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The founder of the FF is Wilfred F. Mbacham, an
associate professor at the University of Yaoundé I , Cameroon. He
holds a Doctorat de Specialité in Biochemistry from Yaounde
University Cameroon and is a Doctor of Science graduate of Harvard
University, Faculty of Public Health where he was also a Schweitzer
Fellow within the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship of America. He
started the foundation in honour of his late father Walter Fobang
Mbacham (a scout) and Albert Schweitzer, (leading interpreter of
Bach, accomplished theologian and Nobel Peace laureate, 1952) , who
founded a hospital in Lamberene Gabon. During his early years in graduate school, his work focused on characterizing surface antigens of the developmental stages of Onchocerca volvulus, the causative agent for river blindness and the use of that information in establishing a monoclonal antibody-based antigen-capture diagnostic assay for the active infection. At Harvard, part of his studies involved delineating molecular mechanisms of gene expression in Plasmodium sp, the causative agent of the tropical deadly scourge - malaria. In Public Health, his academic pursuits merged with his long standing interest in volunteerism led him to be administratively involved with many professional and social groups both in Cameroon and in the US. During his Boston years, he initiated and executed many public health programs at the Harvard School of Public Health and in Boston; a childhood and immigrant immunization program that became a model for others; the Health Education and Leadership Program (HELP) of the Minority Student Health Organization, that used an integral approach in addressing Community Health needs; Seminar Director of Global Chat, a series that grouped students, faculty and staff of Harvard from around the world to share their experiences in health care delivery strategies and as Chair of the Minority Biomedical Scientists at Harvard in 1995 and there after, was instrumental in and coordinated the introduction into Biomedical Research for Minority Young Students on internship at the Harvard Medical School. He was an inspiration to many of his colleagues who were urged to follow similar paths in Science and Public Health and as a consequence, in 1994, he was honored as a Schweitzer Fellow, then successively went on to become the Student Chair (1995) and Program Coordinator (1996) of the Boston Schweitzer Urban Fellows Program. He was elected to join the Board of Directors of The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship of America on which he serves as Vice-Chair of the African Committee. Wilfred is Editorial Board member of the Harvard Journal of Minority Public Health. Among his numerous recognitions were; The 1994 Student Award of Recognition for the Harvard School of Public Health; Semi-Finalist for the US Secretary for Health and Human Services Award for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (1995); was elected co-valedictorian at Commencement Ceremonies of the Harvard School of Public Health in 1997 during which he also earned his Doctor of Science degree and won the schools highest award - The Albert Schweitzer Award, recognizing his Academic Achievements and Service. He has since returned to Cameroon where he is the Founding President of The Fobang Foundation, a nongovernmental organization in pursuit of the encouragement of Science & Discovery and the Provision of Public Health Services to the disenfranchised through harmonized sustainable development initiatives. Since his return to Cameroon he has been involved in a number of public health activities that include the establishment and running of the Fobang Foundation with financial and material support from the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship of America, the Netherlands Albert Schweitzer Funds and the New England Biolabs, MA, USA as well as from contribution in man-hours and material from volunteer officers. In February 2000, he received a Managerial Competence Award from the Federation of African Immunological Societies for his role in the success of the meeting, as vice president respectively of the scientific and local organizing committees. He volunteers as technical director on the American Embassy AIDS Task Force in Cameroon and is a public health consultant with local international agencies. He continues to research on the nation wide molecular epidemiology of resistance markers in Malaria funded in part by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria and the World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. Wilfred is a public health consultant with the International Atomic Energy Agency on molecular epidemiology of infectious disease - Malaria and TB. He coordinates the World Health Organization MIM-TDR Antimalaria Drug Resistance Network and in May, 2002, he became a Bill Gates Fellow with the Gates Malaria Partnership Program at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He research is focussed on Drug resistance and human factors that affect influence therapeutic efficacy. |
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