Committees

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: 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: 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.

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: Retired General Practitioner and vocational trainer, Amersfoort, The Netherlands

Research fields: Clinical aspects of influenza vaccination

ESWI member since 2001

Dr. van Essen became a General Practitioner in 1976 and Vocational Trainer in 1981 based in Amersfoort, the Netherlands. He was also Assistant Professor (since 1992) at the Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center, Utrecht. Dr Van Essen obtained his degree at the University of Groningen (M.D. and G.P.) and at Utrecht University where he received his Ph.D.

He has been a long-standing member of the Dutch Influenza Foundation, the Dutch Pneumococcal Foundation and different local, regional and national GP organisations. From 2000-2004, he was also the President of the Dutch College of General Practitioners. From 1996 to 2000 he was editor of Bijblijven, a Dutch CME-Journal.

Known on TV as Dr Ted, he is well known in The Netherlands for his work as a TV doctor, providing his medical insights for a wide and varied national audience. He is a member of the board of several leading healthcare institutions, including the Supervisory Board of Dimence, a large mental healthcare institution in Overijssel

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: German

Position: Professor Virology, Heinrich-Pette-Institute, Leibniz Institute of Virology, Germany

Research fields: Interspecies transmission and pathogenesis of influenza A viruses; High-risk groups of influenza (pregnancy, asthma, obesity); New antiviral strategies against influenza

ESWI member since 2009

Dr. Gabriel is head of the research department Viral Zoonoses – One Health at the Leibniz Institute for Experimental Virology in Hamburg and professor for virology at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hannover. Professor Gabriel’s main research interest is to understand how avian influenza viruses cross species barriers and transmit to humans causing large epidemics and eventually pandemics. Herein, a special focus lies on influenza virus pathogenesis in high-risk groups, such as pregnant women.

Dr. Gabriel studied Biology at the Philipps University of Marburg in Germany, and obtained her PhD in 2006. Afterwards, she moved to the United Kingdom where she held the position of a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology at the University of Oxford until 2009. In 2009, Dr. Gabriel moved back to Germany where she received the prestigious Emmy-Noether Research Award funded by the German Research Foundation to lead a junior group at the Leibniz Institute for Experimental Virology in Hamburg.

From 2014-2018, she was the head of the research group influenza pathogenesis at the Leibniz Institute for Experimental Virology in Hamburg and professor for virology at the University of Lübeck. Since 2018, she is the head of the research department Viral Zoonoses – One Health at the Leibniz Institute for Experimental Virology in Hamburg and professor for virology at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hannover.

In 2009, Dr. Gabriel was the first winner of the ESWI Best Body of Work Award. She was elected Vice Chair of ESWI in 2014. Dr. Gabriel received many prestigious awards, among them the Robert Koch Förderpreis (2012), the Best Minds Award from the Leibniz Association (2018) and the Prize for Translational Infection Research of the German Research Center for Infection (2019).

Nationality: British & 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.

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: Czech

Position: Professor of Epidemiology, Charles University, Prague

Research fields: Preventive medicine, clinical development of new vaccines (pneumococcus; rotavirus; measles, mumps, rubella (MMR); and human papillomavirus)

ESWI member since: 2013

Professor Roman Prymula holds the position of Professor of Epidemiology at the Charles University in Prague, School of Medicine Hradec Kralove, Department of Preventive Medicine. He received his medical degree from Charles University, Prague in 1988 and his PhD from Purkyne Military Medical Academy, Hradec Kralove in 1999. Prof. Prymula also studied at the University of Birmingham, UK, where he completed an International Certificate in Hospital management in 1995. In 1996 he became associate professor of epidemiology.

He has been involved in various research activities in preventive medicine, including clinical development of new vaccines, such as those for pneumococcus; rotavirus; measles, mumps, rubella (MMR); and human papillomavirus. In addition to his active research and teaching activities, he has served as a member of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) management board, Chairman of the Central European Vaccination Awareness Group, and Chairman of the Czech Vaccinological Society JEP.

Prof. Prymula is on the editorial board of several scientific journals and serves as a consultant for several national and international organisations. He is the former Minister of Health in the Czech Republic.

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.

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.

Dr. Hannoun’s education includes a Ph.D. in Microbiology, which he earned in Paris, France.

Dr. Hannoun is an expert at the WHO (viral diseases). His former positions include: Director of the National Influenza Reference Centre, Professor at the Pasteur Institute, Associate Professor at the Université of Paris VII, Scientific Director of GROG systems (Groupes Régionaux d’Observation de la Grippe), Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for influenza and other respiratory viruses, Honorary Professor at the Pasteur Institute and Vice-President of ‘Société Française de Microbiologie’. He was Co-Founder and Chairman of ESWI from 1992 until 1998. He was Co-Organiser of the Conference ‘Options for the control of influenza II’ Courchevel in December 1992, the Conference “Options for the Control of Influenza IV” in Crete in 2000 and of the “First European Influenza Conference” (ESWI) in Malta in 2002. He was also Editor-in-Chief of the ‘European Journal f Epidemiology’.

Dr. Hannoun’s scientific activities are mainly oriented towards virological and epidemiological studies on arboviruses and influenza. The activity of several arboviruses so far unknown in France has been demonstrated as having occurred between 1960 and 1975, the most important being the West Nile virus. During the following years, national and international development of surveillance networks (GROG) for early detection of influenza epidemics and applications in the field of control of influenza (vaccines and antivirals) and other respiratory viral infections have been major subjects of interest, together with research programmes on virus structures. He pays special attention to infections caused by influenza virus type C and on the characteristics of this little known virus. Further studies in the field of influenza include evaluation of immunisation adjuvants, antiviral screening and tissue culture vaccines in addition to the epidemiological surveillance of respiratory viral infections.

Ursula Kunze M.D.; Associate Professor

Institute of Social Medicine, Center for Public Health, Medical University Vienna

Formal education

05/2000: Habilitation, University of Vienna
March 1995: Graduation
10/88-01/95: Medical school, University of Vienna
1976-1988: Elementary and secondary school, Vienna

Professional experience

since 02/2001: Associate Professor, Institute of Social Medicine, Center for Public Health, Medical University Vienna
11/96-09/2000: Research Assistent, Institute of Social Medicine, University of Vienna
04/1995-11/96: Research Assistent, Institute of Tumorbiology&Cancer Research, Department of Epidemiology, University

Areas of Expertise:

Public Health in general, Public Health and vaccinations with specific focus on influenza and tick-borne encephalitis, pandemic planning, social marketing and public health, epidemiology of infectious diseases

Publications

approx. 100 scientific publications

numerous contributions in medical und lay press

Further Activites

Teaching activity at the Medical Universtiy Vienna

Membership of several oranisations and association, e.g. secretary general of the Austrian association of the promotion of education in vaccination matters

Nationality: French

Position: Head of unit of Molecular Genetics of RNA viruses, Department of Virology, Institut Pasteur

Research fields: Epidemiological and virological surveillance of human influenza viruses and of other respiratory viruses

ESWI member from 1998 – 2022

Associate Member since 2022

Professor Sylvie van der Werf has a degree in Physiology and Biochemistry Agrégation (National Teaching Degree), a Doctorate in Microbiology with an option in Virology at the University of Paris, and a Doctorate in Natural Sciences specialising in Virology, also at the University of Paris.

She heads the unit of Molecular Genetics of RNA viruses which associates three research groups on influenza viruses (Epidemiology and evolution of respiratory viruses / Influenza virus-host cell interactions / Virus interactomics and one research group on hepaciviruses (Hepacivirus / host interactions). Professor van der Werf is also Director of the coordinating center of the National Reference Centre for influenza viruses and WHO National Influenza Center (NIC) for Northern France as well as WHO Reference Laboratory for H5 influenza viruses and for the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV).

Past research positions include: Deputy-Director of the Fundamental Virology Course, Deputy-Chairman of the Department of Virology, Director of the URA 1966 CNRS Molecular Virology Unit. She is the author of 70 original scientific papers and more than 30 other scientific publications.

Nationality: German

Position: Professor of Pulmonary Infections Universities Giessen & Marburg Lung Center, and Head of the Infectious Diseases Department at the Giessen University Hospital, Giessen, Germany

Research fields: Influenza Viruses , pneumonia and coronaviruses

ESWI member from 2016 – 2022

Associate member since 2022

Professor Susanne Herold studied medicine at the University of Giessen from 1995 to 2002. She received her doctorate in 2003 with a thesis on monocytes in the lungs and acquired her PhD 2008 at the University of Giessen. Since 2013, she has been a visiting professor at Northwestern University in Chicago for the Department of Pulmonary and Intensive Care Medicine.

In 2018, Susanne Herold took over the professorship for infectious diseases of the lungs at the University of Giessen and at the same time became head of the Infectious Diseases Department at the Giessen University Hospital.

She has been a member of numerous specialist societies, including the Academy of Charitable Sciences in Erfurt and the German Center for Infection Research since 2017. She is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Robert Koch Institute and deputy chairman of the German Society for Infectious Diseases. Since 2016, Prof. Herold has been leading a DFG- funded clinical research project on lung damage caused by viruses.

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 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.

Prof Wang is a Professor in the Programme in Emerging Infectious Diseases at Duke-NUS Medical School and the inaugural Executive Director of the Programme for Research in Epidemic Preparedness and Response (PREPARE), Singapore. He is one of the world’s leading experts in zoonotic diseases, bat immunology and pathogen discovery.

His early research was at the Monash Centre for Molecular Biology and Medicine. In 1990, he joined the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) where he played a leading role in identifying bats as the natural host of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus. His research then extended from bat-borne viruses to better understand virus-bat interaction and how bats co-exist with a large number of viruses without developing clinical diseases. His recent research contributions include developing antibody based serological tests to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus, responsible for the COVID-19 outbreak, and the early and successful culture of the virus from an infected patents sample. His team is currently focusing on research into the origin of SARS-CoV-2, developing assays which can better assess vaccine efficacy in the context of a potential immunity passport strategy and novel vaccination strategy to broaden protective immunity against future variants and emerging SARS-related coronaviruses.

Prof Wang is a member of multiple World Health Organization committees on COVID-19. His work has been recognised internationally through various international awards, numerous invited speeches at major international conferences and more than 500 scientific papers including many top scientific publications in Science, Nature, New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, along with nice patents and many invited book chapters. He holds a number of honorary positions and memberships and has received numerous awards. Prof Wang was elected to the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2010 and the American Academy of Microbiology in 2021 in recognition of his expertise in new and emerging diseases. He received the Singapore’s President Science Award in 2021. He is also active internationally by serving on various editorial boards for publication in the areas of virology, microbiology and infectious diseases. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Virology Journal.

Prof Wang holds a PhD degree from the University of California, Davis USA and a Bachelor’s degree from the East China Normal University, Shanghai China.

Position: Journalist, New Scientist


Debora MacKenzie has been a major contributor to New Scientist, the British science and technology weekly, since 1982. For many years she has mostly written about infectious disease, arms control, resource management, fisheries, food production, issues emerging from social complexity and the scientific understanding of social phenomena such as migration, denialism, economic development and political organisation. Her educational background is in biology, with graduate work in electrophysiology and pharmacology. She has lived in continental Europe since 1980, formerly in Brussels, currently near Geneva, Switzerland.


Her recent book “Stopping the next pandemic, how COVID-19 can help us save humanity” was published in 2020 and revised in 2021 published by The Bridge Street Press:

In a gripping, accessible narrative, she lays out the shocking story of how the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic happened and how to make sure this never happens again.

Dr Lwazi Manzi is a medical doctor specialised in Emergency Medicine. She obtained her degrees from the University Of Cape Town.


She has a strong history of executive and industry leadership. Her 15 year career spans emergency medicine, music, television and film production and media relations. In 2019 she was appointed Media Liaison Officer and the Spokesperson for the Minister of Health in South Africa during a pivotal period in the history of South Africa’s health policy, namely the introduction of the National Health Insurance bill and through the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr Manzi has been appointed as Head of the newly created Secretariat of the African Union Commission on COVID-19. The Commission will work within the established African Continental Strategy structures and the Africa CDC on the control of the COVID pandemic.

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.

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: 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: Hungarian

Position: Assistant Professor; Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Research Fields: mRNA vaccines, influenza vaccines, mRNA therapeutics

Short description:
Dr Norbert Pardi holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry and genetics. He has been working at the University of Pennsylvania since 2011 and currently holds an Assistant Professor position at the Department of Microbiology of the Perelman School of Medicine. His research interest is the development of mRNA-based therapeutics with particular focus on new generation infectious disease vaccines. He explored the development of a novel vaccine platform using nucleoside-modified mRNA in lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) and used it to generate highly effective vaccines targeting various pathogens (influenza virus, coronaviruses, malaria and others). Dr. Pardi is a pioneer of the nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccine technology and published milestone papers in the field.

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: USA

Position: Professor Emeritus, University of Virginia School of Medicine

Research Fields: Therapeutics and vaccines for respiratory viral infections

Short description: Dr Hayden is Stuart S. Richardson Professor Emeritus of Clinical Virology and Professor Emeritus of Medicine at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA. Following medical school at Stanford University and clinical training in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the University of Rochester, New York, he joined the faculty of the University of Virginia in 1978, became Richardson Professor in 1990, and transitioned to emeritus status in 2015. During 2006-2008 he served as a medical officer in the Global Influenza Programme at the World Health Organization, Geneva and during 2008-2012 as influenza research coordinator at the Wellcome Trust, London.

His principal research interests have been on respiratory viral infections with a particular focus on the development and application of antiviral agents for influenza, rhinovirus, and coronavirus infections. Dr Hayden has served as a consultant to WHO on respiratory and emerging viral infectious diseases including avian influenza, pandemic 2009 influenza, SARS, MERS, Ebola, and COVID-19. During his work at the Wellcome Trust he helped to establish a new federation of clinical research networks called the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC) and with WHO colleagues to develop a new initiative, the Battle against Respiratory Viruses, to improve the clinical research response to respiratory virus threats. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he helped launch the first controlled trials of antivirals in Wuhan and has provided advice on therapeutics to multiple groups including UK CTAP and ACTIV. He has published over 450 peer-reviewed papers, chapters, and other articles, and co-edited the textbook Clinical Virology. In 2019 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Influenza Research from International Society for Influenza and Other Respiratory Viral Diseases.

Raúl Ortiz de Lejarazu Leonardo, MD, PhD, is a Virologist, Doctor in Medicine and Surgery, specialist in Microbiology and Parasitology, as well as in Preventive Medicine and Public Health. Professor of Microbiology. He is now scientific advisor and Emeritus Director of the National Influenza Centre of Valladolid, within the GISRS network of the WHO (Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System), Senior Consultant of Microbiology, Board member of the Vaccine Group and spokesperson for vaccines and respiratory infections of the SEIMC (Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology), he belongs to European RAISE Group (Raising Awareness of Influenza Strategies in Europe).

Editor-in-chief of the book “Influenza viruses: pandemics, epidemics and vaccines”; first flu book written in Spanish by more than 40 Spanish virologists, epidemiologists, veterinarians and medical doctors. He has directed 30 doctoral theses and authored more than 300 scientific contributions (papers in journals, book chapters, monographs, etc), and speaker at national and international scientific meetings. His areas of interest include: Influenza and respiratory viral infections and other viruses, (HIV/AIDS, viral gastroenteritis and HPV) vaccines and emerging infections. He was until September first, 2019, Director of the Valladolid NIC (Global Influenza Surveillance & Response System, WHO), Head of Microbiology and Immunology Department at the Hospital Clínico Universitario in Valladolid and Professor of Microbiology at the School of Medicine, University of Valladolid, Spain. The Spanish National Agency for Quality Assessment has accredited him five 6-years periods in active and continuous research.

He was part of the Group of experts for the elaboration of Pandemic Influenza Plan and the National Committee for Pandemic Influenza (2001 to 2009), to the group of laboratories of the ECDC for Influenza and Respiratory viruses and the Advisory Committee for Ebola Virus Disease of Castilla y León (2014). Recognized as a visiting professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the Universidad de la Plata (Argentina 1997), he has the gold badge of the University of Valladolid (Spain 2002) and the recognition by the Regional Director of the WHO as one of the collaborating laboratories in the European eradication of polio (2008). Correspondent academic of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Valladolid. He belongs to various editorial committees of well-respected journals in his specialty.

To search for main scientific contributions of the author, please copy the following boolean mesh:

Ortiz DE Lejarazu OR Lejarazu OR De Lejarazu OR de Lejarazu OR Ortiz DE Lejaraza OR Ortiz de Lejarzu R OR Ortiz de Lejarazu Leonardo OR Lejarazu RO OR Centro Nacional de Gripe de Valladolid OR Valladolid National Influenza Centre

And paste on the PubMed website: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ and then click on Search

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: Spanish

Position: Consultant, Scientific Adviser. Emeritus Senior Researcher in the Vaccines Research Area, Fundación para el Fomento de la Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de la Comunitat (FISABIO)

Research Fields: Influenza, Vaccination, Community-Acquired Infections, Epidemiology, Immunology, Virology, Prevention & control, Respiratory Syncytial Viruses, Population Surveillance, Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction, COVID-19.

Short description:
I’m a family physician by training, with MPH and PhD degrees.

My main activity is vaccine-related research, and I have been the PI in clinical trials and observational studies.

In 2010 I established the Valencian Hospital Surveillance Network (VAHNSI) to determine Influenza and other respiratory viruses’ epidemiology and BOD by an active surveillance system in which we included all consecutive consenting admission, obtained a combined swab and performed a multiplex (14 viruses) PCR. The network is still active and contributing to collaborative BOD publications.

I was involved in the first stages of the I-MOVE project in 2008, and the ensuing ECDC-I-MOVE protocol for hospital-based studies was based on the Valencia Network protocol. In 2012 I was offered to set up and lead the Global Influenza Surveillance Network (GIHSN). I was the PI and Coordinator of the GIHSN Network from 2012 to 2017. In 2016 I coordinated a multinational bid for an IMI tender to establish a five-year project to estimate the by-brand post-authorization vaccine effectiveness in Europe. We won the tender and launched the DRIVE project. I retired in 2017 after a seamless transfer of responsibilities in all the projects that remain active and well.

My last work is in drafting the WHO’s Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (PIP) Framework. Partnership Contribution (PC) Preparedness, High-Level Implementation Plan III 2024-2030.

I’m acting as Scientific Advisor and Senior Researcher, collaborating on projects with public and private entities.

November, 2022.

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.

Nationality: French

Position: Professor Risk Management at the University of Stavanger, Norway

Short Description:
He is a recognised expert in risk policy analysis and has deployed this expertise to develop and maintain strategic international policy networks. His awareness of the role that new modes of governance and the media play in policy making is a central pillar of his research. Frederic Bouder has integrated cognitive insights from decision science into making risk policy more science-informed. Frederic Bouder has made tangible impacts on policy, in particular several of his recommendations have been endorsed and implemented by European and national regulators and policymakers.

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.

Previously, Ms. Moen worked as a public health advisor in Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)’s Division of Community Health Services from 1992 to 1999. She began her career at CDC where she served as a laboratory scientist in both CDC’s Special Pathogens Branch and Center for Environmental Health Laboratory Services from 1985 to November 1992. Prior to joining CDC, Ms. Moen served as a Peace Corps Volunteer as a laboratory technician in Thailand.

Nationality: British/ American

Position: Professor of Microbiology

Research Fields: Transcription and genome replication of non-segmented negative strand RNA viruses

Short description:
Professor Fearns received her Ph.D. training at the University of St. Andrews in the UK from 199-1995 and her post-doctoral training at the National Institutes of Health in the USA from 1995-2000. From 2000-2007 she held a faculty position at the University of Dundee, UK. She returned to the US in 2007, and since then she has been a faculty member at Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine where she is a Professor of Microbiology and Investigator at the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories.

Professor Fearns’ research focuses on understanding the transcription and replication mechanisms of non-segmented negative strand RNA viruses. Much of her work has focused on respiratory syncytial virus, but in recent work her laboratory’s interests have expanded to include other respiratory pathogens, including human metapneumovirus and parainfluenza virus type 3. She also works on emerging pathogens including Ebola virus, Marburg virus and Nipah virus. Her laboratory’s research employs a combination of virology, molecular biology, and biochemical approaches, and Professor Fearns collaborates with structural biologists to elucidate polymerase structure-function mechanisms. In addition to pursuing basic research questions, Professor Fearns collaborates extensively with the pharmaceutical industry to determine mechanism of action of small molecule polymerase inhibitors and over the last decade she has worked collaboratively with Alios BioPharma, Janssen Sciences, Astra Zeneca, Gilead, Merck, Enanta Pharmaceuticals, and Roche.

Professor Fearns has held research funding from multiple grant funding agencies in the UK and US and has published in high impact journals, including Nature, PNAS, and EMBO Journal. She is an editor for PLoS Pathogens and MBio, and has served extensively on grant review panels in Europe and the US.

Dr. Biering-Sørensen holds a distinguished academic background, having obtained his medical degree in 2011 and his Ph.D. degree in 2015 from the University of Copenhagen. He furthered his education with a Master of Public Health from Harvard University in 2018 and a Master of Science in Clinical Trials from the University of Oxford in 2023.

He is the Founding Head of the Center for Translational Cardiology and Pragmatic Randomized Trials (CTCPR), a collaboration between Copenhagen University Hospital Herlev-Gentofte and the Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. Furthermore, he is the Founding Head of the Cardiovascular Non-Invasive Imaging Research Laboratory (CIRL), which is world-renowned for its innovative research in cardiac imaging.

Together with his research group at CTCPR and CIRL which consists of more than 50 affiliated researchers, Dr. Biering-Sørensen conducts extensive investigations into the efficacy of cardiovascular imaging techniques to enhance individualized risk prediction. Moreover, he has initiated several large-scale pragmatic randomized trials utilizing the resources of the nationwide Danish registries, thereby contributing significantly to the advancement of pragmatic trial methodologies.

Additionally, in his capacity as an academic leader, he has been awarded some of the most prestigious research awards in Denmark but also internationally, he has published more than 350 scientific publications and he provides mentorship to numerous medical students, PhD students, and postdoctoral researchers, offering guidance in various aspects of clinical research, with a particular focus on cardiovascular imaging, randomized trials, heart failure, and the effects of infections on cardiovascular outcomes.

Research topics

• Cardiovascular Imaging
• Heart Failure
• Infections effect on cardiovascular outcomes
• Randomized clinical trials