Group Members

Licensed pharmacist, PhD

Nhomsai Hagen studied pharmacy at the Martin-Luther University in Halle/Saale. During her internship year (Pharmazeutin im Praktikum) she worked in the hospital pharmacy of the Diakonie-Klinikum in Schwäbisch Hall. She obtained her license (Approbation) in May 2014 and subsequently worked in a pharmacy. She is a member of "Apotheker ohne Grenzen” (Pharmacists without Borders) and travelled to the Philippines for a mission in February 2017. After taking part in the course „Pharmacy in Global Health“ at the University of Tübingen, she started her PhD project on the quality and availability of medicines in developing countries under supervision of Prof. Dr. Lutz Heide. The focus of her work was on medicines for maternal and child health in Africa. She successfully completed her PhD in November 2020, and was awarded the "Deutscher Studienpreis" of the Körber Foundation in 2021 for the scientific excellence and the high social relevance of her dissertation. Dr. Nhomsai Hagen organizes the course "Pharmacy in Global Health" in 2025, together with Prof. L. Heide.

Licensed pharmacist, MSc PhD

Cathrin Hauk studied pharmacy at the University of Tübingen. In 2016 she participated in a two-months field trip organized by the Brazil Center of Tübingen University, and worked as a volunteer in a school project in Nicaragua in 2017. She obtained a Master of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies from the University of Tübingen with a thesis on “Analytical methods for the investigation of the quality of antibiotic medicines from health care facilities in Africa”. From 2018 to 2021, she worked as a PhD student under supervision of Prof. Lutz Heide. Her research focused on the quality of medicines in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and on detection methods for substandard and falsified medicines. She was also involved in the organisation of the course “Pharmacy in Global Health” at the Pharmaceutical Institute of the University of Tübingen. For her PhD research work, she received the "Promotion of Medicines Quality" award, a joint award of the Frankfurt Foundation Quality of Medicines (FFQM) and the German Pharmaceutical Society (DPhG), as well as the Merckle Doctoral Award. Since April 2022, she is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health of Oxford University, UK, continuing research on medicine quality in LMICs.

Licensed pharmacist

Gesa Gnegel studied pharmacy at the Albert-Ludwigs-University, Freiburg, and the University of Costa Rica, San José. In a research semester in Costa Rica she investigated natural compounds of a local medical plant, Casearia sylvestris. During her internship year she worked for the German medical aid organization action medeor e.V. as well as in the pharmacy Linner Apotheke. She  obtained her license as a pharmacist (Approbation) in November 2018. After working at the German Institute for Medical Mission (Difäm) for half a year, she started her PhD project at Tübingen University in July 2019 under a scholarship from the Cusanuswerk, still keeping links to the Department for Pharmaceutical Development Cooperation of Difäm. She completed her PhD project "Identification of substandard and falsified medicines in low- and middle-income countries using screening technologies" in December 2022. In January 2023, she took up a position as pharmacist and editor at the Deutsche Apotheker Zeitung in Stuttgart, Germany. Since the beginning of 2024, she has temporarily joined the Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health of Oxford University, UK, continuing work related to medicine quality in LMICs.

Licensed pharmacist

Julia Gabel studied pharmacy at the University of Tübingen and spent one semester at the University of Malawi in Blantyre. After her stay in Malawi, she was involved in the organization of the student exchange program between the University of Tübingen and the University of Malawi, funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). As a trainee pharmacist (Pharmazeutin im Praktikum) she worked at the community pharmacy "Priv. Adler Apotheke" in Hamburg and in the hospital pharmacy in Heidenheim. Since June 2021 she is licensed as a pharmacist.  In September 2021 she started her PhD project at the University of Tübingen, funded first by a scholarship of the Dr. Hilmer Foundation, and now by a scholarship of the Frankfurt Foundation Quality of Medicines. Her research area is medicine quality in Africa and the development of suitable technologies for medicine quality studies in low- and middle-income countries. From February to July 2024, she temporarily joined the Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health of Oxford University, UK, continuing work related to medicine quality in LMICs. Julia Gabel obtained her PhD in December 2024.

For her excellent achievements, she has been awarded EUFEPS European PhD Award (2nd Prize) at the Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 23.-25. May 2024 in Debrecen, Hungary.

Licensed pharmacist, MSc PhD

Thomas Bizimana is a Lecturer at the Pharmacy Department and at the Regional Centre of Excellence of Vaccines, Immunization and Health Supply Chain Management of the University of Rwanda. He obtained a Bachelor in Pharmacy and a Master in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the National University of Rwanda. Part of the research for his Master thesis he conducted at the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Science, Tanzania, under supervision of Prof. Eliangiringa Kaale. Under a scholarship from the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung, he joined the group of Prof. Heide at Tübingen University in 2017/2018, and subsequently completed his PhD in Rwanda, working on availability, prices and quality of medicines in this country. He is now a member of the East African Community Regional Center of Excellence for Vaccines, Immunization and Health Supply Management (RCE-VIHSCM) in Rwanda.

Licensed Pharmacist

Micha Lächele studied pharmacy at the University of Tübingen. During his internship (Pharmaziepraktikum) he worked at the “Bärenapotheke” pharmacy in Rottenburg and for Teva Merckle GmbH in Blaubeuren-Weiler. He obtained his licence as pharmacist (Approbation) in 2015. After his studies he worked in quality management in the pharmaceutical industry - Teva Merckle GmbH Ulm and Curevac AG Tübingen. From 2019 to 2021 he spent 2.5 years in Chad as a development aid worker under a contract with Coworkers Fachkräfte. His focus was supporting and supervising the pharmaceutical projects and the supply chain management of a faith-based health organization (Association Evangélique pour la Santé au Tchad; AEST). From April 2022 he temporarily joined the group of Prof. Dr. Lutz Heide. His area of research was the investigation of the quality of medicines in developing countries.

MSc student Pharmaceutical Sciences & Technologies

Katharina Sander studied pharmacy at the University of Tübingen. In 2021 she took part, under a scholarship from the Baden-Württemberg Stipendium für Studierende BWS plus, in a virtual student exchange with pharmacy students from Malawi and Rwanda. In 2022, she participated in the course “Pharmacy in Gobal Health” at the Pharmaceutical Institute of the University of Tübingen, and in the same year, she started her studies for a Master in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies. In 2023, she successfully completed her Master thesis, investigating the quality of medicine samples collected in Nigeria, and developing suitable methods for dissolution testing for specific active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Licensed pharmacist, Master in Health Economics, PhD

Felix Khuluza is Head of the Pharmacy Department of the Kamuzu University of Health Science in Malawi. He was educated as a pharmacy technician at the Malawi College of Health Sciences, and obtained a Bachelor of Pharmacy from the University of Malawi. He then completed a Master degree in Health Economics at the University of Queensland, Australia. Returning to the University of Malawi, he carried out PhD studies on the quality of medicines and the occurrence of falsified medicines in Malawi, under supervision of Prof. Lutz Heide (University of Malawi & Tübingen University, Germany) and of Prof. Ulrike Holzgrabe (University of Würzburg, Germany). He was supported by a scholarship from the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA). After successful completion of his PhD in 2018, he now continues teaching and research on pharmaceutical challenges in Malawi, with a focus on medicine quality and health supply chain management. In view of his very good publication record and his successful applications for research grants, he was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in March 2023.

Licensed pharmacist, PhD

Simon Schäfermann studied Pharmacy at the Julius-Maximilian-University Würzburg. During his internship year (Pharmazeut im Praktikum) he worked in the hospital pharmacy of the Juliusspital and in the St.Georgs-Apotheke, Würzburg. He obtained his license (Approbation) in July 2016 and subsequently worked in a pharmacy. In January 2017, he started his PhD under supervision of Prof. Lutz Heide on availability, prices and quality of antibiotics and medicines against non-communicable diseases in Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He successfully completed his PhD in 2020 and now works in the regional council of the local government on the surveillance of medicinal products (Regierungspräsidium Tübingen, Leitstelle Arzneimittelüberwachung Baden-Württemberg).