GBMI, together with our parent company Frontline Foundation, proudly offers the Professional Development Scholarship, the Distinguished Visiting Scientist Award, and sponsorships to biosafety professionals committed to advancing GBMI’s mission of building biosafety preparedness by increasing effective workplace biosafety, biosecurity, and public health worldwide. Recipients are accomplished, non-US based biosafety professionals, committed to sharing their knowledge and experience to improve biosafety and biosecurity in their home countries.
Spotlight on Awardees
2017 GBMI Professional Development Scholarship Awardee
Rohani B. Cena, DVM, MSc., received a scholarship to attend the 2017 Biosafety and Biosecurity Training Course in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
Dr. Cena is a veterinarian and Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, National Institutes of Health-University of the Philippines Manila. She earned her Masters in Veterinary Medicine from Chonnam National University, Gwangju, South Korea, and her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of the Philippines, Los Banos. Dr Cena has been actively involved in conducting biosafety training awareness for veterinarians in the Philippines.
2016 GBMI Professional Development Scholarship Awardee
Aymen Bali, B.S. Experimental Science; National Diploma in Applied Science, Engineering and Technology from the National Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology, received a scholarship to attend the 2016 Biosafety and Biosecurity Training Course in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
Mr. Bali is a PhD student and the Principal Engineer at the Immunobiology of Infections Group at the Laboratory of Transmission, Immunobiology and Control of Infections, at the Institut Pasteur de Tunis in Tunisia. Bali contributed to the Institute’s Standard Operative Procedures and serves as the Quality Assurance correspondent for his laboratory to the Institutional committee. As a member of the institute’s largest research laboratory, he ensures best practices by organizing seminars and facilitating local training in the areas of quality control and biosafety.
2014 GBMI Professional Development Scholarship Awardee
Ismail Ayoade Odetokun, Ph.D., MVPH, DVM received a scholarship to attend the 2014 Biosafety and Biosecurity Training Course in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy (Veterinary Public Health), his Master of Veterinary Public Health, and his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degrees from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
Dr. Odetokun is currently a lecturer at the Department of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ilorin, Nigeria.
Dr. Odetokun recently published a paper on the Status of Laboratory Biosafety and Biosecurity in Veterinary Research Facilities in Nigeria as a result of his attendance at the BBTC conference.
2014 Distinguished Visiting Scientist Award
Mustapha Ennaji, PhD received a Frontline Foundation scholarship to attend the 13th CDC International Symposium Biosafety and Operations Management: Thinking Outside the Box in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Dr. Ennaji is the Director at the Laboratoire de Virologie, Microbiologie et Qualite at the Universite Hassan II de Casablanca, Casablanca, Morocco.
2013 Biosafety and Biosecurity Training Course Sponsorship
Atef El-Gendy, PhD, MS received his PhD in Microbiology from the Institute of Environmental Studies and Research at Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt; his MS in Microbiology from the Institute of Health and Epidemiology, Military Medical Academy, Belgrade, Serbia; his Diploma in Veterinary Microbiology from the College of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University and his Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery from the College of Veterinary Medicine, Mosul University, Iraq. Frontline Foundation sponsored his participation in the 2013 Biosafety and Biosecurity Training Course held at Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, Colorado, USA.
Dr. El-Gendy is recently retired from the United States Naval Medical Research Unit # 3 (NAMRU-3) with expertise in the areas of bacteriology, biosafety and biosecurity, disease surveillance and infection control.
2012 Distinguished Visiting Scientist Award
Wanny Basuki, PhD, MSc received a Frontline Foundation scholarship to attend the 12th CDC International Symposium on Biosafety 2012 Sustainability: People, Practices, Planet in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. She earned her PhD from Nagoya University and Kyoto Pharmaceutical University Kyoto, Japan; her MSc and BSc from Wageningen Agriculture University Wageningen, Netherlands. Dr. Basuki served as the BSL2 and BSL3 Facility Manager at the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology, Jakarta, Indonesia prior to becoming a Biosafety & Biosecurity Principles and Practices Trainer.
2012 Distinguished Visiting Scientist Award
Abiola Olajumoke Tubi, PhD, received a Frontline Foundation scholarship to attend the 55th Annual American Biological Safety Conference, in Orlando, Florida, USA. Dr. Tubi is the TB-HIV program specialist, lead point for the TB-HIV laboratory service, and Biosafety focal point for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She plays an active role in the African Biological Safety Association.