Dr. Abia is an Applied and Environmental Microbiologist at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa with over 10 years of experience in microbiology. He holds a Doctor Technologiae in Water Care from the Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa. Dr Abia currently leads the Molecular and Environmental Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance section of the Antimicrobial Research Unit (ARU), UKZN. His current research focuses on triangulating the molecular epidemiology of antibiotic resistance between humans, animals, and the environment. He also serves as a specialist panel member at the South African Water Research Commission and the National Research Foundation for the review of research grants.
Dr. Lanza has been involved in research, teaching, curriculum development, and consulting in the environmental sciences for more than 35 years including ecotoxicology, environmental impact assessment, applied and environmental microbiology, aquatic ecology, and water quality. He has worked as a research scientist in industry, for environmental consulting firms, for international environmental advocacy organizations, and major educational institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, Mahidol University and Burapha University in Thailand, New York University, the University of Texas, the University of Massachusetts where he was the Director of the Environmental Science Program. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, and served on the US Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board. Dr. Lanza is currently Research Professor of Aquatic Ecology and Environmental Microbiology in the Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York, Syracuse, NY.