MEET OUR KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

ALBERTA ROCKSON

Alberta Amissah Rockson is a renowned Burns Rehabilitation Specialist and a Contributor to emergency services, teaching and trainings concerning Burns management. She contributed to the Burns chapter of Early Rehabilitation in Conflict and Disasters by Resurge Africa (UK). Her works with Resurge Africa allowed her to explore Burns rehabilitation in Ghana & other African countries where she did not only contribute to patient care but also to the training of doctors and nurses in Burns and Reconstructive Plastic surgery.

Her journey on Emergency care started in 2021 when she supported Sierra Leone in the care of their victims during their tanker explosion. She shared her experience during the 2022 WHO Emergency Medical Teams (EMT) 5th Global meeting in Armenia.

In 2022 WHO World Rehabilitation Alliance (WRA) advocacy for the implementation of Rehabilitation 2030 was launched and she earned the position to be Co-Chair for Emergencies sub-committee.

She was President for Ghana Physiotherapy Association. A member of the first cohort for the 1st ever leadership training organised by the World Physiotherapy. She coordinated a Leadership networking session as a speaker during the World Physiotherapy Congress 2023 (Dubia). Her leadership has reflected across her continent as the current General Secretary to the World Physiotherapy Africa region.

She holders MSc in Disability, Rehabilitation and Development and currently a PhD candidate- Physiotherapy (Burns) with University of Witwatersrand, South Africa.

PROF MICHEL LANDRY

Mike has more than 30 years of experience as a physiotherapist. He is the founder of an EdTech startup company and is a professor at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (Bergen, Norway) where he teaches in healthy aging and rehabilitation. His research focuses on global health, health policy, workforce and artificial intelligence. Prior to this, he was the chair of the department of physical therapy and associate dean for global health at Virginia Commonwealth University in the United States, and also spent a decade as division chief of the doctor of physical therapy division at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina in the United States.

He has been a rehabilitation leader in global humanitarian aid organisations for several decades. He began as a project manager with the International Centre for the Advancement of Community Based Rehabilitation (ICACBR) at Queen's University, where he participated in implementing the war victims rehabilitation project. He has collaborated and led humanitarian initiatives in settings including the Balkans, South Asia, the Caribbean. Following the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, he worked as a policy consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO) field office in Kathmandu and the WHO headquarters in Geneva.

Mike has served as president of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association and as a mentor for World Physiotherapy's SUDA project in West Africa, a multi-year USAid funded initiative to strengthen physiotherapy associations and education programmes in Mali, Niger, and Senegal. He was elected as World Physiotherapy President in 2023.

DR TIM NOBLET

Dr Tim Noblet is a Consultant Physiotherapist at St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Hon. Associate Professor at St George's University of London, UK and Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia and adjunct professor of research at Western University Canada. He has published research investigating persistent and neuropathic pain, complexity in MSK conditions, non-medical prescribing, advanced and consultant practice, psychologically informed practice and rehabilitation. In collaboration with Health Education England and the Musculoskeletal Partnership UK, he led the standards team for the First Contact Practitioner Roadmap to Practice and Musculoskeletal Advanced Practice Standards.

Tim has worked in the UK, NZ and Australia within complex rehabilitation, elite sport, tertiary pain management, orthopaedic, neurosciences/surgery, spinal and rheumatology clinics. Tim has a keen interest in the complexity of pain, sleep, wellbeing and human performance and has lectured both nationally and internationally about complexity, pain and spinal and musculoskeletal diagnosis, management and rehabilitation.

PROF JOHAN STEYN

Johan Steyn is a renowned Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Advocate and a prominent speaker at global conferences on the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Emerging Technologies. In 2019, he was honored as the Best AI & Robotics Management Consultant by Wealth & Finance magazine in the UK.

He held significant positions in the field of AI, including serving as a Global AI Ambassador for Swiss Cognitive and a Research Fellow at Stellenbosch University's School of Data Science and Computational Thinking in South Africa. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Woxsen University's School of Business in India.

His influence in the field was further recognized when he became a finalist for the 2022 IT Personality of the Year Award, a prestigious accolade hosted by The Institute of IT Professionals South Africa, Gordon Institute of Business, and ITWeb.

In addition to his speaking and academic roles, Steyn is a prolific writer. He regularly contributes thought-leadership articles to major publications such as Reuters, Business Day, the Sunday Times, Finweek, News24, ITWeb, and Brainstorm Magazine, cementing his status as a key voice in the AI community. He earned the distinction of being the writer behind the most widely-read article in the 2023 editions of BusinessDay newspaper. Attracting a daily readership of 70,000, his thought-provoking piece, "Why I Won't Be Sending My Child to Varsity," sparked a pivotal debate on the future of education in an age of swiftly evolving technologies.