Position: Director of the Center of Infection Medicine and Zoonosis Research and Guest-Professor at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover.

Research fields: Emerging virus infections of humans and animals

Professor Osterhaus is Director of the Center of Infection Medicine and Zoonosis Research at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Germany, and cofounder/CSO of Viroclinics-DDL BV and ViroNative BV (both spin-outs of Erasmus MC) and CR2O. He was head of the Department of Viroscience at Erasmus MC Rotterdam until 2014.

He has a long track record as a researcher and project leader of numerous major scientific projects. At Erasmus MC, he has run a diagnostic virology lab with more than 40 staff and a research virology lab with over 150 personnel. His research programme follows an integrated “viroscience” concept, bringing together world-leading scientists in molecular virology, immunology, epidemiology, pathogenesis, and intervention studies for human and animal virus infections.

Among his major accomplishments are the discovery of more than 70 new viruses of humans and animals (e.g. human metapneumovirus, coronaviruses, influenza viruses), elucidation of the pathogenesis of major human and animal virus infections, and development of novel intervention strategies. This has enabled health authorities like the WHO to effectively combat disease outbreaks like SARS and avian influenza. The established spin-outs are among his other societally relevant successes, allowing effective testing and refining of diagnostic tools and other intervention strategies.

Professor Osterhaus has acted as mentor for more than 80 PhD students and holds several key patents. He is the author of more than 1300 papers in peer-reviewed journals, together cited more than 75,000 times with an H index of 120. He holds several senior editorships and has received numerous prestigious awards. He is a member of the Dutch and German National Academies of Sciences, member of the Belgium Academia of Medicine, and Commander of the Order of the Dutch Lion.

Nationality: United States

Position: US Centers for Disease Control retired

Research Fields: Influenza, Surveillance, Capacity building

Short description:

Ann Moen, MPA recently retired from the US CDC where she served as associate director for Preparedness and Response in CDC’s Influenza Division. Ms. Moen supports national and international preparedness work ranging from policy development to capacity-building internationally. Prior to this role, from September 2017 to September 2021, Ms. Moen was seconded to the World Health Organization where she served as Chief of Influenza Preparedness and Response, a unit comprised of the Global Influenza Program and the PIP Framework Secretariat. She was responsible for oversight and management of the managers of the two units including strategic vision, planning and provision of technical expertise. Before that, in CDC’s Influenza Division, Ms. Moen also served as the Associate Director for the Extramural Program where she began and directed the international capacity building program for the Influenza Division from 2004 to 2017. She began work on influenza at CDC in 1999, when she was hired as the Deputy Branch Chief when the Influenza Division was still a branch in CDC.

Nationality: British

Position: Clinical Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Infectious Diseases, MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (CVR)

Research Fields: respiratory viruses

Short description: Dr Antonia (Toni) Ho received her medical degree from the University of Glasgow in 2002. She trained in Infectious Diseases and Internal Medicine in Glasgow and London. In 2010, she took time out of her medical training to undertake an MSc in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She was subsequently awarded a Wellcome Trust Clinical PhD Fellowship, which she undertook in Malawi characterising the burden and severity of influenza illness in Malawian adults.

After completing her specialist training in 2018, she was appointed a Clinical Senior Lecturer at the CVR. Her research focuses on the clinical epidemiology of respiratory viruses in UK and Malawi, in particular, defining disease burden, risk factors for severe disease, risk stratification (e.g. development of 4C mortality score), viral-viral and viral-bacterial interactions and the use of respiratory metagenomics to improve aetiological diagnosis of acute respiratory infection. She has sat on national committees on COVID-19 and was the recruitment lead in Scotland for ISARIC4C, a national consortium to study hospitalised COVID-19 patients between 2020-2022. She was awarded the Medical Research Foundation Emerging Leader Prize for COVID-19 research in 2021.

Nationality: German

Position: Co-founder & Chair, VaccineSafety Initiative

Research Fields: Pediatric infectious diseases and vaccines, quality improvement and patient centered care, vaccine education, respiratory virus mjanagement and prevention

Short description:

Barbara A. Rath, MD PhD HDR is a board-certified pediatrician and infectious disease specialist with 20+ years’ experience in clinical trials, public health and virology in the US, Latin America and Europe. Dr. Rath is Research Director at the University of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in France and served as honorary professor at the University of Nottingham School of Medicine/ WHO Collaborating Centre for Pandemic Influenza and Research, from 2016-19. Dr. Rath is Executive board Member with the International Society for Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses (ISIRV), and ESGREV, the respiratory virus study group for the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID). She currently serves on the Program Advisory Group for the International Pediatric Association (IPA) Vaccine Trust Project, the Global Immunization Project Advisory Committee at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the Steering Committee for the COVID-19 Research Program at the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

Dr. Rath is co-founder and chair of the VaccineSafety Initiative (VIVI) an international scientific think tank and non-profit-organization focused on new avenues for the treatment, monitoring, communication and prevention of infectious diseases. VIVI was established as a non-profit research organization in Berlin, Germany in 2011 and as a separate 504(c)(3) in New Orleans, USA in 2015. Members of the VIVI Scientific Think Tank includes experts in risk communication, medical anthropology, virology, global health, clinical trials, population science, bioinformatics and machine learning, data standards, health policy, bioethics, cybersecurity, vaccine delivery, civic tech and regulatory science, supported by a team of young researchers (‘Young VIVI’) from around the World. The Vienna Vaccine Safety Initiative is a founding member of the International Association of Innovation Professionals (IAOIP), the European Forum for Good Clinical Practice (EFGCP), the EU Coalition for Vaccination, and the EU Joint Action for Vaccination (EU-JAV) Stakeholder Forum. VIVI was nominated for the EU Health Award in 2017 and joined the ISARIC network in 2020 to help advance international research toward the prevention and control of COVID-19. ViVI is playing a key role in several EU funded projects/consortia aiming to improve vaccine uptake in difficult to reach populations in Europe, such as: ImmuHubs (Coordinating Entity), RIVER_EU (WP lead), and Immunion (supporting the EU Coalition for Vaccination).

Nationality: British

Position:  Professor of Epidemiology and Head of the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the School of Public Health, University of Hong Kong (HKU).

Research fields: infectious disease epidemiology

Professor Benjamin Cowling joined the School of Public Health (SPH) at HKU in 2004. Prior to moving to Hong Kong, he graduated with a PhD in medical statistics at the University of Warwick (UK) in 2003, and spent a year as a postdoc at Imperial College London (UK). Professor Cowling has been the Head of the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics since 2013. He is responsible for teaching the introductory module in epidemiology on the MPH curriculum, and is the chairman of the Departmental Research Postgraduate Committee. Prof Cowling is a co-director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control at HKU SPH.

Prof Cowling’s primary research focus is in infectious disease epidemiology. In recent years he has designed and implemented large field studies of influenza transmission in the community and the effectiveness and impact of control measures. His latest research has focused on the modes of respiratory virus transmission, influenza vaccination effectiveness, and immunity to infections at the individual and population level. He has strong links with China CDC, and the NIGMS-funded Harvard Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics.

Professor Cowling is a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and a Fellow of the UK Faculty of Public Health. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, and an Associate Editor of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

He has more than 500 publications listed in Scopus, including 66 articles with 66 or more citations (H-index of 66). Prof Cowling has received numerous awards including HKU Outstanding Young Researcher Award (2011), Croucher Senior Research Fellowship (2015), HKU Outstanding Researcher Award (2017), and RGC Senior Research Fellowship (2020). He was awarded an MBE in Queen Elizabeth II's 2021 birthday honours.

Dr Carolien van de Sandt is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Peter Doherty Institute, University of Melbourne (UoM). Her principal area of expertise is in viral and aging immunology.

Carolien completed her PhD in 2016 at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam (Netherlands) where she investigated the longevity, cross-reactivity and immune evasion strategies of influenza-specific CD8 + T- cells, followed by two years of postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Profs Rimmelzwaan and Osterhaus.

In 2018, she was awarded the prestigious European Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action (MSCA) Fellowship and the University of Melbourne’s McKenzie Fellowship to join the Kedzierska laboratory, where she leads the Aging Immunity Research Program which aims to unravel the mechanisms that underly gain- and-loss- of CD8 + T-cell function across human lifespan.

During the pandemic Carolien temporarily relocated to the Netherlands as part of her MSCA fellowship (2020-2021) where she led her own research team at Sanquin Research studying SARS-CoV-2 immunity in healthy and autoimmune patients. In 2022 she was awarded the ARC-DECRA fellowship to continue her Aging Immunity and T-cell Development Research at the University of Melbourne.

Carolien has >50 publications including in leading scientific journals like Nature Medicine, Immunity, Nature Immunology and Nature Communications. The importance of her work has been recognized by 16 Awards including the Viruses Early Career Investigator Award.

Nationality: American, British

Position: Professor of Applied Evolutionary Biology, University of Amsterdam Faculty of Medicine

Research field: Virus Evolution

ESWI member since 2019

Professor Russell was a member of the University of Cambridge from 2002 to 2017; first as a PhD student, then postdoctoral research associate (2006) and junior research fellow (2008), and finally as a Royal Society University Research Fellow (2009). From 2008 to 2011, he was also a research fellow at the US National Institutes of Health. In 2017, he moved to AMC (Academic Medical Center, university hospital and Faculty of Medicine of the University of Amsterdam) to head the Laboratory of Applied Evolutionary Biology.

Prof Russell’s research focuses on connecting processes at the within-host, between-host, and population scales, to understand the dynamics of influenza viruses and other respiratory pathogens. His research uses a combination of wet-lab and computational tools to study the interactions of processes at each of these scales. In addition to his research activities, he has been an advisor to the WHO influenza vaccine strain selection committee and he is the chair of the Infection Program of the Amsterdam Institute of Infection and Immunity.

Prof Russell has published extensively in leading scientific journals including Science, Nature, PNAS, and eLife. He is also the recipient of substantial research funding including grants from the Royal Society (UK), the US National Institutes of Health, and the Wellcome Trust. He is a current ERC and NWO Vici laureate.

Nationality: Dutch

Position: Assistant Professor Virology, Erasmus MC, The Netherlands

Research fields: Immunity against emerging viruses

Dr Corine Geurts van Kessel obtained her medical degree at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in 2004. In 2009, she achieved her PhD at the departments of Virology and Pulmonary Medicine, on the role of dendritic cell subsets in influenza virus immunity. After her training as a clinical microbiologist at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam she now works as a clinical microbiologist/virologist at the department of Viroscience, Erasmus MC.

As a clinical virologist, Corine Geurts van Kessel performs expert consultations for patients of the Erasmus MC and for other hospitals within and outside the Netherlands. She leads the diagnostic laboratories of serology and virus culture, and is a member of the WHO reference laboratory of viral hemorrhagic fever, arboviruses and SARS CoV-2.  She has a specific (research) interest in filling the knowledge gaps in disease kinetics, immunity and diagnostics of (emerging) zoonotic infections.

The risk of emergence and spread of human pathogens originating from an animal reservoir has increased in the past decades, with COVID-19 being an example for the impact this can have.

It is her goal to contribute to a global approach in epidemic and pandemic preparedness against emerging viruses. She does this by combining her expertise in clinical virology and clinical studies with a keen interest in viral immunity.

Nationality: Dutch

Position: Associate Professor, Department of Viroscience, Erasmus MC, The Netherlands

Research Fields: Pathogenesis of respiratory virus infections; Neurological complications; Systemic Inflammation; Influenza A viruses; SARS-CoV-2; Enterovirus D-68;

Short description: Debby van Riel is an Associate Professor at the Department of Viroscience, Erasmus MC, The Netherlands. After obtaining her MSc at the John Moores University in the UK, she continued her PhD studying the cell tropism of influenza viruses, which she defended in 2010. Since then her research focuses on the pathogenesis of extra-respiratory complications of respiratory virus infections, such as influenza A viruses (seasonal, pandemic and zoonotic influenza viruses), Enterovirus-D68, and SARS-CoV-2. These studies have revealed important new insights into the mechanism of systemic virus dissemination, routes of virus invasion into the central nervous system, systemic inflammatory responses, and the development of central nervous system complications. Her work has been published in leading scientific journals including Science, Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Materials and Trends in Neurosciences and she received multiple prestigious personal grants (a.o. Veni, Vidi, Aspasia, EUR fellowship, Erasmus MC fellowships) and prizes (ESWI award, Beijerinck Premium).

Nationality: British

Position: Lecturer, MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research

Research fields: Molecular biology of influenza viruses

ESWI member since 2015

Dr. Hutchinson received his PhD in 2009 at the University of Cambridge. He was a postdoctoral scientist at the University of Oxford from 2009 – 2016. In 2016, he set up a research group at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research.

He was named ‘Young Microbiologist of the Year’ by the Microbiology Society in 2007, was awarded the New Researcher Science Communication Award by the Biosciences Federation in 2008, and has held a Junior Research Fellowship at Worcester College Oxford (2010 – 2014) and an MRC Career Development Award fellowship (2016 – 2021).

Hutchinson’s work looks at the variations among influenza virus particles, particularly in their sizes and shapes and in the types of protein they contain, and seeks to understand how this diversity combines to shape the course of an influenza infection.

Position: Professor of Vaccinology at the Department of Microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Research Fields:

He received his advanced training in biotechnology and applied virology at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (Mentor: Dr. Reingard Grabherr), where he gained extensive experience with expression and purification of recombinant (glyco-) proteins and influenza virus-like particles. He established various expression systems for these proteins using insect cells/baculovirus, mammalian cells, bacteria, yeast and plants. Furthermore, he worked on a novel influenza virus rescue system based on baculovirus transduction of mammalian cells and a novel bioassay to measure inhibition of the influenza virus polymerase complex by cap-snatching inhibitors. He graduated from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna in 2010.

Prof. Krammer’s post-doctoral work in the laboratory of Dr. Peter Palese at the Department of Microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York focused on the development of broadly neutralizing anti-hemagglutinin stalk antibodies and the design of an universal influenza virus vaccine. The results of these studies have been very promising: After successful testing in animal models (mice, ferrets), studies with this universal influenza virus vaccine are now advancing to human clinical trials.

Currently Prof. Krammer holds a position as a Professor of Vaccinology at the Department of Microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He has published more than 100 papers, is member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Virology, Plos One and Heliyon and is a peer reviewer for more than 30 journals. Dr. Krammer is also member of the Vaccine and Edward Jenner Society Young Investigator Program. In addition he is a scientific adviser for enGenes and PathSensors.

Since 2019, Prof. Krammer is the Principal Investigator of the Sinai-Emory Multi-Institutional Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Center (SEM-CIVIC). Our CIVIC aims to develop improved seasonal and universal influenza virus vaccines that induce long lasting protection against drifted seasonal, zoonotic and future pandemic influenza viruses.

The Krammer laboratory – which is also part of the NIH-funded Centers for Excellence in Influenza Research and Surveillance (CEIRS) – focuses on understanding broadly-reactive immune responses against the surface glycoproteins of RNA viruses such as influenza with the goal to develop better vaccines and novel therapeutics.

Accomplishments:

2019: Endowed Professor of Vaccinology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

2014-2017: Member of the Vaccine and Edward Jenner Vaccine Society Young Investigator Program (YIP)

2014: ESWI Young Scientist Travel Award and ‘Young Scientist Co-Chair’

2013: Options for the Control of Influenza VIII Promising Investigator Scholarship

2013: American Society for Virology 32nd Annual Meeting Postdoctoral Travel Award

2012: Centers of Excellence in Influenza Research and Surveillance (CEIRS) Training Grant

2011: Erwin Schrödinger Fellowship (Austrian Science Fund/FWF)

2010: INiTS – Innovation into Business Award, First Prize in the category Life Science, Vienna, Austria

https://labs.icahn.mssm.edu/krammerlab/dr-krammer/

Nationality: British and Cypriot

Position: Family Physician. National Immunisation Lead Royal College of General Practitioners. President British Global & Travel Health Association.

Research Fields: Primary Care Vaccinations

Short description:

Dr George Kassianos is a GP and the National Immunisation Lead of the Royal College of General Practitioners of which he is a Fellow. He is also President and Fellow of the British Global and Travel Health Association (BGTHA) and Fellow of the Faculty of Travel Medicine at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Glasgow (RCPSG), the International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM), the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), the British and Irish Hypertension Society (BIHS), The Academy of Medical Educators, and the Higher Education Academy.

Dr Kassianos is Chair of RAISE [Raise Awareness of Influenza Strategies in Europe], a Pan-European Group (20 countries) on influenza, and Board Member of the European Scientific Working Group on Influenza (ESWI). He has served as medical editor of four medical journals, currently serves on a number of editorial boards, and is Associate Editor (Primary Care) of ‘Drugs In Context’ international journal.

Dr Kassianos was the recipient of the Royal College of General Practitioners’ Foundation Council Award (2018), the most prestigious award for services to the College and General Practice.

In October 2020, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Dr Kassianos Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to General Practice and Travel Medicine.

Guus F. Rimmelzwaan is Alexander von Humboldt Professor in Virology at the Research Center for Emerging Infections and Zoonoses (RIZ) of the University of Veterinary Medicine (TiHo) in Hannover. His main research interests are virus vaccine development, immunologic defense mechanisms against influenza and other virus infections, Viral immune evasion and Virus-host interactions.
Guus Rimmelzwaan was trained as a biologist (MSc) at the Free University of Amsterdam. He obtained his PhD in 1990 on the thesis entitled “ Canine parvovirus infection: Novel approaches to diagnosis and immune prophylaxis” at the National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection, Bilthoven, The Netherlands, where he also worked as post-doctoral fellow on FIV vaccine development between 1990 and 1992. Between 1992 and 1994 he worked as a post-doctoral fellow in the field of HIV-1 vaccine development at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and at the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, MD, USA. Between 1994 and 2017, he worked as professor in Immuno-virology at the Department of Viroscience of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands as workgroup leader of the influenza immunology group.
Guus Rimmelzwaan (co)-authored >330 articles and contributed to various books related to vaccinology. He organized courses in virology for PhD students, postdoctoral fellows and clinical microbiologists and a Practical Training Course in Influenza. He also participated as expert in various national committees on the prevention of influenza.

Nationality: British and Cypriot

Position: Family Physician. National Immunisation Lead Royal College of General Practitioners. President British Global & Travel Health Association.

Research Fields: Primary Care Vaccinations

Short description:

Dr George Kassianos is a GP and the National Immunisation Lead of the Royal College of General Practitioners of which he is a Fellow. He is also President and Fellow of the British Global and Travel Health Association (BGTHA) and Fellow of the Faculty of Travel Medicine at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Glasgow (RCPSG), the International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM), the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), the British and Irish Hypertension Society (BIHS), The Academy of Medical Educators, and the Higher Education Academy.

Dr Kassianos is Chair of RAISE [Raise Awareness of Influenza Strategies in Europe], a Pan-European Group (20 countries) on influenza, and Board Member of the European Scientific Working Group on Influenza (ESWI). He has served as medical editor of four medical journals, currently serves on a number of editorial boards, and is Associate Editor (Primary Care) of ‘Drugs In Context’ international journal.

Dr Kassianos was the recipient of the Royal College of General Practitioners’ Foundation Council Award (2018), the most prestigious award for services to the College and General Practice.

In October 2020, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Dr Kassianos Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to General Practice and Travel Medicine.

Biotechnology graduate by Universitat Politècnica de València, with the M.S.c in Nanoscience and Advanced Nanotechnology. I did my thesis at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in Professor Gòdia’s group, focused on characterization and purification of virus-like particles (VLPs). I am proactive, self-driven and hard-working. I enjoy working in dynamic, enriching environments, where I can always keep learning and growing personally and professionally.

Dr. Javier Diez-Domingo is Head of the Vaccine Research Department, MD paediatrician (1987), PhD degree (1990).
He has over 235 scientific papers with more than 2.200 citations. He has devoted more than 20 years of clinical epidemiological research on vaccines and immunopreventable diseases, and has worked as PI in more than 40 clinical trials with vaccines. Expert on evaluation of new drugs in paediatrics for the EMA. Member of different Ethics Committees since 2000 and President of the DG-Public Health EC since 2015. Active member of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID), chair of the Committee for Education, member of the Spanish Pediatric Society, the Spanish Vaccinology Association and the International Society for Vaccines.

Jenna Guthmiller earned bachelor’s degrees in Biology, Biotechnology, and Microbiology from South Dakota State University in 2013. She earned a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology under the mentorship of Dr. Noah Butler at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in 2017. She completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago with Dr. Patrick Wilson.

The Guthmiller lab is interested in understanding how broadly protective humoral immunity against influenza viruses develops and can be harnessed by vaccination. We are also interested in understanding the co-evolution of influenza viruses and the humoral immune response.

1. The adaptive immune system does not respond to all parts of an antigen evenly, a phenomenon known as immunodominance. In the context of influenza, the B cell response is preferentially induced against the variable epitopes of the hemagglutinin (HA) domain rather than more conserved epitopes of the HA stalk domain. We are investigating the factors that regulate immunodominance and developing tools to shift immunodominance to the HA stalk domain.
2. The breadth and specificity of the humoral immune response against influenza viruses is shaped by past influenza virus exposure. We are investigating how past exposures and exposure routes shape the development of broadly neutralizing antibodies.
3. Antigenic drift of influenza virus HA is driven to evade host antibody responses. We are dissecting how 1) antibodies against distinct epitopes shape viral evolution and 2) and how viral evolution shapes infectivity and pathogenesis.

I provide epidemiological data on respiratory infections, infectious diseases, antibacterial resistance and rare diseases. The diversity makes my work interesting and fun. For example, I study how a flu virus spreads among the population, the number of flu-related deaths and how effective vaccination is. My research is used in research within Disasters and Environmental Threats and GP Care, among others.

Learning through international comparisons

My projects are mostly international. As a coordinator and researcher of international projects, I find that countries can learn a lot from each other in terms of epidemiology, prevention and control of infectious diseases. I find that very motivating. By making comparisons, I can give better advice and there is greater understanding of the different situations in countries and the solutions chosen.

Dr. Kirsty Short is an NHMRC research fellow and head of the viral pathogenesis lab at the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland.

Dr. Short and her group focus on reducing the severity of emerging respiratory viral infections. Their group performs a large amount of research on the role of chronic metabolic conditions (namely diabetes and obesity) in severe viral infections. Their work also includes a focus on avian influenza (‘bird flu’) in the context of pandemic preparedness.

Their group also works with SARS-CoV-2 with a particular focus on the role of children in disease transmission, the development of novel therapies and reducing disease severity in patients living with diabetes and obesity.

Dr Louise Rowntree is an early-mid career scientist with extensive expertise in viral immunology in vulnerable populations. Louise completed her PhD in 2016 at Monash University investigating human cross-reactive CD8+ T-cells in viral infections.

She joined Professor Tony Purcell's Laboratory (Monash) between 2016-2018 to further explore T-cell cross-reactivity between viral and self-antigens and identify allopeptides. Louise joined Prof Katherine Kedzierska’s Laboratory (UoM) in 2019, where her work focuses on dissecting anti-viral responses in high-risk groups, including First Nations peoples, patients with co-morbidities, children and pregnant women, with an emphasis on T-cell epitope identification and T-cell responses associated with severe disease.

Louise has worked in viral T-cell immunity since 2011, most recently on influenza and SARS-CoV-2. She has published a number of peer-reviewed research articles, exemplified by a world-first report of a SARS-CoV-2 CD8+ T-cell specificity early in the pandemic (PNAS-2020) and publications detailing the establishment of SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cells following COVID-19 infection in adults (Immunity-2021) and children (Immunity-2022). She is the recipient of an Australian Postgraduate Award (2012), Rutherford Fellowship (2018), Best Oral European Federation for Immunogenetics (2015) and Keystone Symposia Scholarship (2022). Her emerging international profile is recognized by internationally invited talks and selected inter/national abstract presentations with travel grants and speaker prizes.

Nationality: Dutch 

Position: Intensivist,  Spaarne Gasthuis, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Research fields: Special interest in acute care and infectious diseases

ESWI member since 2016

Marco Goeijenbier graduated from medical school at the University of Amsterdam in 2010. During his internships he did research on rodent-borne hemorrhagic fever. Goeijenbier received his PhD in virology (“Haemostasis and Virus Infection”) from the Erasmus University Rotterdam in 2015. He was previously a specialist in acute internal medicine and started a fellowship in intensive care at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam. He currently holds the position of intensivist at Spaarne Hospital in Amsterdam.

Some of Goeijenbier’s most recent published articles include ; “Thrombocytopenia in Virus Infections. (J Clin Med, feb 2021)” “Determinants of Vaccination Uptake in Risk Populations  (Vaccines, Aug 2020)” 

And Benefits of flu vaccination for persons with diabetes mellitus (Vaccine, Sep 2017).

Dr. Goeijenbier is ESWI’s lead member and Chair in the Influenza Diabetes Community (IDC). The IDC connects leading diabetes, patient, scientific and professional organisations around the common aim of protecting persons living with diabetes from influenza and other viral respiratory diseases like COVID-19.

Nationality: Dutch

Position: Professor Clinical Biology, Chair of the department Medical Microbiology

After finishing medical school (1991) and completing his PhD research on HIV treatment (1996) at the University of Amsterdam, Menno specialized in clinical microbiology at the Academic Medical Center (AMC). He worked as consultant microbiologist at Leiden University Medical Center and the AMC (2000-2003) before moving to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where he set up and headed the Virology laboratories at the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit and Hospital for Tropical Diseases. In 2008, he returned to Amsterdam where he was appointed professor of clinical virology and chair of the Department of Medical Microbiology at the Academic Medical Center. After having chaired both departments at the AMC and VUmc since 2018, he is the chair of the merged Amsterdam UMC Department of Medical Microbiology & Infection Prevention since 2020.

As head of the Department, Menno de Jong’s interest in clinical microbiology and infectious diseases is broad and inclusive. However, inspired by his previous work on avian influenza in southeast Asia, his specific research interests remain focused on understanding the pathogenesis and improving treatment of influenza and emerging respiratory viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2. To this extent, his research activities include observational and interventional clinical studies in an international context, complemented by patient-oriented translational research embedded in these studies.  

Nationality: United States

Position: Chief, Respiratory Diseases Branch, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, NIAID/NIH

Research Fields: Antiviral therapy for RVI, Vaccination in Immunocompromised Hosts

Short description: 

Dr. Michael Ison completed his medical school training at University of South Florida College of Medicine and obtained training in Internal Medicine at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, Oregon followed by Infectious Diseases at the University of Virginia.  After spending 17 years as a Professor in the Divisions of Infectious Diseases and Organ Transplantation at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, he moved to become the Respiratory Disease Branch Chief within the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at NIAID/NIH.

During his fellowship, he was mentored by Drs. Frederick Hayden, Larisa Gubareva, and Tom Brachiale.  His research focused on the immunopathogenesis of influenza and its treatment in immunosuppressed and hospitalized patients.   He is currently also the Chair of the Antiviral Group of the International Society of Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses.  He has led a number of clinical studies focused on influenza, RSV and COVID-19 antivirals and vaccines at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, including the development of a serial sampling biobank, a convalescent plasma bank and a clinical datamart. 

Nabil Jamshed, MSc MBA BBA

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom

Mr Nabil Jamshed works as a Head of Corporate Governance for Integrated Specialist Medicine Clinical Group and Chief of Staff at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

He has over 20 years of experience working in the NHS and, internationally, with the Ministry of Public Health and other health agencies in Qatar.

He has operating experience in working with a variety of boards in facilitating the development of effective governance structures and successful board dynamics. He has first-hand experience in introducing constructive governance and risk management models, developing national policy and strategy, working with several Integrated Care Systems (ICS) and understanding and experience in dealing with complex IT systems.

In addition to working with the NHS and health organisations, Nabil had worked in other sectors such as the English Cricket Board and charities, helping with governance and risk management developments and improvements.

As the elected member of the European Health Management Association (EHMA) Scientific Planning Committee, Nabil contributes to wider European healthcare management developments. He has a personal interest in the inclusion agenda and has led various developments within the NHS to support the Equality Diversity and Inclusion efforts and served as a co-chair of the NHS staff BAME network.

Last year, Nabil was appointed as a Non-executive Director at the Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. He contributes to the national development and debate on the Equality Diversity and Inclusion through his active membership with the Seacole group of NHS NED and contributions to the APNA (Asian Professionals’ National Alliance) NHS which is a South Asian Heritage NHS Staff Leaders’ network across health and social care.

Dr Nathan Brendish is a NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Infectious Diseases & General Internal Medicine. His research interests focus on the clinical impact of point-of-care tests for infectious diseases.

Dr Brendish’s expertise in rapid diagnostic tests in severe respiratory virus infection stems from his PhD under Professor Tristan Clark at the University of Southampton. Dr Brendish continues to be part of Prof Clark’s research group.

Dr Brendish was the lead study fellow on the ResPOC trial. The ResPOC trial was a large, pragmatic, randomised controlled trial of routine molecular point-of-care testing for respiratory viruses in adults presenting to hospital with acute respiratory illness versus standard care. This showed that multiplex molecular testing at the point-of-care for respiratory viruses improved diagnosis of influenza, improved appropriate neuraminidase inhibitor prescribing, improved appropriate use of isolation facilities, and decreased length of hospital stay. This seminal study was published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine in 2017.

Dr Brendish was also the lead fellow for the CoV-19POC trial of molecular point-of-care testing for SARS-CoV-2, which also showed multiple clinical benefits of ultra-rapid PCR testing, and was published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine in 2020. 

Dr Brendish started his research career as a study physician in the NIHR Southampton Clinical Research Facility, focussing on malaria vaccine trials.

Nationality: Finnish

Position: Clinical Lecturer, Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine / Adjunct Professor, Department of Clinical Medicine

Research Fields: respiratory tract infections, especially acute otitis media.

ESWI member since 2022

Dr. Tähtinen received her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Turku in 2004. After graduating, she worked as a GP and resident in paediatrics in Central Finland and then as a PhD student at the University of Turku. In 2012, she successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled “Treatment of acute otitis media”. The same year, she received the ESPID Young Investigator Award and was selected as a Researcher of the Year by the National Graduate School of Clinical Investigation. After obtaining her PhD degree, Dr. Tähtinen continued her specialisation in paediatrics at the Turku University Hospital, Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

In 2013, Dr. Tähtinen moved to the United States to work as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Boston University School of Medicine. During her time in Boston, Dr. Tähtinen also studied at the Harvard Medical School Global Clinical Scholars Research Training Program in which she graduated in 2015. During the  summer of 2017, she worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The ESPID Fellowship Award allowed Dr. Tähtinen to continue her post-doc project in collaboration with the researchers from Boston University and Harvard University.

Paula Tähtinen is an Adjunct Professor and Clinical Lecturer at the University of Turku, Finland. She is also working as a paediatrician at Turku University Hospital. Her research focuses on respiratory tract infections, especially acute otitis media.

Currently, Paula Tähtinen is setting up her own research group with the main focus on prevention and treatment of respiratory tract infections. She is the author of 30 scientific publications, several book chapters and UpToDate articles. Dr. Tähtinen has been actively involved in the development of scientific and professional education at the University of Turku. She has also served as a Young ESPID (European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases) country representative and a committee member at the ESPID Research Networking Committee.

Nationality: British 

Position: Respiratory physician and mucosal immunologist, Professor of Experimental Medicine, Imperial College, London

Research fields: Lung immunology, RSV, received a lifetime achievement in work on RSV research (Chanock prize, US, in 2012)

ESWI member since 2008

Peter Openshaw is a respiratory physician and mucosal immunologist, studying how the immune system both protects against viral infection but also causes disease. He has worked on RSV and influenza since the mid-1980s, leading a large Wellcome Trust funded national collaboration: Mechanisms of Severe Acute Influenza Consortium MOSAIC (2009-12), recruiting cases of severe influenza during the influenza pandemic of 2009-2010.

He has run studies of human experimental infection of volunteers for over 12 years and is Director of the MRC-funded HIC-Vac consortium established to promote the use of human experimental infection to accelerate vaccine development for pathogens of high global impact. Furthermore, he served as President of the British Society for Immunology (2013-18) and is a member of the Academy of Medical Sciences–British Society for Immunology expert taskforce on the immunology of COVID-19.

He has been a member of SAGE (2009-12), Chair and now vice-Chair or NERVTAG, a Department of Health committee horizon-scanning for emerging respiratory threats. He is a member of the UK Vaccine Network and several committees and Boards that oversee research on the immunology of respiratory infection.

He is Theme Lead for Infection at the Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Respiratory Infections Section Head within the National Heart and Lung Institute and an NIHR Senior Investigator. He co-leads ISARIC4C, a UK-wide consortium established in 2020 to study the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nationality: British

Position: Professor of Medical Virology and head of the influenza Centre

Research Fields: Development and evaluation of influenza vaccines, SARS CoV-2 long term complications

Short description:

Rebecca Cox is professor in medical virology and head of the Influenza Centre at the University of Bergen, Norway leading a team of scientists. Rebecca Cox completed her Ph.D. in 1995 at the London Hospital Medical College, University of London, UK before post doc positions at Guys Hospital, UK and the University of Bergen, Norway. She has >25 years of experience of influenza work particularly in development and evaluation of influenza vaccines. During the COVID-19 pandemic she led studies on SARS CoV-2 infection and vaccination and long term follow up of complications in Western Norway. She has served as advisor to the WHO SAGE Immunization Working Group on Influenza, the Norwegian epidemic and pandemic committee and European Medicines Agency (EMA). Her research focuses on development and evaluation of influenza vaccines with particular focus on human immune responses to infection and vaccination. She currently sits on the EMA Scientific working group on vaccines and the European Expert Group on SARS-CoV-2 variants. She is deputy chair of Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses and senior editor for the journal Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses. She is author of more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and regularly contributes to the public debate on Influenza, SARS CoV-2 and vaccines through multi-media channels.

Nationality: Dutch

Position: Professor, Molecular Virology

Ron Fouchier is currently a professor in Molecular Virology at Erasmus MC Rotterdam, where he is also the deputy head of the Viroscience department. He obtained a PhD in 1995 for HIV/AIDS research at the University of Amsterdam with Hanneke Schuitemaker and Han Huisman and continued HIV work at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine as a postdoc with Michael Malim. Late 1998 he started a Molecular Virology research line on respiratory viruses, in particular influenza, at Erasmus MC.

Ron Fouchier’s team contributed substantially to the identification and characterization of various “new” viruses, such as human metapneumovirus, human coronavirus NL63, SARS coronavirus, MERS coronavirus, and influenza A virus subtype H16. Currently, his research is focused on respiratory viruses of humans and animals, antigenic drift, and influenza virus zoonoses, transmission and pandemics.

Ron Fouchier is elected member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (KNAW), the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW) and Academia Europeae. In 2006 he received the Heine-Medin award of the European Society for Clinical Virology and in 2013 the Huibregtsen award for top innovative science with societal impact. Fouchier is a web-of-science Highly Cited author.

Nationality: Italian

Position: Research Director, CNR Ageing Branch, Neuroscience Institute, Padova (Italy)

Research Fields: Clinical epidemiology and geriatrics. Main focus on lifelong approach to healthy ageing

ESWI member since 2022

Dr. Stefania Maggi received her degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Padua, Italy in 1983. She also attended the Graduate School of Geriatrics and Gerontology from the same University until 1987 and in 1988 she received her Master in Public Health from John Hopkins University in Baltimore (USA). Dr. Maggi also holds a PhD in Clinical Pathophysiology from the University of Padua, which she received in 2000.

Dr. Maggi has a specific interest in the epidemiology of ageing and in the analysis of factors promoting health ageing in a lifelong approach. From 1983-1985, Dr. Maggi worked as an attending physician at the Internal Medicine Department for the University Hospital in Padua before she spent the years of 1988-1989 as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), for the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland (USA). From 1989-1993, she worked as the Coordinator for the WHO Program on Ageing, before she moved on to work as a researcher in the Ageing branch at the Institute of Neuroscience, Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche (CNR), Padua. Dr. Maggi worked as a researcher from 1993-2007 before becoming Research Director for the same branch and institute, in 2007, a position she currently holds. In this position, she coordinates several national and international research projects on nutrition, vaccines and lifestyle as key factors for promoting healthy ageing. Dr. Maggi is also an Adjunct Professor in the Graduate Schools of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Padua, which she has been since 2000.

Moreover, Dr. Maggi is the Editor in Chief of “Ageing Clinical and Experimental Research” (Springer) and has more than 800 publications, both in peer-reviewed journals and many book chapters.

Yoshi Kawaoka, Ph.D., is a globally recognised influenza expert and professor in the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Veterinary Medicine. He was recognised with the 2017 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award for his efforts to understand and prevent pandemics.

He is an expert avian influenza virus and showed that a 1918-like pandemic influenze virus (Spanish flu) could be recreated again in nature. He also led a group that created a whole-virus vaccine against Ebola that was safe and effective in primates and traveled to Sierra Leone to learn more about the disease.

His work is also changing how flu vaccines are made by providing faster and more cost-effective methods. Kawaoka’s team established a new strategy to generate and manipulate the virus – a system called “reverse genetics” – that has revolutionised the field. In 2007 he co-founded FluGen, a Madison-based company dedicated to preventing and treating both seasonal and pandemic outbreaks that kill hundreds of thousands worldwide.

Kawaoka’s research looks at the Influenza virus: the molecular mechanism of interspecies transmission of the virus leading to influenza pandemics in humans; and the molecular pathogenesis of influenza in poultry and mammals. With the Ebola virus, he studies the role of viral proteins in pathogenesis and viral replication.

Kawaoka also teaches veterinary virology, providing background information in basic virology, as well as a clinically-oriented review of the pathogenesis, diagnosis and management of the major viral diseases of animals.

Master, Fellow and certified specialist in Medical Microbiology, Virology, Parasitology and Human Challenge modelling.

Adrian's career began with  working on combination drug treatments for resistant isolates of tuberculosis under the tutelage of Professor Denis Mitchison in the Wolfson Institute before obtaining a Fellowship in Medical Microbiology and moving in mainstream diagnostics. Work encompassed roles in both the public and private sector overseeing microbiology and virology laboratories with a Parasitology Masters from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine leading preceding a move to join Professor Brian Gazzard’s HIV Research team at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in 2001. Working primarily with HIV, Hepatitis and Sexual Health cohorts, a diploma in Management as well as qualifications in Project Management and Harvard Leadership allowed acceleration within the Trust Management team to sit on the SAGE committee amongst others.

With new, effective drugs for HIV and Hepatitis C heralding change, Controlled Human Infection Modelling allowed for investigation of novel treatments in URTIs and an opportunity to lead a multidisciplinary team manufacturing Challenge Agents for use in clinical trials as well as performing a range of CHIM studies from influenza to malaria.

More recently the founding of CHIMagents (acquired) and CHIMunomics as (CEO) well as being COO of IQ-IDM has given opportunities to more directly investigate interventions in unmet clinical conditions.

Adrian has authored and published papers and many articles relating to HIV, Ethics and Viral Challenge amongst others and publishes a monthly update on COVID-19 and infectious disease threats.

Nationality: British

Position: Professor of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine Imperial College London

Research Fields: Human respiratory viral infection

Chris Chiu is an Infectious Diseases physician and Immunologist. He underwent his basic medical training at Cambridge and Oxford Universities, and was later awarded a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Training fellowship to undertake a PhD with Charles Bangham and Margaret Callan, initially at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine (University of Oxford) and then at Imperial College London, to show the transcriptional programming of early CD8 T cell responses to acute viral infection. On completion of his specialist training, he was awarded an MRC Clinician Scientist fellowship and furthered his research by working with Rafi Ahmed's group at Emory University, examining antibody, B cell and T cell responses to influenza and varicella zoster virus vaccines.

His research interests focus on pathogenesis and protective immunity in human respiratory viral infections, including respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza and SARS-CoV-2. These are some of the most important causes of severe disease worldwide and there is an urgent need for improved vaccines and treatments for these pathogens. To discover why some people suffer life-threatening illness while others have only mild or asymptomatic infection, he has developed a set of unique experimental medicine techniques. He is an expert in human infection challenge studies and leads a group that uses infection and vaccination of volunteers as well as patient-centred research to investigate systemic and mucosal immunity against these infections. These highly specialised methods provide a unique opportunity to examine correlates and mechanisms of protection and disease severity in human beings. The work  encompasses early phase clinical vaccine trials as well as fundamental studies of human immunity, which together enhance our understanding of how respiratory viral illnesses may be prevented and accelerate the development of better vaccines.

Prof Chiu also heads the Imperial Network for Vaccine Research, which brings together investigators from across all faculties with an interest in vaccines, and is Scientific and Research Officer of the British Infection Association. His group is part of a number of international consortia, including the NIAID CIVICs programme and European Union IMI projects, and welcomes collaboration with researchers (both industry and academic) who wish to work together to pursue their shared interests.

Professor Eddie Holmes is known for his work on the evolution and emergence of infectious diseases, particularly the mechanisms by which RNA viruses jump species boundaries to emerge in humans and other animals. He currently holds an NHMRC Leadership Fellowship and is Professor of Virology at the University of Sydney. He moved to the University of Sydney in 2012. He has studied the emergence and spread of such pathogens as SARS-CoV-2, influenza virus, dengue virus, HIV, hepatitis C virus, myxoma virus, RHDV and Yersinia pestis. His previous appointments include Verne M. Willaman Chair in the Life Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University, USA, and Affiliate Member of the Fogarty International Centre (2005-2012), National Institutes of Health, USA. From 1999-2004 he was Fellow of New College, Oxford. In 2021 he received the (Australian) Prime Minister's Prize for Science. He is the author of 713 peer-reviewed papers and two books. 

Katherine Kedzierska

Nationality: Australian

Position: Professorial Fellow Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne, Australia

Research Fields: Viral Immunology

Professor Katherine Kedzierska is the Head of the Human T cell Laboratory in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow Level B. Her principal area of expertise is viral immunology.

She received her PhD from Monash University in 2002. Her PhD, performed at the Burnet Institute with Professor Suzanne Crowe, studied immunity to HIV infection and the mechanisms of disease pathogenicity. As an NHMRC Peter Doherty Fellow in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology with Laureate Professor Peter Doherty, Katherine undertook research into the key mechanisms underlying immunological T cell memory formation and persistence. Subsequently, as an NHMRC RD Wright Fellow, then an NHMRC CDF2 Fellow, Katherine has established her independent research on universal immunity to human influenza viruses.

Katherine’s PhD work was recognised by the 2001 Premier’s Commendation for Medical Research, 2002 Monash University Mollie Holman Doctoral Medal and an NHMRC Peter Doherty Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue her postdoctoral research with Laureate Professor Peter Doherty. In 2007, she was awarded an NHMRC RD Wright Fellowship and grant funding to establish her own research team. She is currently an NHMRC CDF2 Research Fellow and a group leader of the Human T cell Laboratory. Katherine was the recipient of the 2011 NHMRC Excellence Award and the Scopus Young Researcher of the Year Award and the 2016 Australian Academy of Science Jacques Miller Medal for Experimental Medicine. She is an Adjunct Professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, China and a Co-Director of the Sino-Australia Joint Research Laboratory for the Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Disease Research, Fudan-Melbourne University, located at the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre.

Stacey Schultz-Cherry, Ph.D., is a full member (professor) in the Department of Infectious Diseases at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., where she serves as the Deputy Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Influenza Collaborating Center, Co-Director for the NIAID-funded Center for Excellence in Influenza Research and Surveillance (CEIRS) and Co-Director for the NIAID-funded Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Center (CIVIC).

She received her Ph.D. in molecular and cellular pathology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and did postdoctoral training in influenza virology at the University of Wisconsin. Before joining the faculty at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in 2009, she was a tenured associate professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Schultz-Cherry is recognized internationally for her studies on the pathogenesis influenza and enteric viruses in high-risk populations and influenza at the animal-human interface. She is the author and co-author of more than 190 research articles, reviews and book chapters, is the past President of the American Society for Virology, and the current Chair of the Public and Scientific Affairs Committee for ASM.