Urazalieva Ilmira Ravkatovna PhD assistant professor at the School of Public Health, Tashkent Medical Academy, specialist in public health and health care management.

Samigullina Alfiya Eldarovna, Honoured Physician of the Kyrgyz Republic, Doctor of Medicine, Professor, Rector of the Bishkek International Medical Institute.

Deputy director of drug treatment at the National Centre for Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, psychiatrist/drug therapist of the highest category

Solovieva Aigul Sagadibekovna - Chairman of the Board of ALE "Association of Environmental Organizations of Kazakhstan". Member of the Human Rights Commission under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, member of the Council on Protection of Entrepreneurs' Rights and Counteraction to Corruption of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Atameken". Deputy of the Majilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan of the 5th convocation.

Petukhova Nadezhda Mikhailovna - Chairman of the Public Council of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan; Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Medical Association. President of the City Branch of the Kazakhstan Association for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Astana. Astana. Deputy of the Majilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan of the 5th convocation.

Doctor, Chairperson of the Board of the "National Association for Harm Reduction of Human Health Risk Factors - "Densaulyk", Member of the Expert Council of "Densaulyk"

Julia Rozanova is an Associate Research Scientist at the AIDS Program of the Yale School of Medicine. She received her PhD in Sociology (Alberta) and subsequently trained in Social Gerontology (Brown) and Implementation Science (Yale). Since 2018, she has had the privilege of leading a research program on HIV prevention and treatment among vulnerable populations in prison and community contexts in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. With colleagues from the AIDS Foundation East West Kyrgyzstan Dr Rozanova has conducted a clinical trial of a bespoke peer-driven intervention to improve the mental health and reduce HIV risk among prisoners with a history of injection drug use in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. With colleagues from the European Institute on Public Health Policy, Dr Rozanova has examined the intersection of HIV, addiction, and aging in Ukraine. During the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequently during the war, Dr Rozanova has led clinical trials of interventions to bring older people with HIV into care using peer navigation strategy and provide them with an evidence-based decision aid to inform HIV status disclosure. Over the last year, Dr Rozanova’s research has increasingly focused on how both service users and healthcare workers cope during the humanitarian crisis and factors underlying their resilience. Dr Rozanova’s work has been supported by grants from the American Medical Foundation, Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS,  MacMillan Center for International Studies, and Fund for Lesbian and Gay Studies at Yale University; the National Institute on Drug Abuse (K01DA047194), the National Institute on Aging (R21AG072961 and R21AG072961-02S1), and the National Institute of Mental Health (R34MH130260).

Mariya Prilutskaya is an Assistant researcher in the Department of Personalized Medicine and Department of Public Health at Pavlodar branch of Semey Medical University in Pavlodar, and a Psychotherapist in the Department of Psychotherapy and Rehabilitation of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Medical and Social Problems of Drug Addiction in Pavlodar city.

She received a bachelor’s degree in psychiatry from the Medical University of Astana and master degree in medicine from Semey State Medical University, She is interested in addiction psychiatry, clinical challenges of novel psychoactive substances, scientific researches and new educational technologies. She is skilled in statistical analysis, including SPSS and R.

Amir Rashidov is a drug addiction clinician in the Republican Specialized Scientific and Practical Drug Treatment Medical Center in Uzbekistan. He has been working in the addiction field professionally since 2015. He was a study visitor at the EMCDDA, and he was involved in the project/research on the Treatment Demand Indicator in 2019. Moreover, he is engaged in a pilot assessment of the quality of drug treatment services in Uzbekistan.

Dr. Jiang Du M.D. is a psychiatrist of Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine. She has worked in the drug abuse field for almost 20 years with a research focus on drug abuse prevention and intervention.  She has also conducted research on drug abuse and HIV/HCV-related risk behaviors among intravenous drug users. She was a Principal Investigator of  study on the influence of drug-related cue exposure on heroin dependence relapsing (funded by Shanghai Mental Health Center), and she has participated as a co-Investigator in other drug abuse research projects funded by Shanghai Health Bureau and NIH.

Katarzyna Kinga Kowalczyk holds MA in Psychology and History and PhD in Economics (in the field of Management). Her area of experience includes harm reduction, public health and event management. She is running the Global Public Health Foundation, aimed to share research and experience in public health across all relevant sectors. She is also a lecturer at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities.

David MacKintosh has spent two decades working in drug and alcohol policy. This has included experience at national level (Cabinet Office), regional (Greater London Authority) and local civic levels (City of London). From 2001 – 2020 he led the work of the London Drug and Alcohol Policy Forum including its involvement in the 2006-07 AGIS programme undertaking a threat assessment in relation to methamphetamine and was a supporter of the Club Health – Healthy and Safer Nightlife of Youth Project 2008-2013. His work around improving safety in the night time economy, relaunched in early 2020, is acknowledged as the UK best practice guidance and has informed work internationally.

Heino Stöver is a social scientist, PhD and Professor of Social Scientific Addiction Research at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences in Germany, Faculty of Health and Social Work. Since 1987 he has been director of the Archive and Documentation Centre for Drug Literature and Research at the University of Bremen (www.archido.info). He is the president of the national umbrella organisation working on harm reduction for drug users, called akzept e.V. (Bundesverband für akzeptierende Drogenarbeit und humane Drogenpolitik; www.akzept.eu ). Since 2009 he is the director of the “Institute of Addiction Research” (Frankfurt-university.de/isff).

Heino Stöver’s main fields of research and project development expertise are health promotion for vulnerable and marginalized groups, drug services, prison health care and related health issues (especially HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, drug dependence, and gender issues), and the potential of e-cigarettes. His international research and consultancy expertise includes working as a consultant for the European Commission, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), World Health Organization (WHO), European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Open Society Institute (OSI) in various contexts.

He has published several articles in peer reviewed international journals and books on preventing and treating infectious diseases adequately (HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, STIs, and TB), opioid substitution programmes (including the provision of heroin) in the community and in prisons, and general health care issues. He is co-founder of the International Journal of Prisoner Health ( https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Heino_Stoever). Heino Stöver has gained project experiences by participating in and leading of several projects in the European Union, Africa, Central Asia, and Asia ( https://twitter.com/HeinoStoever).

Currently, he works for the Institute for Addiction Research and the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences as International Scientific Coordinator of the DAAD exceed project "Social Work and strengthening of NGOs in development cooperation to treat drug addiction SOLID". Until 2019 he was also the coordinator of the EU Drugs Action Program in Central Asia (CADAP) for Frankfurt University. For a long period he was the head of the office of various drug commissioners of the federal government in the Federal Ministry of Health in Berlin (1999-2017) (with intermittent stays abroad). He retired in April 2017.

As a sociologist and consultant for the treatment of drug addiction, he was head of the drug and prison projects of the German AIDS Help in Berlin (1987-1994), as well as drug commissioner for the state of Bremen (1994-1998). From 2006 to 2008 he worked with the Shanghai Mental Health Center and the Beijing National Institute of Drug Dependence and was able to support the implementation of methadone treatment programs in the People's Republic of China. He was visiting professor and lectured on social work for drug addicts at the East China University of Technology and Science in Shanghai. 

From 2010 to 2013 he worked as a project manager in the 5th phase of the Central Asia Drug Action Program (CADAP) of the European Union in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, under the leadership of GIZ (German Society for International Cooperation). He worked with the health department of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna.

Dr. Michels has published numerous articles in international journals on substance use and the treatment of drug use disorders and on HIV / AIDS prevention and treatment.

The executive director of AFEW-Kyrgyzstan

Omurkanova Cholpon Askerbekovna, Director of the Egl Public Foundation, ex-Chairman of the Public Council of the State Penitentiary Service of the Kyrgyz Republic from April 2011 to June 2021, independent expert on the reform of the penitentiary system. Mediator, conflictologist. Higher pedagogical and legal education. Co-author of the National Strategy for the Reform and Development of the Penitentiary System (2012-2016, 2018-2023 and 2024-2027)

Dinara Yessimova has completed her Master's degree in Sociology in Kazakh National named after Al-Farabi University, Almaty city (Kazakhstan), and in 2011 got her Doctor of Ph.D. in Social Work in Kazakh National University named after Al-Farabi, Almaty city. In 2009, she had additional education in Brown School of Social Work, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri (United States). From 2011 she works in the Department of Sociology of the Eurasian National University at the Faculty of Social Sciences, and is a National and international trainer of various activities and programs for UNICEF Kazakhstan, worked on researches with ADB, NASA LCLUC, Frankfurt University of Applied Science. From May of 2019, she is an Executive director of the National Alliance of Kazakhstan's professional Social workers.

Since 2011, Hang Su has been engaged in the basic and clinical research of drug dependence and substance addiction, and has been expanding his knowledge about addiction medicine, psychology, epidemiology and sociology. He is now a postdoctor in Shanghai Mental Health Center, majoring in psychiatry and mental health. Most of the time, he communicates with substance users in drug rehabilitation institutions and rehabilitation communities to understand their physical, mental state and social needs. At present, he is doing research focusing on the treatment of amphetamine type stimulants and opioids addiction from several aspects: behaviour, electrophysiology, molecular biology, neuroimaging, etc.

Mariya Prilutskaya is an Assistant researcher in the Department of Personalized Medicine and Department of Public Health at Pavlodar branch of Semey Medical University in Pavlodar, and a Psychotherapist in the Department of Psychotherapy and Rehabilitation of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Medical and Social Problems of Drug Addiction in Pavlodar city.

She received a bachelor’s degree in psychiatry from the Medical University of Astana and master degree in medicine from Semey State Medical University, She is interested in addiction psychiatry, clinical challenges of novel psychoactive substances, scientific researches and new educational technologies. She is skilled in statistical analysis, including SPSS and R.

Dr Ulla Pape is a political scientist and research associate (postdoc) at the Institute of Addiction Research at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences. She holds a Ph.D. in International Relations and International Organization from the University of Groningen.

Before joining the SOLID project in 2022, Ulla was research associate (postdoc) at the Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science at the Freie Universität Berlin, lecturer in European Studies at the University of Bremen, research associate (postdoc) in the Third Sector Impact project at Radboud University Nijmegen, and senior researcher at the International Laboratory for Non-profit Sector Studies at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow.

Her research interests include international health and social policy, welfare state development and civil society in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Ulla has published a book The Politics of HIV/Aids in Russia (2014) and several articles in international journals such as Europe-Asia Studies, the Journal of Civil Society, the International Journal for Sociology and Social Policy, and Voluntas.

In the SOLID project, Ulla is responsible for the research on social work in the prisons and social work and infectious diseases (HIV, HCV and tuberculosis). Furthermore, she focuses on the participation with civil society actors in developing social work in Central Asia. Next to her project responsibilities, Ulla is member of the editorial board of Voluntas and associate lecturer at the Freie Universität Berlin.

David MacKintosh has spent two decades working in drug and alcohol policy. This has included experience at national level (Cabinet Office), regional (Greater London Authority) and local civic levels (City of London). From 2001 – 2020 he led the work of the London Drug and Alcohol Policy Forum including its involvement in the 2006-07 AGIS programme undertaking a threat assessment in relation to methamphetamine and was a supporter of the Club Health – Healthy and Safer Nightlife of Youth Project 2008-2013. His work around improving safety in the night time economy, relaunched in early 2020, is acknowledged as the UK best practice guidance and has informed work internationally.

Currently, he works for the Institute for Addiction Research and the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences as International Scientific Coordinator of the DAAD exceed project "Social Work and strengthening of NGOs in development cooperation to treat drug addiction SOLID". Until 2019 he was also the coordinator of the EU Drugs Action Program in Central Asia (CADAP) for Frankfurt University. For a long period he was the head of the office of various drug commissioners of the federal government in the Federal Ministry of Health in Berlin (1999-2017) (with intermittent stays abroad). He retired in April 2017.

As a sociologist and consultant for the treatment of drug addiction, he was head of the drug and prison projects of the German AIDS Help in Berlin (1987-1994), as well as drug commissioner for the state of Bremen (1994-1998). From 2006 to 2008 he worked with the Shanghai Mental Health Center and the Beijing National Institute of Drug Dependence and was able to support the implementation of methadone treatment programs in the People's Republic of China. He was visiting professor and lectured on social work for drug addicts at the East China University of Technology and Science in Shanghai. 

From 2010 to 2013 he worked as a project manager in the 5th phase of the Central Asia Drug Action Program (CADAP) of the European Union in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, under the leadership of GIZ (German Society for International Cooperation). He worked with the health department of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna.

Dr. Michels has published numerous articles in international journals on substance use and the treatment of drug use disorders and on HIV / AIDS prevention and treatment.

Ms. Begaiym Egimbaeva operates as a Communications Officer at the Swiss project “Effective Management and Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases in Kyrgyzstan”. In 2019 she obtained her MA degree in Journalism and Mass Communication at American University of Central Asia (AUCA), Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

In 2019 Begaiym attended SSPH+ Lugano Summer School in Public Health Policy, Economics, and Management. She also was a participant of DataFest Tbilisi in 2019, which is an annual international data event in South Caucasus supporting cross-sector and cross-border cooperation, strengthening communities and inspiring individuals to pursue and explore opportunities created by data and technology.

Nurgozhin Talgat Seitzhanovich - MD, PhD, professor. Head of the Department at Al-Farabi Kazakh State University.

Shamil Saginovich Tazhibayev, MD, professor, academician of the Academy of Preventive Medicine, laureate of the State Prize of the Republic of Kazakhstan for science, technology and education (2000).

Grebennikova Galina Aleksandrovna - gynecologist, executive director of the Kazakhstan Association of Reproductive and Sexual Health

Katarzyna Kinga Kowalczyk holds MA in Psychology and History and PhD in Economics (in the field of Management). Her area of experience includes harm reduction, public health and event management. She is running the Global Public Health Foundation, aimed to share research and experience in public health across all relevant sectors. She is also a lecturer at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities.

Cholpon Asambaeva has almost 22 years of experience managing development projects in public health, mother and child health, health promotion/health communication, and HR. She has medical education background from the Kyrgyz Medical Academy and a management in health from the Kyrgyz International University. Her key focus areas are project management, analytical work, and technical expertise in public health.

She used to work with UN organizations like the United Nations Population Fund, United Nations Development Fund for Women, and the World Health Organization in the position of national coordinator, project manager and senior advisor.

From 2009 to 2015 Cholpon worked for the Regional GIZ program on health in the position of Team Leader and from 2016 to 2020 she managed the components of the bilateral GIZ program on the Promotion of Perinatal Health Care in Kyrgyzstan.

From October 2020 to November 2022, Cholpon used to work at the USAID-funded Global Project “Local Health System Sustainability” in response to COVID-19 with the 6,5 USD million portfolio as a CountryD irector and supervised a team of 7 full-time staff across financial and
technical teams. Cholpon has rejoined the GIZ project Promotion of Primary Healthcare in Kyrgyzstan in December 2022 as a Technical Adviser and since February 2023 is leading this project. Cholpon has proven experience in working with government institutions and development partners, experience, and knowledge of GIZ processes and capacity development measures.

Chairman of the Association of Nursing Professionals

Rakhypbekov Tolebay Kosiyabekovich - MD, PhD, professor, president of the National Association "Primary Health Care".

Specialist for the UNDP/ Global Fund Project

David MacKintosh has spent two decades working in drug and alcohol policy. This has included experience at national level (Cabinet Office), regional (Greater London Authority) and local civic levels (City of London). From 2001 – 2020 he led the work of the London Drug and Alcohol Policy Forum including its involvement in the 2006-07 AGIS programme undertaking a threat assessment in relation to methamphetamine and was a supporter of the Club Health – Healthy and Safer Nightlife of Youth Project 2008-2013. His work around improving safety in the night time economy, relaunched in early 2020, is acknowledged as the UK best practice guidance and has informed work internationally.

Kentra Gintautas-Jouzas is a cardiologist, Deputy Chairman of the Council and member of the Expert Council of the Densaulyk ULL.

Fredrik Nyström is a professor of internal medicine and endocrinology at Linköping University in Sweden. He’s also the chief physician of internal medicine in his clinic, where he primarily treats patients with diabetes or those who are overweight.

Sergey Soshnikov is working as a Vice-Rector for international affairs at the Bukhara State Medical Institute in Uzbekistan. He began his career in healthcare in Russia in 2000. From 2003 to 2008, he received an education and a Ph.D. at the Russian Research Institute of Health. During his study as a Ph.D. student, he worked in the International Department of RRIH as a monitoring expert in the international projects of the Global Foundation. From 2010 – 2016, he worked as an assistant professor at the Department for Medical Statistics and Informatics at the Russian Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education in Moscow. From 2011 – 2012 he obtained a Fulbright grant and worked as a visiting researcher at Mathematics Department at Central Michigan University in the USA. From 2013 to 2016, he developed and led the Mathematical Modelling in Healthcare Department, and from 2018 to 2021, he served as a researcher at the Department of Research Planning and Management in the Federal Public Health Research Institute. From December 2015 to January 2016, he worked as an expert consultant for World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe. From 2016 – 2018, he continued his career as head of the Department and Chief Specialist at the Center for Healthcare Quality Assessment and Control of the Ministry of Health. From September 2019 to March 2022 worked as a Researcher at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT). From 2021 to 2022, he worked as a Professor at Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University. 

Kurbanbaeva Gulnar Turetayevna - Deputy Head of the Expert Group on Entrepreneurship under the Interdepartmental Commission on Entrepreneurship Development of the Government of Kazakhstan. Deputy Head of the Civil Alliance of Kazakhstan, which unites NGOs in the country.

Social psychologist & IT specialist, author of publications on psychology, data analysis and harm reduction. Since 2003 Grzegorz manages international projects in the area of public health, drugs and tobacco harm reduction. Between 2012 and 2018 lecturer at the Faculty of Management & MBA School, University of Warsaw. Since 2016, member of the European Network for Research Evaluation in the Social Sciences and the Humanities (ENRESSH), part of the COST Action: European Cooperation in Science and Technology. Co-founder of a harm reduction knowledge hub at harmreduction.eu.