Fourth Meeting of the DS-I Africa Consortium
16 - 22 November 2024
The Ravenala Attitude Hotel, Mauritius

Prof Christian Happi - Participant

Combatting AntiMicrobial Resistance in Africa Using Data Science (Contact-PI)

Prof. Christian Happi is the Director of the African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID) and a Professor of Molecular Biology and Genomics at Redeemer's University in Ede, Nigeria. A renowned expert in infectious disease genomics, he has made transformative contributions to Africa's understanding of pathogen evolution, transmission, and the use of genomics in outbreak responses. Prof. Happi pioneered genomic surveillance in Nigeria and Sierra Leone, notably during the 2014 Ebola outbreak. His contributions include establishing surveillance mechanisms for early detection of circulating viral pathogens. Using genomic tools, his team at ACEGID was instrumental in identifying a Yellow Fever outbreak in Nigeria in 2018 and characterizing the Mpox outbreak in Nigeria in 2022-23. These efforts led national authorities to deploy rapid outbreak response measures to curtail the spread. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he led Africa's first genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 within 48 hours, confirming its introduction through international travel. His work supports a genomic surveillance network across West Africa, driving advancements in diagnostics, vaccine development, and the training of over 2,000 scientists from 53 of Africa's 54 countries.