Professor of Physics at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) since 2002, Jorio de Vasconcelos earned his doctoral degree in physics from the same institution in 1999, working with phase transitions in incommensurate systems. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA (2000–2001), where he worked with the optical properties of nanomaterials, focusing on Raman spectroscopy and optical properties of carbon nanomaterials. Back to Brazil, he founded the Laboratory of NanoSpectroscopy (LabNS) at UFMG in 2006, where he works with research and development of scientific instrumentation in optics for the study of nanostructures with applications in new materials and biomedicine. He held the positions of Coordinator of Strategic Studies and Information at Inmetro (2008–2009) and Director of Technological Transfer and Innovation (2010–2012), head of the Physics Depart, and Dean of Research (2016–2018) at UFMG. He was a Visiting Professor at the Swiss Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich, Switzerland, 2013) and at the Freie Universitat, Berlin, Germany (2016).

Altshuler Alvarez graduated summa cum laude from the Physics Faculty, University of Havana, Cuba in 1986, and got his PhD in 1994. Among his research interests are superconductivity, complex systems, granular matter and porous materials. Altshuler is Professor at the Physics Faculty, University of Havana. He has been Invited Researcher at the Texas Center for Superconductivity (USA), the Ecole supérieure de physique et de chimie industrielle (ESPCI) Paris (France), the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters (Norway), and the Rockefeller University (USA) among others. Altshuler is Editor in Chief of the Cuban Journal of Physics, and an editorial board member of Granular Matter and Physical Review Applied. He has authored several books, such as Guerrilla Science: Survival Strategies of a Cuban Physicist (Springer, 2017). Among his hobbies are guitar playing (and composition), cartoon drawing, writing of short stories, elderly caregiving, snorkeling, plumbing, car fixing, tasteless cooking, and a dangerously long etcetera performed with different levels of love, audacity and mediocrity. He is also an avid science communicator–where a vitriolic sense of humor often plays a key role.

Crombet (PhD,2004) is a Medical Doctor and Immunology Specialist (1997). Since 2009 she has been Medical Director of the Center of Molecular Immunology of Havana. She is Member of the Cuban Academy of Sciences; Senior Faculty of the Superior Institute of Medical Sciences of Havana; Member of the Board of Directors of Innovative Immunotherapy Alliance, a joint venture between US and Cuba; Member of the Cuban and Latin-American Societies of Immunology; Member of the Cuban and American Societies of Oncology. She has published more than 100 papers and participated in more than 200 international congresses as speaker. Crombet has received several times the annual National Award of the Cuban Academy of Sciences, the Technological Innovation Award of the Cuban Ministry of Science, and the TWAS Prize for Young Scientists in Developing Countries (2007). Crombet's main area of expertise is cancer immunotherapy and her work has contributed to the registration in Cuba and abroad of two cancer vaccines and two monoclonal antibodies for several epithelial tumors, autoimmune diseases and COVID-19. She is member of the international panel of experts on COVID-19 of the InterAcademy Partnership.

Dezotti (DSc, 1992, University of Campinas, Brazil) is Professor at COPPE, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. She received more than 30 awards, among which the COPPE Giulio Massarani Award - Academic Merit by COPPE/UFRJ (2010), in recognition of her scientific production of the highest level. She was awarded four times as Scientist of Our State from the Amparo Research Foundation of State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), Brazil. For the consolidation of the national research in Advanced Oxidation Processes (POAs), she received a tribute of the VIII Meeting on Oxidative Processes and II Iberoamerican Conference on POA (2015). She coordinated numerous projects with industries. She has published three books that are adopted as a reference in Brazilian universities. She has published in the best international journals, had outstanding performance in the training of MSc and DSc students and is one of the most cited researchers in Brazil, in the area of chemical engineering. Additionally, she is Founding Member of the COPPE Women Support Group. She was elected Full Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences in 2020 in recognition of her scientific production and its impact in Brazil.

Goulart graduated as a pharmacist at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil, where she then got her PhD in Science (1983). She did postdoctoral studies in London, Münster, and Paris. She was a Visiting Professor at Ecole Normale Supérieure, Département de Chimie, Paris (2004–2005, 2007, 2008). She is now a Full Professor at the Federal University of Alagoas, Institute of Chemistry and Biotechnology (UFAL); a researcher 1B at Brazilian Research Council (CNPq); and full member of the Brazilian Academy of Science (ABC), since 2015. She has published 210 articles, nine patents, 12 book chapters. She received several awards: Young Scientist Award by CNPq (1985); Foreign Young Chemist Award (1997) at International Symposium-Electroorganic Synthesis ’97, Japan; National Award Marie Curie - Distinguished Women on Chemistry by the Brazilian Society of Chemistry (SBQ) (2011); Jabuti Award (2012); Award Roberto Alves de Lima, by UFAL (2018); Prêmio Inovadores by Inova, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) (2020); and Brazilian Women in Science, Scientific Leadership by SBQ/American Chemical Society (2021). She supervised 31 MSc, 40 PhD students and 10 postdoctoral fellows.

Guillen is currently Biomedical Research Director at the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) in Havana. He received his Bachelor in Science degree in Chemistry and his Master in Chemistry in 1986 in Odessa I.I. Mechnikov National University, and his PhD degree in Biological Sciences in 1995 from Havana University. He joined the CIGB in 1986. For more than 25 years, he was supervisor of several projects related to prophylactic and therapeutic vaccine developments on hepatitis, dengue, meningitis, pertussis, cancer and COVID as well as drug development against infectious diseases, cancer, cardio protection, neuro-protection and wound healing. Guillen is a Senior Researcher at CIGB, Full Professor at the Havana University and Latino American School of Medicine, Distinguished Professor-at-Large at the University of Science and Technology of China and has been a Member of the Cuban Academy of Science since 2012. He is also member of several scientific societies, editorial boards and advisory committees. He has published 226 scientific papers and holds 56 patents. He has been honored with 52 National Awards for Scientific Results from the Cuban Academy of Sciences.

Hungria got her PhD in Agronomy (Soil Science) from Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and held postdoctoral positions at the universities of Cornell, California-Davis (USA) and Seville (Spain). She has been a Researcher at Embrapa since 1982, at Embrapa Soja (Londrina) since 1991, and a Researcher of National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) since 1992. She is a Professor of microbiology and biotechnology at the University of Londrina, and supervised more than 100 MSc and PhD students. Her experience is in agronomy with emphasis on soil biotechnology: biological nitrogen fixation, biodiversity; taxonomy and phylogeny of prokaryotes, microbial ecology, soil microbiology, plant growth promoting bacteria; plant physiology; inoculant production; technologies of inoculation; omics sciences; microbial culture collections. She has over 500 refereed scientific articles, book chapters, books and technical publications. She launched more than 20 technologies, including microbial strains and commercial inoculants. She received more than 20 prizes, including the TWAS-Lenovo Science Award (2020). She is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.

Trindade Lima has been the Minister of Health of Brazil since January 2023. From 2017 to 2022 she was President of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz). From 2011–2016 she was Vice-President of Education, Information and Communication of Fiocruz. She holds a PhD in Sociology and a master’s degree in political science. She is a Senior Researcher at Fiocruz’s Casa de Oswaldo Cruz, and a Professor at the State University of Rio de Janeiro. She is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and has authored books and articles with an emphasis on Brazilian social thinking, history of ideas in public health, and the Brazilian processes of construction of the National State. She established a Fiocruz Strategy on 2030 Agenda, which incorporates the UN document into its strategic development and work programme in all fields. She has coordinated the Fiocruz institutional efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and is a member of the Lancet COVID-19 Committee, and co-chaired the Economic Recovery Steering Group of the UN Research Roadmap for the recovery of COVID-19. She was awarded in September 2021 the degree of Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honor of France.