AFR Working Group Leadership
Work with us!
If you have questions regarding the PGC Africa workgroup or projects that are currently being conducted, please contact the workgroup chairs.
For any questions or ideas related to research dissemination (e.g., via this webpage, social media, blogs, press outlets), please contact the workgroup outreach liaison.
If you have questions about how to access summary statistics or genotype-level data, or are interested to submit a secondary analysis proposal, please contact the workgroup data access committee representative.
About Us
Our History
The Africa Working Group of the PGC was formed in July 2022, with 128 members across 18 countries representing both the African continent and Africans working in the diaspora. The focus of the group is on facilitating the equitable immersion of Africa and African researchers into the world of psychiatric genetics.
Our Motivation
Our goals are to:
- Develop an ethical framework for psychiatric genomics in Africa
- Facilitate recruitment of research subjects and collection of biological samples and data
- Support training and development of African research analysts
- Perform studies using Pan-African genomic data
- Use the insights generated to develop a research agenda based on the needs of African people.
Besides the co-chairs of the Working Group (Drs Conrad Iyegbe and Niran Okewole), the leadership of the group also includes liaison officers with each of the other PGC working groups. If you would like to know more about the working group generally or with regard to a specific disorder, please contact Conrad Iyegbe or Niran Okewole.
Get Involved!
Whether early career, mid career or established researcher, this is an exciting time to be an African working in psychiatric genetics. Get in touch and let us discuss the possibilities.
For more information about PGC-Africa workgroup and the subgroups, please visit PGC-Africa.
Listed below are the PGC Africa Working Groups and lead contact information.
Schizophrenia Workgroup
Bipolar Workgroup
Depression Workgroup
PTSD Workgroup
CNV Workgroup
Suicide Workgroup
ADHD Workgroup
Autism Workgroup
Substance Use Workgroup
Translational Science
Ethics Workgroup
Major Accomplishments
Latest Results
The Africa Working Group has compiled a database of existing and ongoing studies (including mental health, population and longitudinal studies), which we continue to curate. In addition, we have an ongoing survey of research projects and research interests of our members. Based on this survey, we have created continental networks mirroring the specific disorder working groups of the PGC as a whole. In addition, we have created a special interest Translational Working Group, bringing together researchers with interests spanning neuroscience, psychopharmacology, computational biology and more. The objectives of these networks are 1) to interface with the global PGC community in each area of interest; 2) to facilitate collaboration across the continent and diaspora among African researchers with specific shared interests; 3) to serve as a platform for training, funding initiatives and scientific production within specific areas of interest.
We have also launched a leadership committee, an ethics working group and a writing group.
Publications
Upcoming
Funders
