Mbacham Wilfred Fon
Mbacham Wilfred Fon was elected as an AAS Fellow in 2016. As a fellow, Mbacham Wilfred Fon contributes to the development of the Academy’s strategic direction through participation in AAS activities and governance structures. . This gears the Academys vision of transforming african lives through science.
Mbacham F. Wilfred is a Titular Prof of Public Health Biotechnology. He obtained a Doctorat de Specialité in Molecular Parasitology from the University of Yaoundé I (1989) and a Doctor of Science Degree in Tropical Public Health from Harvard (1997). He researches on host and pathogen genomic and the interaction between Communicable and Non Communicable diseases. He is investigating a number of co-morbidities with inflammation as a unifying theme on these diseases – Diabetes/Malaria, Diabetes/TB among others. He has served in leadership positions in many national and international programs. He is the Executive Director of the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria that promotes fundamental research on Malaria but also organises a 2000-person capacity conference every 4 years. For 10 years, he also coordinated the APALP (Assises Pan Africaines de Lutte contre le Paludisme) that brought together 35 National Malaria Control Program Managers from Anglophone, Lusophone and Francophone Africa, to discuss and exchange strategies for success in rolling out various anti-malarial interventions. He has developed philosophical approach to Professionalizing Planning Actions in Science & Technology Education & University-based Research (Pro-P.A.S.T.E.U.R.) that integrates platforms /technopoles for bioscience, hard core sciences and research-uptake. He is the current coordinator of the graduate program unit in Life Sciences and the Biology of organisms at the University of Yaoundé I. He is immediate past chair of the Department of Biochemistry, Physiology and Pharmacology at the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (2014-2017). His is a co-grantee of the DELTAS program of the AESA-African Academy of Science program MARCAD (the Malaria Research Capacity Development Consortium for West and Central Africa). He serves on that as the Pi- for Cameroon and the coordinator for Training for the entire consortium. He was elected chair of the Program Management Committee of the International Atomic Energy Agency-AFRA program of 41 African member states (2015- 2021). He has supervised more than 74 Masters and 8 MD level students, 17 PhD and more under training. He has more than 158 publications including book chapters, books, manuals and scientific articles in peered reviewed journals. He is a fellow of the Cameroon Academy of Sciences and of the African Academy of Sciences.