Physical & Life Sciences

Scholars dedicating their careers to the study of living organisms and non-living systems

Chris Leonard

Chris Leonard

Chris Leonard is a speaker and business coach who builds high-performing teams around complex problems and helps leaders do the same.
Drawing from Agile, LeanStartup, EOS, and more, Chris gives his clients the right skills to meet their goals. He founded No Impediments in 2023 where he serves clients in higher ed, retail, life sciences, and more.
Chris came to coaching as a second career after 10years on the road in the music industry. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife, two kids, a dog and a cat.

Chris Leonard is a speaker and business coach who builds high-performing teams around complex problems and helps leaders do the same. Drawing from Agile, LeanStartup, EOS, and more, Chris gives his clients the right skills to meet their goals. He fo... Show more

Kinjal Chauhan

Kinjal Chauhan

Kinjal Chauhan, M.S., SAS Certified Base Programmer is a Software Engineer with experience in enterprise software development, statistical programming, and data analytics. Her passion for information systems was She holds a Master of Science in Information Systems Engineering and Management from Harrisburg University of Science and Technology and a Master of Science in Project Management from the University of the Cumberlands. She also holds the SAS Certified Base Programmer for SAS 9 credential.
Over the course of her career, Kinjal has worked across software engineering and clinical data analytics, contributing to the design, development, testing, and deployment of enterprise applications. Her technical experience includes Java, C++, Spring Boot, Oracle BRM, PL/SQL, MongoDB, SAS, SQL, and cloud-based development environments. She has participated throughout the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), from translating business requirements into technical solutions to developing production-ready applications, optimizing system performance, and supporting enterprise deployments.
Earlier in her career, Kinjal worked extensively in statistical programming and clinical data analysis, supporting clinical research projects through SAS programming, CDISC SDTM and ADaM standards, FDA submission documentation, and the development of analysis datasets, tables, listings, and figures. She has experience applying statistical procedures such as ANOVA, LIFETEST, and LOGISTIC while ensuring compliance with regulatory and quality standards.
Her professional interests include artificial intelligence, enterprise software engineering, data analytics, statistical programming, digital transformation, and intelligent information systems. Through her research and technical writing, she explores how emerging technologies, data-driven decision making, and AI-powered solutions can improve organizational efficiency, education, and enterprise innovation.
When she is not working on technology projects, Kinjal enjoys learning about emerging technologies, expanding her technical expertise, and contributing to discussions on software development, artificial intelligence, and data-driven innovation.

Kinjal Chauhan, M.S., SAS Certified Base Programmer is a Software Engineer with experience in enterprise software development, statistical programming, and data analytics. Her passion for information systems was She holds a Master of Science in Infor... Show more

Sabarish Sathasivan

Sabarish Sathasivan

I am a Cloud Architect with 20+ years of engineering experience, specializing in serverless, data‑intensive, and GenAI platforms on AWS. I build secure, scalable architectures for regulated environments such as Healthcare and Life Sciences.
I’m also a 3× AWS DMV Community Day speaker and an AWS Community Builder (Serverless).

I am a Cloud Architect with 20+ years of engineering experience, specializing in serverless, data‑intensive, and GenAI platforms on AWS. I build secure, scalable architectures for regulated environments such as Healthcare and Life Sciences. I’m also... Show more

Bhaskardeep Khaund

Bhaskardeep Khaund

Bhaskardeep Khaund is a highly accomplished Principal Software Engineering Manager at Microsoft with over 20 years of experience in building secure, scalable, and compliant cloud-native systems. He currently leads a Security Green Team focused on implementing systemic security solutions for Microsoft’s massive Kubernetes infrastructure, which supports Microsoft 365 and other mission-critical services. Bhaskardeep specializes in Kubernetes security, container identity management, and secret lifecycle automation, working closely with Red and Blue teams to proactively close security gaps and ensure end-to-end policy enforcement. His leadership plays a key role in passing major audits like FedRAMP, SOC, IRAP, and GDPR. Holding a Master’s degree in Information Assurance and Cybersecurity from Florida Institute of Technology and an advanced certificate in Information Security from Stanford University, Bhaskardeep combines deep technical knowledge with strategic oversight. He holds multiple Microsoft certifications and patents related to cloud secret management and serverless security. Over his 15-year tenure at Microsoft, he has held engineering and leadership roles across Office 365, Exchange, and Azure-based platforms, consistently driving innovations in DevOps, compliance automation, and large-scale system resilience. His career also includes prior experience at Accenture and other firms, where he led teams developing enterprise software for sectors ranging from airlines to government manufacturing. A published blogger at nerdbackbone.blog, Bhaskardeep is an active voice in the cybersecurity and cloud engineering community.

Bhaskardeep Khaund is a highly accomplished Principal Software Engineering Manager at Microsoft with over 20 years of experience in building secure, scalable, and compliant cloud-native systems. He currently leads a Security Green Team focused on imp... Show more

Tarun Reddy Nukala

Tarun Reddy Nukala

Tarun Reddy Nukala is a systems and AI professional at Samsung Semiconductor and a researcher at The University of Texas at Austin. His work and research interests span applied machine learning, trustworthy AI, computer vision, digital twins, and AI-enabled decision systems, with applications across semiconductor manufacturing, healthcare, and smart infrastructure. Tarun is also actively involved in IEEE standards, working groups, and AI policy initiatives, contributing to discussions and white papers on the responsible development and deployment of emerging technologies. His broader interests focus on bridging technical AI innovation with real-world engineering, governance, and societal impact, particularly in complex, safety- and reliability-sensitive environments.

Tarun Reddy Nukala is a systems and AI professional at Samsung Semiconductor and a researcher at The University of Texas at Austin. His work and research interests span applied machine learning, trustworthy AI, computer vision, digital twins, and AI-... Show more

Mårten Rånge

Mårten Rånge

Mårten Rånge is a consultant, developer, and software architect with nearly 30 years of experience building applications. He has worked at Microsoft, WCOM, and Ericsson, and now works at Contracting Works AS.

Mårten Rånge is a consultant, developer, and software architect with nearly 30 years of experience building applications. He has worked at Microsoft, WCOM, and Ericsson, and now works at Contracting Works AS. Show more

Andrew Young Choi

Andrew Young Choi

Dr. Andrew Young Choi is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Pace University, where he teaches and supervises in the Clinical Health Psychology Program.

His award-winning scholarship employs queer of color critique to illuminate the complexities of intersectionality, racism-related stress, and identity among Asian Americans. Leveraging psychoanalytic concepts, his interdisciplinary research explores the evolving nature of anti-Asian racialization and its theoretical and clinical implications. He brings advanced methodological expertise, including critical analysis, multivariate statistics, psychometrics, structural equation modeling, and qualitative content analysis. He has authored over 20 publications and received more than 30 awards, honors, and fellowships for his intellectual contributions.

Dr. Choi is board-certified in Counseling Psychology and specializes in culturally responsive psychodynamic psychotherapy for high-performing professionals from diverse backgrounds. He creatively integrates insight-oriented, goal-focused, and decolonial principles to support a broad range of mental health goals. He has provided effective care across diverse settings—including college counseling centers, community mental health clinics, and inpatient and outpatient hospitals—with extensive public sector experience serving clients from global majority and LGBTQ+ populations.

He earned his PhD in Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his American Psychological Association (APA)-accredited Doctoral Internship in Health Service Psychology at the Counseling and Student Development Center of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. He completed his Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Psychology at Cambridge Health Alliance / Harvard Medical School. He is an alumnus APA Minority Fellow, Pacific Athletic Conference (PAC-12) Postgraduate Scholar, and University of California Regents Special Fellow.

Dr. Andrew Young Choi is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Pace University, where he teaches and supervises in the Clinical Health Psychology Program. His award-winning scholarship employs queer of color critique to illuminate the complexit... Show more

Iqra Hameed

Iqra Hameed

Iqra Hameed is an AI Engineer at Zylo, where she builds production LLM systems, including hybrid-retrieval RAG, multi-provider agentic tool use and real-time voice agents. She is also a published computer vision researcher. Her work covers deep learning-based human behaviour recognition for sustainable smart cities, and ongoing research into improving YOLO-family detectors for small object detection in surveillance and remote-sensing imagery. She holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Gujrat. There she led the Computing Society's Research & Programming team and mentored students in programming and research. Iqra is passionate about making AI systems reliable, testable and trustworthy enough for real-world use.

Iqra Hameed is an AI Engineer at Zylo, where she builds production LLM systems, including hybrid-retrieval RAG, multi-provider agentic tool use and real-time voice agents. She is also a published computer vision researcher. Her work covers deep learn... Show more

Phillip Demro

Phillip Demro

Phillip (Phil) Demro is a managing architect in Withum's Advisory Services practice with more than 15 years of experience in technology consulting. He helps organizations bring AI into the business without losing sight of cost, ownership or risk. Working inside an accounting firm, he looks at AI the way auditors look at financial statements: if it can't be measured, governed and explained, it isn't ready to scale. He has written on keeping AI spending under control and on the hidden risks of AI-built apps, and he's a returning conference speaker. He's also an FAA-certified drone pilot, and Minnesota licensed commercial Boat Master.

Phillip (Phil) Demro is a managing architect in Withum's Advisory Services practice with more than 15 years of experience in technology consulting. He helps organizations bring AI into the business without losing sight of cost, ownership or risk. Wor... Show more

Huey Phan

Huey Phan

Huey is a graduate student in Artificial Intelligence with interests in healthcare AI, deep learning, and biomedical signal analysis. Their current work focuses on applying PyTorch-based deep learning models to ECG classification using the PTB-XL dataset.

Huey is a graduate student in Artificial Intelligence with interests in healthcare AI, deep learning, and biomedical signal analysis. Their current work focuses on applying PyTorch-based deep learning models to ECG classification using the PTB-XL dat... Show more

Otto Dobretsberger

Otto Dobretsberger

Dr. Otto Dobretsberger is a Senior Software Developer at CODE Consulting (part of the CODE Group). He holds a Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Informatics from UMIT, an institution in Austria, as well as a Master's and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Houston. His professional expertise centers on high-performance computational analysis of genetic and genomic data, with extensive experience in C and C++. He specializes in WPF, C#, and C++ development, while maintaining proficiency in multiple additional programming languages. His project portfolio spans biomedical image processing, genetic and genomic data analysis, analytical software solutions for the oil and gas industry, and the development of custom controls. Dr. Dobretsberger has authored scientific papers and magazine articles and is a regular speaker at industry conferences.

Since 2012, he has served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Houston, where he has taught a range of programming courses, including C++, Python, JavaScript, and Java.

In addition to his technical and academic roles, Dr. Dobretsberger organizes the Global AI Houston chapter, leading a local community of AI professionals and enthusiasts focused on knowledge sharing and advancements in artificial intelligence.

Outside of his professional pursuits, he is an accomplished powerlifter, actively training and competing. He holds multiple USPA National Records and IPL World Records.

Dr. Otto Dobretsberger is a Senior Software Developer at CODE Consulting (part of the CODE Group). He holds a Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Informatics from UMIT, an institution in Austria, as well as a Master's and Ph.D. in Computer Science from t... Show more

Jean-Yves Tremblay

Jean-Yves Tremblay

Jean‑Yves Tremblay is an Enterprise Architect at Alithya specializing in Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management, Microsoft Fabric, Power Platform, and AI-driven business solutions. With over 20 years of experience spanning manufacturing, ERP implementations, software development, and enterprise architecture, he helps organizations transform operational data into actionable insights and intelligent business applications. His recent work focuses on AI Agents, Copilot Studio, semantic models, MCP, and modern data architectures that bridge ERP systems, analytics, and artificial intelligence.

Jean‑Yves Tremblay is an Enterprise Architect at Alithya specializing in Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management, Microsoft Fabric, Power Platform, and AI-driven business solutions. With over 20 years of experience spanning manufacturing, ERP ... Show more

Niko Hems

Niko Hems

Niko Hems is a longevity and preventive medicine expert, speaker, and Head of Strategy & Medical Communications at YEARS, a physician-led preventive healthcare company in Berlin. He holds a Master’s degree in Management from Nova SBE, studied at UC Berkeley, and is pursuing an MSc in Longevity Science at the Geneva College of Longevity Science. He has also completed training at the National University of Singapore’s Healthy Longevity Talent Incubator.

As co-host of the Return on Health podcast and a recognized voice in longevity, Niko focuses on translating scientific evidence into practical strategies for healthier, longer lives, with a particular interest in preventive healthcare, human performance, and the future of medicine.

Niko Hems is a longevity and preventive medicine expert, speaker, and Head of Strategy & Medical Communications at YEARS, a physician-led preventive healthcare company in Berlin. He holds a Master’s degree in Management from Nova SBE, studied at UC B... Show more

Artur Morys-Magiera

Artur Morys-Magiera

React Native & React developer, Senior React Native Developer at Callstack, a PhD candidate at AGH University of Krakow, MEng in Automation & Robotics. Aficionado of programming, robotics, AI & pointillist paintings.

React Native & React developer, Senior React Native Developer at Callstack, a PhD candidate at AGH University of Krakow, MEng in Automation & Robotics. Aficionado of programming, robotics, AI & pointillist paintings. Show more

Geethika Guruge

Geethika Guruge

Geethika is an AWS Ambassador and a Community Builder, highly experienced Solutions Architect and a Principal Consultant for Mantel Group. When he's not busy helping organisations migrate and adopt cloud native solutions, he is also a very active supporter of local communities and meetups.

Geethika is an AWS Ambassador and a Community Builder, highly experienced Solutions Architect and a Principal Consultant for Mantel Group. When he's not busy helping organisations migrate and adopt cloud native solutions, he is also a very active sup... Show more

Indranil Ghosh

Indranil Ghosh

Indra is a postdoctoral fellow in applied mathematics at the University College Dublin, Ireland, working on all things "dynamical systems". He takes a computational approach to tackle complex problems, and his current research is focused on understanding collective behaviour exhibited by coupled neurons. He is an avid Python user and has been a speaker at multiple Python-related conferences before. More information can be found in his website: https://indrag49.github.io/.

Indra is a postdoctoral fellow in applied mathematics at the University College Dublin, Ireland, working on all things "dynamical systems". He takes a computational approach to tackle complex problems, and his current research is focused on understan... Show more

Ajala Marvellous

Ajala Marvellous

AJala Marvellous is a data scientist and a Machine Learning Engineer with over 3 years of experience in the AI/ML space with experience building, deploying and maintaining models in classical Machine Learning, Computer vision and Natural Language Processing. He is a recent graduate of the University of Lagos with a bachelors degree in Pharmacy. He is a Machine Learning researcher with interest in application of machine learning in healthcare and drug discovery and has had the opportunity of sharing his research at top ML Conferences like Deep Learning Indaba. He is a member of communities like MLC Africa and Sisonke Biotik (a community of machine learning engineers and researchers focused of application of AI to healthcare challenges in Africa by Africans) and an active co-organiser of the Data Science for Health workshop at Deep Learning Indaba

AJala Marvellous is a data scientist and a Machine Learning Engineer with over 3 years of experience in the AI/ML space with experience building, deploying and maintaining models in classical Machine Learning, Computer vision and Natural Language Pro... Show more

Ravit Cohen-Segev

Ravit Cohen-Segev

I am a Data Scientist with 5 years of industry experience. Although I hold a PhD in Physiology from the Technion, my professional career has focused on applying the rigorous analytical methods of a research scientist to complex, large-scale data challenges. I pride myself on my ability to bridge the gap between academic inquiry and delivering high-impact business insights.

I am a Data Scientist with 5 years of industry experience. Although I hold a PhD in Physiology from the Technion, my professional career has focused on applying the rigorous analytical methods of a research scientist to complex, large-scale data chal... Show more

Chinonso Chidi

Chinonso Chidi

Writing

Chinonso Chidi is a biomedical scientist, researcher, and open-source developer with a strong commitment to free knowledge and digital inclusion. A Wikimedian since 2020 and a Wikipedia administrator, he contributes to expanding access to reliable information and strengthening the representation of underrepresented knowledge and languages across Wikimedia projects. As a programmes and project manager, he has coordinated and implemented events, campaigns, and collaborative initiatives locally and internationally. His work brings together research, technology, and community engagement to make knowledge more accessible, empower volunteers, and drive meaningful social impact.

Writing Chinonso Chidi is a biomedical scientist, researcher, and open-source developer with a strong commitment to free knowledge and digital inclusion. A Wikimedian since 2020 and a Wikipedia administrator, he contributes to expanding access to ... Show more

Theodore Walrond

Theodore Walrond

Theodore Walrond (Rex) is a University of Florida neuroscience graduate from the Tampa Bay area. He speaks about two things he knows firsthand: making sense of scientific evidence, and working in demanding outdoor environments.

As a researcher at UF's McKnight Brain Institute from 2022 to 2023, he worked through more than 300 studies on subarachnoid hemorrhage and Alzheimer's disease and helped turn them into a framework the team used to plan its next experiments. A summer at Romark Laboratories in Tampa in 2021 had him tracking COVID-19 drug candidates as new trial data arrived.

Outside the lab, he was a divemaster and teaching assistant for UF's Scientific Diving Program from 2020 to 2023, helping students from Open Water through Master Diver. He has climbed Mount Rainier with International Mountain Guides and backpacked the John Muir Trail, the Teton Crest Trail and Glacier National Park.

Topics he can speak to: reading conflicting research without getting lost in it; what teaching scuba teaches you about leading a group; preparing for a first big mountain.

He lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he is working on a new company in consumer health. More at theodorewalrond.com and rexwalrond.com.

Theodore Walrond (Rex) is a University of Florida neuroscience graduate from the Tampa Bay area. He speaks about two things he knows firsthand: making sense of scientific evidence, and working in demanding outdoor environments. As a researcher at ... Show more

Felix Desyatirikov

Felix Desyatirikov

Felix Desyatirikov is a Senior AI and Backend Engineer with six years of enterprise experience building and scaling backend systems, with deep hands-on work in Kubernetes and microservices. He has spoken in the main program at Joker, the international conference for experienced Java developers, and at IEEE conferences. He conducts research at ITMO University in St. Petersburg on AI applied to infrastructure and distributed systems, including machine learning for runtime orchestration.

Felix Desyatirikov is a Senior AI and Backend Engineer with six years of enterprise experience building and scaling backend systems, with deep hands-on work in Kubernetes and microservices. He has spoken in the main program at Joker, the internationa... Show more

Oluwasegun Adedigba

Oluwasegun Adedigba

Oluwasegun Adeniyi Adedigba is a cloud software engineer with a strong background in building and managing secure, scalable cloud infrastructures. With extensive experience in AWS, he has implemented solutions involving networking, virtualization, containerization, and serverless architectures. His interests span serverless, event-driven architecture, CAD, CAM, CAE, and robotics. He is 5x AWS Certified and 1x Hashicorp Certified. He is an AWS Community Builder in the AWS Serverless Category. Oluwasegun Adedigba is also a Mechanical Engineer. His hobbies include playing football and basketball.

Oluwasegun Adeniyi Adedigba is a cloud software engineer with a strong background in building and managing secure, scalable cloud infrastructures. With extensive experience in AWS, he has implemented solutions involving networking, virtualization, co... Show more

Thomas Van Dorpe

Thomas Van Dorpe

AI ERP Solution Architect at Cegeka specializing in Pharma & Medtech industry solutions with a focus on AI and Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management.

AI ERP Solution Architect at Cegeka specializing in Pharma & Medtech industry solutions with a focus on AI and Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management. Show more

Nishanth Vepachedu

Nishanth Vepachedu

Nishanth Vepachedu is a Principal Engineer with over two decades of experience in software engineering, enterprise architecture, artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure, security, and large-scale distributed systems. Throughout his career, he has led the design and implementation of mission-critical technology solutions across retail, customer experience, financial services, industrial engineering, and biomedical research domains, consistently delivering scalable systems that improve operational efficiency, reliability, and business performance.
Currently serving as a Principal Engineer at Target, Nishanth has been responsible for several strategic technology initiatives. He developed an intelligent assistant for store employees using Large Language Models (LLMs), integrating ChatGPT APIs with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), Elasticsearch, and PineconeDB to provide dynamic procedural guidance while optimizing performance and operational costs. He also enhanced the stability and resiliency of Target's MyDay store operations platform by implementing architectural improvements, resilience frameworks, and task optimization algorithms. In addition, he led the re-architecture and migration of legacy AWS-based applications to Target's on-premises infrastructure, transforming monolithic systems into event-driven microservices and delivering significant cloud cost savings while supporting critical business operations. He also designed the architecture for Microsoft's Xbox All Access financing solution on Target.com, enabling customers to purchase Xbox consoles through a financing program.
Prior to joining Target, Nishanth served as Principal Engineer at Concentrix, where he engineered an enterprise-grade biometric multi-factor authentication platform incorporating facial and voice recognition technologies. Leveraging TensorFlow, MobileNet, OpenCV, and edge computing architectures, he developed a secure and scalable authentication framework for global contact center operations, improving security, compliance, and agent productivity.
Before Concentrix, Nishanth spent nearly a decade at Convergys as a Senior Staff Engineer. During this period, he led the development of an intelligent agent assistance platform that integrated robotic process automation, enterprise knowledge graphs, and large-scale event processing to support customer service operations. He also designed and implemented a global workforce management platform supporting more than 150 contact centers across 31 countries, incorporating scheduling automation, payroll compliance, predictive analytics, and operational reporting capabilities.
Earlier in his career, Nishanth worked as a Research Engineer at the University of Cincinnati, where he contributed to bioinformatics and comparative genomics research. He developed scalable platforms that integrated thousands of human and mouse phenotypes with disease-gene datasets, enabling advanced disease-phenotype exploration and supporting scientific research through semantic technologies, ontology integration, and web services. During his tenure at the University of Cincinnati, he worked on research initiatives that resulted in a publication in Nucleic Acids Research.
Nishanth began his professional career at Tata Consultancy Services, where he worked on multiple enterprise initiatives for organizations including General Electric and ING. His contributions included single sign-on implementations, payroll integration platforms, identity management systems, supply chain applications, and optimization solutions for industrial engineering programs. He played a key role in developing secure enterprise architectures and large-scale business applications that supported global operations.
His technical expertise includes software architecture, artificial intelligence, machine learning, microservices, event-driven systems, cloud and on-premises infrastructure, data engineering, security, and enterprise platform modernization. He is proficient in Java, Python, Kotlin, and Rust and has extensive experience with technologies including AWS, Azure, Kafka, Elasticsearch, PineconeDB, Neo4j, TensorFlow, OpenCV, Kubernetes, and modern DevOps practices.
Nishanth holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and a Bachelor of Technology in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the Regional Engineering College, Warangal, India. His career reflects a sustained record of developing innovative technology solutions and leading complex engineering initiatives across global organizations.

Nishanth Vepachedu is a Principal Engineer with over two decades of experience in software engineering, enterprise architecture, artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure, security, and large-scale distributed systems. Throughout his career, he h... Show more

Sam Rajamanickam

Sam Rajamanickam

Sam Rajamanickam, AIA, WELL AP, is a Principal at Design Collective who focuses on student housing and campus life facilities. Over 30 years, he has partnered with institutions including Marquette University, Rutgers University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Idaho and Towson University to plan and deliver student life environments that support belonging, wellness, and connection.

Sam became interested in Third Place theory while observing a persistent challenge: students living in close proximity yet feeling increasingly lonely. This paradox led him to explore how Ray Oldenburg's sociological framework could become a practical tool for housing professionals to evaluate and strengthen campus environments.

His approach emphasizes that physical design, programming, and policy must work together as an integrated system. As a WELL Accredited Professional, he brings wellness expertise to creating spaces that serve all students, with particular attention to equity, accessibility, and psychological safety—empowering housing officers to audit existing spaces and intentionally design environments where students naturally connect.

Sam Rajamanickam, AIA, WELL AP, is a Principal at Design Collective who focuses on student housing and campus life facilities. Over 30 years, he has partnered with institutions including Marquette University, Rutgers University, Johns Hopkins Univers... Show more

Chukwukaidibia Onyekwere

Chukwukaidibia Onyekwere

Chukwukaidibia Onyekwere is Nigeria's pioneer n8n Ambassador and an AI/ML educator, researcher, and community builder. Over the past year, he has trained three cohorts of Nigeria's Federal Government 3MTT initiative across Machine Learning, Data Science, and AI, and trained approximately 10,000 people in AI Automation Engineering. he is the founder of OpenStack Africa,(https://www.openstack-africa.online/) a community initiative helping African developers build on shared infrastructure instead of reinventing it. Her bioinformatics research — including work on genomic characterization and ML prediction of antimicrobial resistance in E. coli from West Africa, and prediction of carbapenemase activity in β-lactamases using protein language model embeddings — is set for publication in top-tier journals in 2026. he has hosted community-driven AI and automation events in Lagos and Port Harcourt, bringing together HR leaders, founders, CTOs, and developers around practical automation and AI adoption.

Chukwukaidibia Onyekwere is Nigeria's pioneer n8n Ambassador and an AI/ML educator, researcher, and community builder. Over the past year, he has trained three cohorts of Nigeria's Federal Government 3MTT initiative across Machine Learning, Data Scie... Show more

Farees Fathima

Farees Fathima

Farees Fathima is a Global Responsible AI Leader and AI Governance Strategist at Carlsberg Group, where she drives the practical operationalisation of Responsible AI, AI risk management, assurance, and literacy across the global enterprise. With over 13 years of experience across Carlsberg, HSBC, Boston Scientific, and Accenture, she bridges the gap between high-level AI principles and high-velocity business execution.

At Carlsberg, Farees established and operationalised a lightweight AI Risk Management Framework that reduced assessment friction by 70% and accelerated safe AI adoption across eight global business units. She leads end-to-end lifecycle governance from ideation and experimentation to deployment and continuous monitoring with a strong focus on Generative AI, Agentic AI, and human oversight in increasingly autonomous systems.

An ISO/IEC 42001 Lead Implementer and EXIN AI Certified Professional (AICP), Farees advises CIOs, CTOs, Legal, Privacy, and Risk leaders on translating emerging global regulations including the EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF, and ISO/IEC 42001 into actionable enterprise frameworks. As an active industry speaker and mentor, she empowers organizations and founders to build trustworthy, scalable AI systems that deliver tangible business value.

Farees Fathima is a Global Responsible AI Leader and AI Governance Strategist at Carlsberg Group, where she drives the practical operationalisation of Responsible AI, AI risk management, assurance, and literacy across the global enterprise. With over... Show more

Anemone Kasasbeh

Anemone Kasasbeh

Anemone Kasasbeh, PhD, is Manager of Data Science & Clinical AI at Ascension, one of the five largest health systems in the U.S.

She was named one of RE·WORK’s Top 25 Women in AI in Healthcare in 2022.

She is a subject matter expert in healthcare AI, predictive modeling, and real-world clinical implementation. With experience across health systems and the pharmaceutical industry, her work focuses on translating advanced analytics and AI into measurable healthcare impact. She has many publications in the field and her PhD work focused on Applications of AI in Healthcare.

Anemone Kasasbeh, PhD, is Manager of Data Science & Clinical AI at Ascension, one of the five largest health systems in the U.S. She was named one of RE·WORK’s Top 25 Women in AI in Healthcare in 2022. She is a subject matter expert in healthca... Show more

Gian Paolo Santopaolo

Gian Paolo Santopaolo

Lead the design and development of agentic AI applications that enable scientists
to explore experimental, proprietary, and research data to generate actionable scientific insights.
Own end-to-end delivery of production-grade AI products, including agentic AI systems, fine-tuning, RAG pipelines, vector databases with Python and PyTorch.

Key responsibilities:
• Designing and implementing conversational AI agents using modern LLM platforms and agentic architectures
• Developing RAG systems that connect LLMs with proprietary scientific datasets and knowledge bases
• Evaluating model customization strategies, including fine-tuning, and optimization techniques
• Architecting vector search and embeddings pipelines using modern retrieval technologies
• Implementing AI evaluation frameworks, monitoring, security controls, and governance practices for regulated scientific environments
• Integrating AI services with AWS cloud infrastructure and enterprise data platforms
• Establishing CI/CD workflows, automated testing, and scalable deployment strategies
• Collaborating closely with scientists, bioinformaticians, product teams, and engineers to identify high-impact AI opportunities
• Mentoring engineers and contributing to long-term AI platform strategy

Technologies:
LLMs, Agentic AI, RAG, Python, PyTorch, Vector, relational and non-relational databases, PostgreSQL, AWS, CI/CD, Cloud Architecture, AI Evaluation & Monitoring.

Driving the development of next-generation AI assistants that accelerate scientific discovery and operational efficiency across the organization.

Lead the design and development of agentic AI applications that enable scientists to explore experimental, proprietary, and research data to generate actionable scientific insights. Own end-to-end delivery of production-grade AI products, including... Show more

Dr. Gururaj HL

Dr. Gururaj HL

DR. GURURAJ H L (Senior Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in computer science and engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University India in 2019. He has published more than 200 research articles in peer-reviewed and reputed international journals. He has authored 15 Edited books in Springer, IET, IGI Global and Taylor & Francis. He has presented more than 100 papers at various international conferences. He is a Senior Member of ACM. He received a Young Scientist International Travel Support ITS-SERB, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, in December 2016. He was a recipient of best paper awards at various national and international conferences. He was appointed as an ACM Distinguish Speaker (2018–2021) by the ACM U.S. Council. He has honoured as Keynote Speaker, Session chair, TPC member, Advisory committee member at International Seminars, Workshops and Conferences across Globe. Prof. Gururaj’s research interests are Applications in Machine and federated Learning, data mining, Blockchain and cyber security.

DR. GURURAJ H L (Senior Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in computer science and engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University India in 2019. He has published more than 200 research articles in peer-reviewed and reputed international ... Show more

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