Dr. Olubusayo Akinola serves as the Head of the Social Welfare, Drug Control, and Crime Prevention Division at the African Union. She brings significant expertise in designing and implementing multicomponent community-based interventions, as well as recovery and social integration strategies for individuals with substance use disorders. Dr. Akinola works closely with civil society organizations to advance grassroots initiatives and advocates for the development of age-appropriate, gender-sensitive policies to address substance use challenges affecting women, children, and adolescents across Africa. Her contributions include involvement in various international and national projects focused on drug policy evaluation, and she plays a key role in facilitating inter-agency collaboration and real-time information exchange within the Pan African Epidemiology Network on Drug Use. Dr. Akinola holds a PhD in public health with a specialization in epidemiology from Walden University, a Master’s degree in public health from the University of East London and a Bachelor of pharmacy degree. She is also a Fulbright Alumna from Virginia Commonwealth University, USA, and a recipient of the Walden University Presidential Award for Research Dissemination.

Prof. Dr. Anju Dhawan (MBBS, MD Psychiatry) is a Professor at the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, India. Her primary focus is on the management of adolescent substance use treatment services, epidemiologic work in the area of adolescent substance abuse, including the study of street children and school-based studies. In addition, she is involved in opioid substitution treatment, community services, addiction psychiatry education and meditation research.

Dr. Jiang Long is a psychiatrist, researcher and the chief coordinator at Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, a WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health. His research has focused on Addiction Medicine and Global Mental Health with a particular interest in behavioral addictions. He is  the chair of the ISAM-NEXT committee and a member of the WHO Technical Working Group on the Development of International Diagnostic and Screening Instruments for Gaming Disorder and Gambling Disorder.  He also holds board membership in several committees at the China Association of Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment (CADAPT).

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rehm is Senior Scientist in the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research and in the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at CAMH. He is Professor and was the Inaugural Chair of Addiction Policy in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, and he also holds other professorships and positions in Canada, Germany and Spain. Dr. Rehm has been a leader in generating and analyzing the scientific data needed to inform clinicians and policy-makers of strategies to reduce alcohol-, tobacco-, and other drug-attributable harm. His recent research has increasingly included interactions between socio-economic status, poverty and substance use, including analysis of policies and interventions with respect to reducing or increasing inequalities. His work has been awarded with numerous awards and prizes, most importantly, the Jellinek Memorial Award (2003), the European Addiction Research Award (2017) and the (Inaugural) Kettil Bruun Society Award for Advancement of International Research Collaboration (2021).

Dr. Tardelli (MD, MS, PhD) is an addictions psychiatrist with clinical training in Brazil and Canada. He is currently an associated researcher at the Instituto Américo Bairral, in Itapira, Brazil. Dr. Tardelli is also a member of the UNODC and European Union expert groups on treatment of stimulant use disorder. His research has focused on the epidemiology and clinical treatment of stimulant use disorder, particularly with agonist-based therapy. Dr. Tardelli also conducts research on social determinants of drug harmful use, such as race/ethnicity, gender, and sexual/gender identity. Dr. Tardelli has a Master’s degree in Clinical Research Methods from Columbia University, in the US, and a clinical fellowship in addictions psychiatry from the University of Toronto, Canada. His interests include medication-assisted therapy, harm reduction and drug use by minorities.