Akebe Luther King Abia (King) is a Professor of Applied and Environmental Microbiologist at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is also the Founder and CEO of the Environmental Research Foundation (ERF). His research focuses on, but is not limited to, antimicrobial resistance in the environment and how this relates to humans and animals through the One Health approach, using culture and molecular techniques, including metagenomics and whole-genome sequencing. He has over 20 years of experience as a microbiologist and is involved in many projects including monitoring water and soil for human pathogens, especially antibiotic-resistant ones, under changing climates. He has published over 80 journal articles, 6 book chapters and 1 book. He has also graduated 7 PhD, 10 MSc students.Sabiha Essack is the South African Research Chair (SARChI) in Antibiotic Resistance and One Health and Professor in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal(UKZN). She is a pharmacist by profession and holds the B. Pharm., M. Pharm and PhD degrees, the latter in Pharmaceutical Microbiology. Sabiha is the Vice Chair of the WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for Antimicrobial Resistance (STAG-AMR), Senior Implementation Research Advisor at the International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions (ICARS) in Denmark, member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Joint Programming Initiative on AMR (JPIAMR) and member of the International Pharmacy Federation (FIP) AMR Commission. Her research focuses on the molecular epidemiology of AMR using next generation sequencing and bioinformatics and One Health systems strengthening in the context of AMR.
