Philosophy and another one in Education. He has published a number of articles in local and international journals as well as presented some of his research papers in various conferences in Asia and Europe. He has facilitated trainings of teachers in the teaching of subjects such as “Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person” and “Trends, Networks, and Critical Thinking in the 21st Century Culture”. Incidentally, he has also authored a textbook on the latter under the same title. Leander sits as co-chair of the Bioethics Working Group of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities Global Health Program (APRU-GHP). He is also serving as Junior Ambassador to the Philippines for the Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN). His research interests include Ethics, Epistemology, Philosophy for Children, Philosophy of Education, and Philosophy and Popular Culture.

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Varaalakshmy Gokilavanan (Moderator)
Clinical Research Center of Hospital Kuala Lumpur

Dr. Varaalakshmy Gokilavanan is a Medical Officer currently attached to the Clinical Research Center of Hospital Kuala Lumpur. She has been serving as a government doctor for the past 8 years and the past 2 of these years have been spent in the research field. She graduated with her medical degree from University Sriwijaya in Indonesia and just added a Masters in Health Research Ethics (with Honors) from University Malaya in my portfolio. Her interest in ethics stems from her belief that any and all living beings should be treated in an ethical and compassionate manner, especially when treating them as patients or participants in a research setting.

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Mary Ann Abacan (Moderator)
University of the Philippines

Dr Mary Ann Abacan is an Associate Professor at the University of the Philippines– College of Medicine serving as faculty both under the Department of Pediatrics and the Social Medicine Unit.  She is a clinical geneticist specializing in inborn errors of metabolism and is a consultant at the Institute of Human Genetics-National Institutes of Health.  Dr Abacan earned her Masters degree in Bioethics through the joint program of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine and the College of Social Science and Philosophy.

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Rolsanna R. Ramos (Moderator)
Philippine Orthopedic Center

Currently Vice Chairman of the Philippine Orthopedic Center Research Board, Dr. Rolsanna R. Ramos combines her clinical insights and academic acumen to drive advancements in orthopedic care and research.

Dr. Ramos earned her Doctorate Degree in Nursing from the University of the Philippines Manila. She holds a Master of Arts degree with a focus on Nursing Administration and Management. Her academic journey also includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Food Technology from the University of the Philippines Diliman, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing.

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Sarah Anderson (Moderator)
The University of Auckland

Sarah Anderson graduated PhD in Philosophy at The University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau in 2020. She is a lecturer at her alma mater. Sarah has tutored a range of philosophy and ethics undergraduate courses and is currently codeveloping a course in ethics for medical students. She originally trained as a nurse, specialising in paediatric intensive care, and worked in a number of countries including Australia, South Africa, and the Netherlands. Among her interests are gloabl justice, health, and wellbeing.

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Taninee Sahakitrungruang (Moderator)
Chulalongkorn University

Taninee Sahakitrungruang, MD, is a Professor at the Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.

She did her training in Pediatrics and in Pediatric Endocrinology at Chulalongkorn University, and did an additional two years of fellowship (2008-2010) at the University of California, San Francisco. She has been Assistant Dean for Graduate Affairs since 2019 and is a member of the steering committee to develop global health/one health curriculum for the newly established School of Global Health at the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University. Her key research interests include pediatric diabetes and NCDs, molecular defects of adrenal steroidogenesis, disorders of sex differentiation, and gender diversity healthcare. She has a number of publications in highly-ranked journals including several implementation research and intervention to improve quality of life for pediatric patients in middle-income countries.

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Ans Irfan (Moderator)
University of Southern California

Ans Irfan, MD, EdD, DrPH, ScD MPH, MRPL, is an associate professor of population and public health sciences in the Division of Environmental Health in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, University of Southern California.

Dr Irfan’s research questions things that are normalized within neoliberalized academy by applying the decolonial lens to rethink existing global environmental research, teaching, and practice paradigms; especially within the climate justice context.

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