Dr. Balaluka is a medical doctor who studied at the University of Kinshasa (1993) and received a PhD in Health Sciences (2012) at the School of Public health of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). He has been a researcher affiliated with the Lwiro Natural Sciences Research Center since 1994 and has collaborated with the cooperation program of the ULB (CEMUBAC) from 1994 to 2013 in the implementation of research projects on nutrition and the DRC health system. As a former Provincial Medical Inspector of South Kivu Province, he continues to collaborate with the Ministry of Public Health (DEP-Santé) in reforming the health system and in implementing the "basket-fund" approach in Health Provinces of DRC. He is a member of the Working Group for Vaccine Coverage in DRC (GTCV), Honorary Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the Catholic University of Bukavu (2013-2019), Director of the Regional School of Public Health of Bukavu since 2013, and member of the Centre de Connaissance en Santé. His areas of interest include nutrition, mother-child health and health system organization in crisis context. He is the Principal Investigator of the EQUAL project in DRC. Learn more about Ghislain’s work here.

Dr. Lyab is a medical doctor who studied at the Université catholique de Bukavu (UCB) and received a PhD in Public Health at the School of Public Health of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). He is a Senior Researcher affiliated at the Ecole Régionale de santé Publique of UCB and at the Lwiro Natural Sciences Research Center. He is experienced in child nutrition, Non-communicable chronic diseases, mother-child health and the health system organization in post-conflict settings. Pacifique has experience in research coordination, community engagement and work with community health workers in rural settings of eastern DR Congo. He’s experienced with the International Atomic Energy Agency on the application of radioactive methods in the analysis of body composition. He is also experienced in management of medical emergencies and resuscitation. He is serving as the co-investigator of EQUAL in DRC. Learn more about Dr. Lyab’s work here.

After more than five years of experience in clinical medicine -- mainly in pediatrics -- Rosine turned to research, where she has worked for more than six years. She is currently a lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine of the Catholic University of Bukavu, and a senior researcher at the Regional School of Public Health of UCB. Her area of research is the epidemiology and ecology of infectious diseases. In addition to supervising students and their research, she participates in ongoing research projects at the School of Public Health, particularly in the areas of infectious diseases (cholera, malaria, Ebola and Covid-19), maternal and child health, violence and malnutrition. She has thus acquired field research experience in close contact with rural communities, particularly in relation to the security crisis context that characterizes the region in which she lives and works. Rosine will be a scientific assistant in two of the five research axes of EQUAL in the DRC. Learn more about Rosine’s work here.

Dr. Murhimalika is a medical doctor and a master in public health from the Catholic University of Bukavu. She has four years of professional experience including one year in clinical pediatrics and three years in public health research focused on the health of mother-child pairs with a history of acute malnutrition. She received training from the International Atomic Energy Agency on the application of radioactive methods in the analysis of breastmilk intake and body composition for which she is the referent for the DRC. She actively participated in the preliminary study on attacks on health care workers in the context of crisis and epidemics (Ebola and Covid-19) in North Kivu Province. Currently, she is serving as a scientific assistant for EQUAL with a focus on exploring maternal and neonatal mortality in Eastern DRC. Learn more about Dr. Murhimalika’s work here.

Amani Ngaboyeka Gaylord obtained his Doctor of Medicine, Surgery and Childbirth degree from the the Université Catholique de Bukavu (UCB) in 2015-2016 and a Master's degree in Public Health in 2018 from the Ecole Regionale de Santé Publique (ERSP) of the UCB. He worked in pediatrics at the Hôpital Provincial Général de Référence de Bukavu (HPGRB), assigned to the care center for children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Gaylord is serving as a researcher and head of the statistics unit at the ERSP of UCB, where he collaborates in several research projects and actively participates in training young students in medicine and masters in public health learners. Gaylord has extensive experience in research, in-depth data analysis and processing methods, teaching and supervising research work, project monitoring and evaluation, and in international and migrant health. He also has experience in Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for assessing breast milk intake and body composition using the Agilent 4500S FTIR Handheld Spectrometer. He is currently pursuing his doctorate in Health Sciences at the Free University of Brussels (ULB) and is supporting the EQUAL research consortium. Follow Gaylord on Twitter via @GaylordAmani