Prof. Bakri Saeed (President Association of African Universities) Ghana

Prof. Bakri Osman Saeed obtained a Bachelor degree in Medicine and Surgery from University of Khartoum, a PhD from University of Leeds in the UK, a Doctor of Medicine from University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists and Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians, London, UK. He is currently the President of the Association of African Universities and President of Sudan International University. He is a UNESCO Chair in School Health Education. Before that, he was the Founding Dean of St George’s International Medical School which is a partnership between St George’s University in Grenada and Northumbria University in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He started his career as a lecturer in the University of Khartoum, and then worked for many years as Medical Consultant and Associate Professor for University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and University of London (UCL). He has been Visiting Professor for University of Northumbria in Newcastle and St George’s University in Grenada, where he was a Consultant to the Caribbean Reference Laboratory. He has been involved with many higher education and training bodies in the UK and in many other countries. In Sudan he contributed significantly to development of higher education as a Chair or member of important bodies and committees, including: the committee for revising the Higher Education Act, the Committee for the evaluation of research proposals, Ministry of Higher Education, Sudan and the Committee for regulation of private higher education. He was involved in conflict resolution and Peace promotion in Africa through appointment as Special Advisor to the United Nations University for Peace. He was a member of ‘The Africa Team’, lead by Ambassador Mohamed Sahnoon, Former Foreign Minister of Algeria and Kofi Anan’s envoy to Africa. He participated in the Sudan-South Sudan Peace talks, which resulted in the amicable and peaceful separation of South Sudan. He was a Member of President Carter initiative for North-South Sudan Popular Reconciliation and Co-Chairman of the Vienna Peace Initiative-Sudan, for cross-border communities (He was Counterpart to Dr Faselband, Former Defense Minister of Austria). He has been a long-time advocate of environment protection and food safety and security, and he served as Member of the National Bio-safety Council in Sudan and Chairman of the technical Committee of the Council for several years. He raised research funds from most of the major international funding bodies, including: USAID, NIH, WHO, European Union-TDR, Welcome Trust and British Medical Research Council. He published numerous articles in distinguished peer-reviewed journals in addition to numerous articles in Sudan, and trained many postgraduate students, including many PhDs and MDs. During his undergraduate years he served as President of the Sudanese Medical Association, Deputy Chairman of the 40-man council of University of Khartoum Students union and as a member of the executive committee of the All-Africa students union. He served as president of the Sudanese scholars’ and students association in Britain and Northern Island in the Eighties.