Joseph Mafofo, PhD
Abu Dhabi,United Arab Emirates
Summary
Accomplished professional with extensive expertise in regulatory compliance, quality assurance oversight, and contract negotiation techniques. Demonstrates decisive leadership and visionary thinking in multi-site operations, supply chain management, and risk mitigation. Proven track record as a lab director and group technical support manager, establishing research programmes and fostering collaborative initiatives. Adept at integrating technology, formulating KPIs, and overseeing budgets to drive operational excellence. Skilled in mentoring teams, developing human capacity in the Omics field, and enhancing vendor relationships to optimise business development strategies. Committed to ethics enforcement and innovative problem-solving to achieve organisational goals while advancing cutting-edge research programmes.
Resourceful and adaptable Director with ten years of experience in financial oversight, scheduling, bidding, protocol development and process improvements. Team-oriented leader with expertise in employee engagement, customer relationship management, time management, conflict resolution and cost reduction. Customer-focused in managing accounts and maintaining strong business relationships. Seeking to leverage background in operational leadership to fulfil role with exceptional organisation.
Overview
26
26
years of professional experience
13
13
years of post-secondary education
1
1
Certification
Work history
Director of Omics Laboratory Operations
M42 Integrated Health Services
Abu Dhabi
06.2020 - 06.2025
- Company Overview: M42 (formerly G42 Healthcare) | Abu Dhabi, UAE | 2019 – Present
- Built and scaled a national genomics laboratory platform from concept to >800,000 samples processed.
- Directed operational functions including budgeting, procurement, vendor management, and staffing for 100+ personnel.
- Led multi-departmental transformation initiatives, integrating automation, LIMS, and quality frameworks across labs.
- Negotiated and managed strategic supplier contracts exceeding AED 100M with global biotech vendors.
- Delivered high-throughput performance while reducing cost-per-sample by 40% through process redesign.
- Maintained business continuity across pandemic disruptions with zero lab downtime.
- Engaged directly with ministerial stakeholders, translating policy mandates into executable lab operations.
- M42 (formerly G42 Healthcare) | Abu Dhabi, UAE | 2019 – Present
- Laboratory design, negotiating for the funding (AED11,6 million) and implementation through contractors and sub-contractors.
- Setting up the laboratory high level process flow, staffing and ensuring personnel training.
- Technical SMA in contract negotiations e.g. the first Illumina contract that then CEO of G42 Healthcare had not managed to start, and I got it to work in two days of short discussions with Illumina.
- Technical and operational evaluation of contractual agreements with the legal team.
- Starting and completion of the PGP pilot project of 1,001 human samples for the Emirati Reference Genome v1.0.
- Setting up and participating in the UAE National Reference Genome Consortium and Scientific Advisory committee meetings for the delivery of the reference genome.
- Membership in the G42 Healthcare Research Committee, the IRB Committee and the Ethics Committee.
- Writing, submission and implementation of the EGP IRB with the Department of Health (DOH), DHA and Ministry of Health and Prevention (Mohap).
- Conducted strategic planning sessions to corporate objectives for the Emirati PopGen program.
- Directing the day-to-day business of the Omics Center of Excellence including technical, inventory and supply chain management, instrument specification and contracts, workflow design and implementation and all other duties required for directing a successful laboratory.
- Managing a lab budget of up to US$250 million.
- Drove process improvements, optimised workflow efficiency.
Manager, Molecular Pathology & Genomics Lab
NRL
Abu Dhabi
09.2019 - 05.2020
- Genomics Laboratory setup and management. Designed the floorplan process flow, equipment planning and acquisition, ancillary equipment specification (sequencers were ordered before my joining date).
- The Genomics Lab at NRL is strictly a medical setup with little to no research. Thus, current responsibilities includes; Laboratory design and integration into the existing setup.
- Ancillary equipment specifications and workflow design.
- Ordering College of American Pathologists (CAP) PT programs to cover the anticipated offering for the first 1.5 years of operations.
- Compiling SOPs for Applications that will be performed in the first 1.5 years of startup.
- And other duties and attending meetings associated with a start-up.
- Reformulation of Computational resources and workflow.
- Re-designing and construction of Pre-PCR and Post-PCR lab purpose-built labs.
- Formulation of the proprietary NRL "BrOvCo" gene panel for diagnosis of breast, ovarian and colorectal cancers.
- Complete elimination of false positive reporting in STD Molecular Diagnostics results.
- Lead Scientist in COVID-19 test facility setup and implementation, testing, review of results, submitting results to DOH and part of the COVID-19 Taskforce.
- COVID-19 strategic planning and business continuity.
- Staff planning and training.
- Investigation of new automation strategies for testing workflow.
- Design of lab spaces and planning of new NRL Infectious Disease Unit.
- Establishment of an Infectious Disease Unit with Biosafety Level II Plus+ facilities and workflow.
- Introduction of Molecular Pathology Best Practices Policy and compiling the guideline document.
- Setting up the Covid-19 diagnostics lab, training technicians (laboratory hands on) and Pathologists (results interpretation and reporting).
- Achieving ~9,000 tests per day until my departure in June 2020.
Lab Director/ Head of Scientific Support
Agiomix FZ LLC
Dubai
04.2017 - 04.2019
- Company Overview: Agiomix FZ LLC is a subsidiary of AGBL that started as a NGS Core Facility and transitioned into a Clinical Genetics and Molecular Pathology Lab.
- Roles included designing the lab, acquiring DHA accreditation, instrument and workflow design, computational resources, data analysis workflows and reporting, recruitment and setting up the operations.
- Instrumentation includes NGS and Microarray technologies and associated automation.
- Agiomix FZ LLC is a subsidiary of AGBL that started as a NGS Core Facility and transitioned into a Clinical Genetics and Molecular Pathology Lab.
- Sample Services: Review of customer requests, project design, costing, execution and reporting.
- Follow-up result interpretation and consultation.
- Design and coordinating the implementation and validation of new applications and protocols either adopted from other sources or proprietary to Agiomix.
- Consultation Services: Providing research consultation services to research institutes and principal investigators in Genomics and related applications.
- Established partnerships with IT companies to offer consultation services for computational resources for data analysis (hardware with preloaded analysis packages).
- Research & Development: Collaborative research support to universities and other research institutes for local capacity building in Genomics.
- Consultation services in project scope and collaborative grant application and publications.
- Training Services: Designing and offering training courses in Molecular Biology, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies & Applications and Bioinformatics training.
Group Technical Support Manager
Alliance Global Group FZ LLC
Dubai
10.2015 - 03.2017
- Heading the Technical Support with offices in 11 countries in the MENA and partly the APAC regions.
- Technical Support setup with three sections, Applications, Engineering and Scientific Support.
- Engineering Support, headed by the Engineering Manager and made up of a team of 8 Field Service Engineers (FSE); in charge of instrument installations, servicing and preventative maintenance.
- Applications Support, headed by the Applications Manager and made up of a team of 18 Field Application Specialists (FAS); provides training on instrument operations, library preparations, basic data analysis and offering backup support for the customer.
- Scientists Support made up of 4 PhDs with at least two years postdoctoral experience, one Applications Specialist (Technician). This section runs a well-equipped laboratory offering Training Courses, back-up services for customers to reduce downtime and consultative services for inexperienced users.
NGS Platform Manager
Centre for Proteomic and Genomic Research (CPGR)
South Africa
04.2014 - 09.2015
- To set-up the next generation sequencing (NGS) platform and establish collaborations with the research community.
- To interact with equipment suppliers (field application specialists) on equipment management and upgrades.
- To train and manage laboratory technicians on NGS applications and operating the instrumentation (Illumina MiSeq; Ion Torrent PGM (x2) and Ion Torrent Proton);
- To manage operations in the platform and ensure competitiveness through data quality, turnaround time and quality consultative services to clients.
- To proper oversee project management documentation and archiving in line with the ISO 9001(2008) quality standards and manage the platform's project portfolio.
- To assist new clients with project design and data processing needs.
- To participate in institutional fund-raising through writing and submission to applicable funding organizations.
Senior Research Scientist – Sequencing
Agriculture Research Council – Biotechnology Platform (ARC-BTP)
South Africa
10.2011 - 03.2014
- To implement and manage NGS technologies within the Genomics Unit of the ARC Biotechnology Platform.
- To undertake support and collaborative research with other ARC research units in the implementation of these technologies within the remit of the Biotechnology Platform for core services, development and research.
- To raise funds to ensure that the Genomics Unit is functioning at the cutting edge of the available technologies.
- To develop a research program with a bias towards implementation of NGS related technologies and other tools available within the Biotechnology Platform, with a focus on the ARC mandated areas of research; raise funding for the research activities and supervision of students.
- To collaborate with other research institutions outside of the ARC.
Research Officer
Zimbabwe Veterinary Laboratory Diagnostics and Research Branch
Zimbabwe
01.1999 - 01.2002
- Routine serology and molecular diagnostics of animal diseases.
- Specialized diagnosis using serum neutralization test and virus isolation from allantoic fluid and mouse brain following inoculation of serum into 9-day embryonated chicken eggs and intra-cerebral inoculation into 1-day-old mice.
- Cell culture and maintenance of institutional cell lines.
- Shared supervision of technicians in the Virology section.
- Reporting results and generating monthly reports to the Veterinary Epidemiology Unit and directorate.
- Assistant Quality Manager/ Safety Officer.
- Production of the first Laboratory Safety Manual for the Institution.
- Organizing the first aid training and certification of staff and setting up and supervising the institutional fire marshals for the Vetlabs Branch in Zimbabwe in accordance with the requirements of the ISO 17025 standard.
- Participating in setting up of the ISO 17025 Total Quality Management System for the Zimbabwe Veterinary Laboratories and field branches.
- Shared responsibilities in training of technical staff and students and interns on industrial attachment.
Education
Postdoctoral fellowship - Molecular Biology And Genomics
University of The Western Cape
Cape Town 01.2008 - 01.2011
Ph.D. - Biotechnology
University of The Western Cape
Cape Town 01.2004 - 01.2008
MSc. - Biotechnology
University of Zimbabwe
Harare 01.2001 - 01.2003
B.Sc. (Honors) - Applied Biology and Biochemistry
National University of Science And Technology
Bulawayo 01.1995 - 01.1999
Skills
- Regulatory compliance knowledge
- Quality assurance oversight
- Contract negotiation techniques
- Innovative thinker
- Human capacity development
- Business development savvy
- Project planning and visionary thinking
- Supply chain management
- Multi-site operations
- Vendor relationship management
- Ethics enforcement
Certification
- Good Clinical Practice certificate, NIDA Clinical Trials Network, 11/01/20
- Advanced Sequencing Technologies and Applications, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 01/01/10
- Certificate of attendance from the EMBO world practical course in DNA microarray analysis and application, 01/01/07
- Supply Chain Management courses and Bid committees in the public sector in South Africa, 01/01/16
- Certificate of attendance, SafeNet Chemical Safety course, UWC, 01/01/05
- Empretec Entrepreneurial Development Course certificate, Zimbabwe, 01/01/02
- First Aid training for laboratory workers, Zimbabwe, 01/01/00
Languages
Shona
English
Custom
References will be provided upon request.
Personal Information
- Citizenship: Zimbabwean
- Health Status: Excellent. No physical limitations
- Date of birth: 04/04/74
- Marital status: Married
Affiliations
- Fishing and physical fitness
Timeline
Director of Omics Laboratory Operations
M42 Integrated Health Services
06.2020 - 06.2025
Manager, Molecular Pathology & Genomics Lab
NRL
09.2019 - 05.2020
Lab Director/ Head of Scientific Support
Agiomix FZ LLC
04.2017 - 04.2019
Group Technical Support Manager
Alliance Global Group FZ LLC
10.2015 - 03.2017
NGS Platform Manager
Centre for Proteomic and Genomic Research (CPGR)
04.2014 - 09.2015
Senior Research Scientist – Sequencing
Agriculture Research Council – Biotechnology Platform (ARC-BTP)
10.2011 - 03.2014
Postdoctoral fellowship - Molecular Biology And Genomics
University of The Western Cape
01.2008 - 01.2011
Ph.D. - Biotechnology
University of The Western Cape
01.2004 - 01.2008
MSc. - Biotechnology
University of Zimbabwe
01.2001 - 01.2003
Research Officer
Zimbabwe Veterinary Laboratory Diagnostics and Research Branch
01.1999 - 01.2002
B.Sc. (Honors) - Applied Biology and Biochemistry
National University of Science And Technology
01.1995 - 01.1999
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