Who we are

Chairman of the Oral Nicotine Commission. Dr. Human is a published author, international speaker and health care consultant specializing in global health strategy, corporate and product transformation, harm reduction and health communication. He has acted as an advisor to three of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Directors-General and to Ban-Kimoon when he was Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN). Until 2014 he served as Secretary-General and special envoy to the WHO/UN of the International Food and Beverage Alliance, a group of leading food and non-alcoholic beverage companies with a global presence. 

From 1997 to 2005, he served as Secretary General of the World Medical Association (WMA), the global representative body for physicians. He was instrumental in the establishment of the World Health Professions Alliance (WHPA), an alliance of the global representative bodies of physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists and physical therapists. In 2006, he was elected to serve as the Secretary-General of the African Medical Association (AfMA), the Africa Harm Reduction Alliance (AHRA) and is a member of the National Science Academy of several countries. Dr. Human qualified as a physician in South Africa and completed his postgraduate studies in family medicine and child health in South Africa and Oxford, England. His business studies (MBA) were completed at the Edinburgh Business School.

Dr. Milton is a physician with extensive experience in public service, a highly sought-after consultant in the healthcare sector and a former chair of the WMA. Currently the owner and CEO of Milton Consulting and current chair of the Snus Commission. He is the Chairman of the Board of three foundations that work with education for children and adolescents and a number of for-profit companies in the field of life science. 

He served as President of the European Regional Network on HIV/AIDS (ERNA) for six years and chairs the boards of the pharmaceutical firms, Vironova AB, Toleranzia and Immune System Regulation. Dr. Milton’s resumé also includes stints as President and CEO of the Swedish Medical Association (SMA), and as President of the Swedish Red Cross, the People and Defence Foundation and the Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations (SACO). The Swedish government appointed him as the country’s coordinator of national psychiatric treatment and care, as Chairman of a committee on Swedish HIV/AIDS policies and, following the disastrous tsunami in December 2004, as a member of its Catastrophe Commission. 

Recently, he led as a member of the Catastrophe Commission formed following the December 2004 tsunami. Recently he led a Select Committee with a mandate to formulate best practice policies for organ donation and transplantation. After graduating as both a medical doctor and a PhD, Dr. Milton served as a clinician in the department of nephrology at the University Hospital at Uppsala. Throughout his career, he has worked tirelessly to support of human rights, and to improve and enforce the ethics of medical practice and safe health care – of which effective pharmacotherapy is an integral component.

Prof. Solomon Rataemane is the head of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Limpopo (MEDUNSA Campus) in Pretoria and was formerly Interim Executive Dean of the University’s Health Sciences faculty. The chief psychiatrist at Dr. George Mukhari Hospital, he sits on the conflict management and resolution committee of the World Psychiatric Association and is a member of both the World Association for Social Psychiatry and the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa. 

With a special interest in child psychiatry, mood disorders and addiction medicine, between 1995 to 2005, he served first as Deputy Chair, then Chair of the Central Drug Authority of South Africa from 1995 to 2005. He is the General-Secretary of the World Association of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, a global NGO in advocacy for persons with mental illness. Dr. Rataemane was a co-investigator with the UCLA Substance Abuse Program to assess the efficacy of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy training for counsellors at SANCA Clinics in South Africa. He is a Board Member of the International Council on Alcohol and Addictions and serves on the Health Committee of the Health Professions of South Africa, assisting in physicians’ own health management. Between 2007 to 2010, he was Deputy Chair of the Medical Research Council of South Africa, and he still serves as a member of the College of Psychiatry.

An ophthalmologist by training, Dr. Kgosi Letlape is a past President of the World Medical Association, the global representative body for physicians around the world. He is the current President of the Africa Medical Association (AMA) and the immediate past chairman of the board of the South African Medical Association (SAMA). Dr. Letlape has also served as executive director of the Tshepang Trust, a not-for-profit organization that pioneered the provision of treatment for HIV and AIDS patients in partnership with state hospital. The Trust was created at the behest of the late South African president Nelson Mandela, with funding from the U.S. Presidential Emergency Program for AIDS Relief by way of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

In an effort to ensure access to healthcare for all, including less harmful products, . he co-founded the Africa Harm Reduction Alliance, with an aim to create awareness and teach people about the need to reduce harm and promote wellbeing. 

Joseph Magero is an avid tobacco harm reduction advocate. He has spent a decade working in tobacco control as the former director of Africa Tobacco-Free Initiative, but after extensive research, consultation, and direct engagement with ex-smokers, scientists and THR consumer advocates, he became convinced him that giving smokers the option of switching to significantly safer (and enjoyable) nicotine products could provide a vital addition in reducing smoking related diseases. 

He was awarded ‘Outstanding advocate of the year 2019’ by The International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organizations (INNCO). He has a master’s degree in Public policy, and is the chairman of Campaign for Safer Alternatives, a regional organisation that advocates for the adoption of tobacco harm reduction policies in Africa. His commitment to a smoke-free future remains undiminished. 

Dr. Fagerström, a founding member of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT), started his own eponymous consulting firm in order to share with others his expertise in addiction, risk reduction and the benefits of nicotine. After studying at the University of Uppsala, he graduated as a licensed clinical psychologist in 1975. At that time, he started a smoking cessation clinic and invented the Fagerström ‘Test for Cigarette Dependence,’ which has become a standard measure for assessing the level of physical addiction to nicotine. 

In 1981, he was awarded a Ph.D. by the University of Uppsala, for a dissertation on nicotine dependence and smoking cessation. Between 1983 and 1997, Dr. Fagerström worked for Pharmacia & Upjohn as the company’s Director of Scientific Information for Nicotine Replacement Products (NRT). From 1975 on, he has helped to develop and improve NRT products such as the patch, spray, inhaler and pouch. Dr. Fagerström’s main research contributions have been in the fields of Behaviour Medicine, Tobacco and Nicotine , complete with 170 peer-reviewed publications. 

His current interests include better understanding the positive effects of nicotine and reducing harm and exposure to toxins for those who cannot give up smoking. In 1999, the WHO awarded him a medal for his outstanding efforts in the field of tobacco control and in 2013, the SRNT gave him an award for his work in clinical science.