Keynote Speakers

Kimberly Armstrong

Kimberly Armstrong, Ph.D., MT (ASCP) is the Director of the Influenza and Emerging Infectious Diseases Division (IEIDD) at the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) within the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the Department for Health and Human Services. IEIDD is focused on preparing for the next influenza pandemic by modernizing influenza vaccines, developing new therapeutics for the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome, protecting the most vulnerable populations with pre-exposure prophylaxis options, and sustaining influenza vaccine manufacture infrastructure. IEIDD’s response efforts are evident in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic where vaccines and therapeutics were developed, tested, and authorized in record time. In addition to influenza and COVID-19, the division has invested in vaccines to protect against Zika virus infection as well as enabling vaccine technologies to support delivery of vaccines without needles and syringes. 

Prior to becoming the Division Director in 2023, Dr. Armstrong was the Chief of the Therapeutics Program within IEIDD. Her work within the program focused on testing antivirals for the treatment of hospitalized influenza infections and eventually pivoting the program to host-directed therapeutics for the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Armstrong led the therapeutics team to achieve Emergency Use Authorizations for 10 therapeutics and procurement of millions of treatment courses of COVID-19 antivirals that were distributed across the country.  

Before joining BARDA in 2015 as a project officer, Dr. Armstrong managed a regulatory science research portfolio for the Office of Counterterrorism and Emerging Threats at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Armstrong joined the federal government as a Presidential Management Fellow at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). She received her Ph.D. from the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in Biological Sciences in Public Health where her work focused on drug resistance in the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Dr. Armstrong received her certification as a medical technologist from the American Society for Clinical Pathology.

John Arputhan Abisheganaden

Professor John Abisheganaden is Chief and Senior Consultant at Health Services and Outcomes Research (HSOR), National Healthcare Group (NHG). He holds a Fellowship from the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh UK; a MMED (Internal Medicine) from NUS Singapore, as well as a FAMS (Respiratory Med) from the Academy of Medicine Singapore. He is also a Senior Consultant Respiratory & Critical Care Physician at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. He leads the HSOR team in population decision analytics and operations research, implementation and outcomes evaluation, as well as health system performance and sustainability. He is also chair of the NHG Respiratory Health Steering Committee, and also a lead clinician for NHG’s Value-Based Care work.

Ian Barr

Professor Ian Barr is currently the Deputy Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza which was designated in 1992 (one of 5 globally).  The Centre plays a key role in the national and regional surveillance of human and zoonotic influenza viruses as well as having an active research program. Ian has over 35 years’ experience with academic and commercial organisations, including over 25 years at the Centre. He has authored or co-authored over 300 scientific publications including more than 250 peer reviewed journal articles, reviews and editorials on various aspects of influenza and RSV.

Judith Breuer

Judith Breuer is Professor of Virology at UCL and Clinical lead for Virology at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. Professor Breuer established a UKAS accredited diagnostic metagenomics at GOSH for the detection of pathogens in suspected cases of encephalitis. She leads work on metagenomics of sterile sites within the Serious Presentation of Infectious Disease (SPID)  Genomic Network of Excellence (GNoE) and the Genomics to Enhance Microbial Screening (GEMS) Blood Transfusion Research Unit (BTRU), identifying metagenomically adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV2) as the unexplained paediatric hepatitis occurring in children in 2022.  Professor Breuer’s group were the first to show that the Guys and St ThomasTrust the ONT respiratory metagenomics pipeline could be successfully implemented in a second centre.  More recently Professor Breuer’s laboratory has developed a new method to improve the sensitivity of ONT sequencing for sterile sites.  This will be trialled against the current UKAS accredited pipeline.  Professor Breuer chairs and is a member of several national government and UKHSA committees on vaccines and infection.

Conrad Chan

Co-Chair

Dr. Conrad Chan is a Senior Principal Scientific Officer with the Communicable Disease Agency and leads the Laboratory Research Core under the Programme for Research in Epidemic Preparedness and REsponse (PREPARE). His laboratory develops and sustains high containment research capabilities in areas such as animal models, viral characterization, and production of reference materials. He did his PhD in Immunology at National University of Singapore on the development of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies against viral pathogens. Dr. Chan also holds appointments as Adjunct Asst. Professor at the LKC School of Medicine, Visiting Scientist at the National Centre for Infectious disease and Adjunct Principal Scientific Officer at DSO National Laboratories. 

Tristan Clark

Tristan Clark is a Professor and Honorary Consultant in Infectious Diseases at the University of Southampton and University Hospitals Southampton NHS trust. His research involves the assessment of diagnostic accuracy, usability, and clinical impact of novel rapid diagnostic tests for infections. He has been awarded grant funding from NIHR, Research Councils, EU, and Industry and has published results of his trials in The New England Journal of Medicine and Lancet series journals. During the COVID-19 pandemic he has acted as an advisor to the UK Department of Health and Social Care. The aim of his research is to improve patient care and experience through the evidence-based use of rapid diagnostic tests for infection.

Rebecca Cordery

Rebecca Cordery is a Consultant Epidemiologist with the Immunisation & Vaccine Preventable Diseases Division of the UK Health Security Agency.  She is Head of the Bacterial Vaccines Group and is the national clinical surveillance lead for diphtheria and tetanus.  She is a member of the UK Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation Committee.

Matthew Cove

Dr Matthew Edward Cove is a Senior Consultant in the Division of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine at the National University Hospital (NUH), Singapore, and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS). 

Dr Cove trained in the UK and the US, completing an internal medicine residency in Oregon and a Critical Care fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh, where he worked closely with world-leading experts in extracorporeal support, sepsis, and acid-base physiology. He moved to Singapore to join NUH, where he has helped build a nationally recognized program in critical care research. 

Dr Cove is the local principal investigator for REMAP-CAP, the global adaptive platform trial for community-acquired pneumonia and pandemic preparedness. Under his leadership, NUH became a regional hub for the Asia-Pacific REMAP-CAP network, making significant contributions to introducing REMAP-CAP to Southeast Asian countries. He has also led NMRC-funded projects to develop and translate novel extracorporeal CO₂ removal (ECCO₂R) platforms for use in respiratory failure. He has just completed a large NRF-funded project to develop label-free flow cytometry for early diagnostics. He is currently a theme PI for an NMRC LCG focusing on health outcomes after ICU. 

He has published extensively in the areas of mechanical ventilation, fluid resuscitation, and extracorporeal support, and works closely with partners in Australia, Thailand, and Germany to advance multi-centre research. 

Dr Cove remains actively engaged in mentoring, clinical leadership, and promoting evidence-based innovation in critical care. 

Benjamin Cowling

Prof Cowling is currently a Professor in the WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control at the School of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong, and a member of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at Harvard School of Public Health. He is a consultant for the World Health Organisation and serves on the editorial boards of Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, PLoS ONE and PLoS Currents: Outbreaks. In 2015 he was awarded a Croucher Senior Research Fellowship for his work on influenza virus epidemiology. Prof Cowling conducts research into the epidemiology of influenza and other respiratory viruses. His research team has characterized how easily seasonal and pandemic influenza viruses can spread in households, and the measures which can reduce transmission such as face masks and improved hand hygiene. His recent research has focused on the effectiveness of influenza vaccines and the complex transmission dynamics of respiratory viruses. He has authored more than 270 peer-reviewed publications.

Tom Fabrizio

Thomas Fabrizio is a Staff Scientist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a WHO Collaborating Center for the Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in molecular virology and conducted his post-doctoral training at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital focused on interspecies transmission dynamics of zoonotic influenza viruses.  

Dr. Fabrizio’s research interests focus on the molecular signatures of influenza infection, pathogenesis, and transmission particularly for zoonotic viruses with pandemic potential. Since 2017, Dr. Fabrizio has served as a technical expert or organized and led influenza risk assessments for the WHO utilizing the Tool for Influenza Pandemic Risk Assessment (TIPRA). Since 2019, he has been responsible for the genetic analysis of influenza surveillance samples that are submitted to or collected by the St. Jude WHO Collaborating Center providing a valuable dataset for the selection of zoonotic candidate vaccine viruses at the biannual WHO vaccine composition meeting.” 

Stephanie Goya

Dr. Stephanie Goya is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington, where she leads genomic studies on respiratory viruses including RSV, metapneumovirus, rhinoviruses, and seasonal coronaviruses. With a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires, her expertise spans viral genomics, molecular diagnostics, and public health surveillance. Dr. Goya has contributed to global efforts in genomic data standardization as a Data Scientist for GISAID and served as an external expert for the WHO on RSV surveillance. She also leads the International RSV Genotyping Consortium and is actively involved in teaching and mentoring in the fields of bioinformatics and molecular virology.

Natasha Halasa

Dr. Halasa is Craig Weaver Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Director of the Vanderbilt Infection Surveillance and Prevention Research (VISPR) Program. She received a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in biology from the University of Akron. She received her M.D. degree from the Medical College of Ohio and completed a residency in pediatrics at Columbus Children’s Hospital. She completed a fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at Vanderbilt and earned an M.P.H. degree during her fellowship training. She joined the faculty in 2004. Dr. Halasa’s research involves determining the burden of diarrheal and respiratory illnesses in young children and specialized populations and finding ways to reduce their burden (e.g. through vaccine, drugs, etc…). Since 2002, Dr. Halasa has been involved in vaccine trials enrolling children from all ages, including young infants and specialized populations such as children with cancer. Currently, currently is PI of the Vanderbilt site of the New Vaccine Surveillance Network initially established in 1999 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the PI of five (3 current) NIH grants investigating high dose influenza vaccine versus standard dose influenza vaccine in pediatric and adult stem cell and solid organ recipients. 

Paul Heath

Paul Heath is a Professor in Paediatric Infectious Diseases at City St George’s, University of London, where he is the Director of the Vaccine Institute. His training in paediatrics and infectious diseases was at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford; and St George’s Hospital, London. His research interests are in the epidemiology of vaccine preventable diseases, in clinical vaccine trials, particularly in at-risk groups and in perinatal infections. He coordinates a European neonatal infection surveillance network (neonIN) and the UK Paediatric Vaccine Group (UKPVG), is a member of the JCVI, chairs the NIHR Vaccine Innovation Pathway: Vaccine Research in Pregnant Participants Working Group, is co-Chair of the UK Infectious Diseases Vaccine Research Forum and is a member of the WHO GBS Working Group.

Julian Hiscox

Prof. Julian A. Hiscox is Chair in Infection and Global Health and Executive Dean of the Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences at the University of Liverpool, UK. He is also an Adjunct at the A*STAR Infectious Diseases Labs (A*STAR IDL) in Singapore. He has a Degree in Genetics from University College London (1991) and PhD in Microbiology from the University of Reading (1995) where he studied the mechanism of coronavirus transcription. He was a PDRA at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (USA) and the Institute for Animal Health (now the Pirbright Institute) (UK). His research group centers around using high resolution transcriptomic and proteomic techniques to understand viral evolution, the context of the microbiome and the host response. This work is framed for the better development and validation of medical countermeasures. His group focuses on three main groups of viruses; severe coronaviruses (SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV), human seasonal coronaviruses and filoviruses (mainly Ebola virus). The group studies these viruses using samples from human patients, animal models and microphysiological systems. Since 2020, he has been a co-opted and now member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) which advises the UK Government on the threat posed by new and emerging respiratory viruses. 

David Hui

David Hui is the Chairman of Department of Medicine & Therapeutics and the Stanley Ho Professor of Respiratory Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He has joined the CUHK as an academic clinician since 1998 and is based at the Prince of Wales Hospital, HK where a major outbreak of SARS occurred in 2003. Since 2004, he has frequently served as an advisor to the WHO on the clinical management of emerging severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) including avian influenza, pandemic influenza, MERS and COVID-19. He also joined urgent WHO missions for the investigation of MERS outbreaks in Riyadh and South Korea in 2013 and 2015 respectively. He has published extensively in the field of severe respiratory viral infections. He was a top 1% highly cited researcher (Cross field, Clarivate) in 2021 and 2022.

Erik Karlsson

During his doctoral work at, the Department of Nutrition at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dr. Karlsson delved deeply into studying the effect of nutrition on immune responses to viral pathogens – specifically the weight of diet-induced obesity on influenza infection. After completing his Ph.D and being awarded certificates for study in Translational Medicine and Field Epidemiology, he then began pursuing a research career focused on understanding the spread, evolution, and risks of viruses. Karlsson’s postdoctoral and Staff Scientist work took place at St. Jude Childrens’ Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. There he focused on research areas including virology, viral pathogenesis, co-infection dynamics, immunology, and global infectious disease surveillance at animal-human interfaces worldwide. Currently, Dr. Karlsson serves as the Deputy Head of the Virology Unit at the Institut Pasteur du Cambodge (IPC) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He is responsible for all ongoing activities related to seasonal and zoonotic respiratory viruses. He serves as Director of the National Influenza Center and Regional WHO H5 Reference Lab, and is Coordinator of a WHO COVID-19 Global Reference Laboratory. His personal work at IPC centres on improving surveillance of endemic and emerging viruses at high-risk interfaces. He utilizes novel surveillance technologies alongside traditional detection and genomic epidemiology methods to enhance Early Warning systems against future pandemics. Aside from his work in research and One Health, Karlsson frequently acts as a technical advisor and consultant for UN organizations like the FAO and WHO on topics such as novel surveillance, biosafety/biosecurity, laboratory development, genomic surveillance, and traditional food markets. He also serves on advisory groups for organizations such as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Recognizing the global nature of pandemic threats at the animal-human-environment interface, Karlsson also founded CANARIES – a research consortium and think tank leveraging animal market networks for enhanced infectious disease surveillance and response.

Obadia Kenji

Dr. Obadia Kenji is a biomedical scientist and clinical laboratory leader with expertise in infectious disease diagnostics, molecular assay development, and genomic surveillance. He serves as a Consultant to the World Health Organization, co-leading global efforts on respiratory virus genomic surveillance and lab quality. He has held roles at Stanford Medicine, USA as Manager for Infectious Disease Diagnostics and at Illumina, USA as Lead Scientist for Clinical Genomics. He also led diagnostic research and lab capacity-building in Cameroon. Dr. Kenji holds a PhD from the University of Hawaiʻi (USA) and is a certified High-Complexity Clinical Laboratory Director in Microbiology. 

Wei Xin Khong

Co-Chair

Dr Khong is Deputy Director at the Air and Droplet Borne Division, Communicable Diseases Agency, Singapore. She obtained her PhD in Infectious Diseases and Immunology from the National University of Singapore. Over the past eight years, she has been actively involved in the surveillance, epidemiology and response of communicable diseases, first under the Ministry of Health, Singapore and now at the CDA. Her work spans policy development, national surveillance programmes, and operational responses to communicable diseases of public health concern. She also served as lead rapporteur for the World Health Organization’s Public Health Research Agenda for Influenza (2024 Update), contributing to global recommendations on improving vaccines, production, and delivery to minimise the impact of influenza pandemics and epidemics.

Shamez Ladhani

Prof Shamez Ladhani PhD MRCPCH(UK) MSc(distinction) MBBS(hons) BSc(hons) is a paediatric infectious diseases consultant at St. George’s Hospital, professor of paediatric infectious diseases and vaccinology at St. George’s University of London and consultant epidemiologist at UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), where he is the clinical lead for a number of national vaccine preventable infections, including Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Neisseria meningitidis, which are all major causes of childhood bacterial meningitis. He completed his medical training at Guy’s and St. Thomas’s Hospitals, London, and then worked in a children’s hospital in rural Kenya. Upon returning to London, he obtained his PhD in genetic epidemiology and vaccine failure in children and completed his specialist paediatric infectious diseases training at St. George’s and Great Ormond Street Hospitals, London. In the current pandemic, he is the clinical lead for of SARS-CoV-2 in Children at UKHSA. His work has focused on national surveillance of SARS-CoV-2, PIMS-TS and long COVID, immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 in children compared to adults as well as infection, transmission and outbreaks in educational settings and COVID-19 vaccines for children. He has published extensively in the field of paediatric infectious diseases and vaccine-preventable infections. 

Adam Lauring

Dr. Adam Lauring is a Professor and Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan. He received his MD and PhD from the University of Washington in Seattle. Dr. Lauring pursued his post-graduate clinical and research training at the University of California, San Francisco, where he completed a medical residency, an Infectious Diseases fellowship, and a postdoctoral fellowship in virology. He has been on the faculty at the University of Michigan since 2012. 

Dr. Lauring studies the fundamentals of how viruses mutate and how this drives the evolution of poliovirus, influenza virus, RSV, and SARS-CoV-2. His more recent work utilizes advanced sequencing of influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2 samples to understand viral spread in households, healthcare settings, and across communities. He also participates in studies of influenza and COVID vaccine effectiveness. Dr. Lauring is a Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation. He serves as Deputy Editor at the Journal of Infectious Diseases. His research on virus evolution and genomic epidemiology has been funded by grants from the NIH, CDC, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 

Vernon Lee

Prof Vernon Lee, a preventive medicine physician, has a distinguished record in global health, focusing on pandemic preparedness, infectious disease epidemiology, and health policy. His pivotal role in Singapore’s COVID-19 strategy and his response to the SARS, influenza, and Zika outbreaks highlight his contributions.

Prof Lee’s previous positions as Advisor to the WHO’s Assistant Director-General, Medical Epidemiologist in WHO Country O􀆯ice in Indonesia, and Head of the Singapore Armed Forces’ Biodefence Centre, demonstrate his global health security expertise. He continues to serve on expert committees at the international level.

A proponent of evidence-based health policy, Prof Lee has authored around 200 scientific papers featured in NEJM, JAMA, and Lancet. He maintains an adjunct professorship at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health in Singapore.

His academic achievements include an MBBS from the National University of Singapore, a PhD in epidemiology from the Australian National University, and MPH and MBA degrees from Johns Hopkins University.

Wei Shen Lim

Professor Wei Shen Lim is consultant respiratory physician at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and Honorary Professor of Medicine, University of Nottingham. He is chair of the Acute Respiratory Infections national research strategy group, NIHR Respiratory Translational Research Collaboration. He developed the CURB65 severity scoring tool for community acquired pneumonia and co-led the evaluation of Dexamethasone for COVID-19 in the RECOVERY Trial. He is chair of COVID-19 Immunisation, Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). In 2023, he led the set-up of a national Hospital-based Acute Respiratory Infection Surveillance System (HARISS) in England.

Direk Limmathurotsakul

Dr. Limmathurotsakul is a distinguished researcher and physician specializing in melioidosis (an infection caused by the Gram-negative bacillus Burkholderia pseudomallei), sepsis and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). He serves as the Head of Microbiology at the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), a Professor of Epidemiology at Mahidol University, Thailand and a Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the University of Oxford, UK  

Dr. Limmathurotsakul is regarded as a global leader in melioidosis with his extensive publications on epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Using modelling and statistical approaches, he estimated that B. pseudomallei causes an infection in about 165,000 people per year worldwide, and 89,000 (54%) of those people die. He estimated that melioidosis is severely underreported in the 45 countries in which it is known to be endemic and probably endemic in a further 34 countries that have never reported the disease. He has been raising the importance of melioidosis globally, highlighting its systematic misdiagnosis in many tropical low- and middle-income countries, and providing guidance on improving its surveillance, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention worldwide. 

In 2015, he established and chaired the International Melioidosis Network (IMN) from 2015 to 2024. The IMN allows researchers, healthcare providers, and stakeholders to communicate, share working guidelines and laboratory protocols (www.melioidosis.info) and request support from other members worldwide (http://groups.google.com/group/melioidosis). 

Marc Lipsitch

Marc Lipsitch is Professor of Epidemiology and Director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. He was the founding Director for Science of the US CDC’s Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics, where until recently he served as Senior Advisor. His research spans experimental molecular microbiology and immunology, phylogenomics, epidemiology, and mathematical modeling, and broadly considers the effect of human immune systems and public health interventions on pathogen populations and the consequences of these ecological and evolutionary changes for human health. He was a leading researcher and science communicator during the COVID-19 pandemic on topics including infection dynamics, vaccine allocation, vaccine safety and effectiveness, disease severity, and health equity. This work built on prior efforts on influenza epidemiology and pandemiology, antimicrobial resistance, epidemiologic methods, Streptococcus pneumoniae biology and immunology and epidemiology, and science policy. Dr. Lipsitch is a member of the American Academy of Microbiology and the US National Academy of Medicine.

Cédric Mahé

Dr Cédric Mahé is a PhD epidemiologist who spent the first part of his career conducting research and  generating evidence to inform policies within national authorities, WHO, The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and UNAIDS. He joined Sanofi vaccines in 2011 where he occupied different evidence generation leadership positions. 

His main area of interest is to build evidence generation driven public-private partnerships with academics and public health organizations geared toward greater public health benefits. He is notably the founder and President of the Foundation for Influenza Epidemiology supporting the Global Influenza Hospital Surveillance Network, working in close collaboration with WHO. He was also the co-lead of the AIOLOS project, a multi-source data integration approach using artificial intelligence and modeling to detect and monitor respiratory virus outbreaks, co-funded by the French and the German government. 

Javier Martin

Javier is a Principal Scientist at MHRA South Mimms where he leads the Polio Laboratory Group. He completed his Ph.D. studies at the Universidad Autonoma, Madrid, Spain, successfully developing a novel technique to generate genetically modified synthetic influenza viruses used to develop prospective synthetic vaccines. Javier then spent four years as a postdoctoral scientist at the National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, London UK, where he continued his work on influenza virus. He moved to the NIBSC, now MHRA, in 1998 where he is the Head of the WHO Polio Global Specialized Laboratory supporting the WHO Global Polio Eradication Initiative both on disease surveillance and vaccine control, standardization and development.

Sebastian Maurer-Stroh

Sebastian Maurer-Stroh studied theoretical biochemistry at the University of Vienna and wrote his master and PhD thesis at the Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP). After FEBS and Marie Curie fellowships at the VIB-SWITCH lab in Brussels, he has been leading the sequence analytics portfolio in the A*STAR Bioinformatics Institute (BII) since 2007 and Infectious Disease Programme since 2010. He is the Executive Director of BII since January 2021. His computational team is well known for successes at the public-private interface in Singapore from Precision Medicine to Consumer Product and Food Safety and of course for his critical contributions to national and global viral pathogen surveillance through the GISAID data science initiative that has become the single most important source for virus outbreak data sharing and analysis in this pandemic powering public health responses globally. He was awarded the 2017 A*STAR STAR Award, 2017 PS(Health) Award – Excellence (Team), 2018 Ministry of Health collaborator long-service award, 2022 Public Administration Medal (Silver) under the National Awards (COVID-19) and 2024 Public Sector Transformation Award – Exemplary Leader Award. 

John McLane

Dr John Ryan McLane, Executive Director of the Asia-Pacific Alliance for the Control of Influenza (APACI) has worked in global public health in a range of settings over the past two decades, including managing a public health unit in the Alaskan arctic; leading clinical teams in an Ebola Treatment Unit in Sierra Leone and following Cyclone Winston in Fiji; working for the New Zealand Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Otago School of Medicine; and providing direct care for populations as diverse as indigenous Siberians, undocumented agricultural workers in California, and civilians caught in civil conflict in Latin America. He has also worked globally as a consultant focusing on disaster response, business continuity, leadership, and team dynamics.

John has published on the history and social impacts of pandemics and served on advisory groups for large scale exercises, Pacific climate response and public information campaigns. He served on the Wellcome Campaign Advisory Board and current sis on the New Zealand Law Society Standards Committee and the Board of Directors of the Greater Wellington Cancer Society. John holds advanced degrees in international relations from Troy State University and public health from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His PhD work with the University of Otago focused upon the 1918 influenza pandemic in the Samoas, Tonga, and Fiji.  

Yoshihiko Murata

Dr. Murata is an Executive Director in Virology Clinical Development at Gilead Sciences, where he leads and oversees clinical development programs for COVID-19, respiratory viruses, and emerging viruses.  Dr. Murata is a former Medical Officer in the Division of Antiviral Drug Products, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, US FDA.  As a faculty member in the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Dr. Murata led a preclinical RSV vaccine development program, served as an investigator for anti-infectives and vaccine clinical trials, and participated as a voting member on multiple US FDA Antiviral Drug Advisory Committee meetings, including as the Committee Chairperson.  Prior to his current role at Gilead, Dr. Murata has held leadership positions in clinical development programs for biologics and drugs to prevent or treat infectious diseases at Merck, ViiV Healthcare, and Janssen.

Hanna Nohynek

Hanna Nohynek is Professor MD PhD, with special competences in vaccinology, international and travel health (FMA); Chief Physician Unit Prevention of Health Threats of Department of Public Health in Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), a governmental research agency. She was secretary, Finnish NITAG until 8/2023, still member. Chairperson of WHO SAGE since 1/2023, former chairperson of SAGE working group covid-19 vaccines (4/2020-12/2022). After PhD on diagnostic methods development, she coordinated Phase II trials & Phase III 11PCV against childhood pneumonia in the Philippines. In 2010, she joined THL to work in vaccine programme design, evidence-based policy/decision making, vaccine impact and safety, acceptance, SARS-CoV-2, RSV, influenza and avian influenza, pertussis and pneumococcus. Presently she is Principal investigator of 3 immunogenicity and safety studies: repeated influenza vaccinations among HCWs, covid-19 vaccinations and avian influenza vaccinations. She has published over 200 scientific peer reviewed publications. She co-led RSV product assessment (www.imi-promise.eu) and brand-specific influenza vaccine effectiveness projects (www.drive-eu.org). She teaches (incl ADVAC) and mentors, is in board of international organizations (icddr.b, member and IVI Emeritus Trustee), and board member and 2nd vice chair of the Wellbeing Service County of Päijät-Häme (since 6/2025). A book was published of her life and work https://kirja.fi/collections/terhi-hautamaki/products/hanna-nohynek-peloton-9789510498811

Peter Openshaw

Peter Openshaw is Professor of Experimental Medicine at Imperial College London, UK. A respiratory physician and mucosal immunologist, his research focuses on how the immune response both protects against viral infection but also causes disease. 

He has published widely on vaccinology, the immunopathogenesis of pulmonary viral diseases and lung inflammation, especially in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza and COVID-19 infection. He works on human challenge in volunteers (Google Scholar and https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7220-2555). 

He is a Board Member of the Science Media Centre and Director of the HIC-Vac consortium (https://www.hic-vac.org/).  He was the first clinical President of the British Society for Immunology (2013-18) and received prizes for his lifetime contribution to RSV research (Chanock Award, 2012), the European Federation of Immunological Societies Award (2014) and the Per Brandtzaeg Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award in mucosal immunology (2024). 

He advised the UK government on pandemics (SAGE, 2009-12; Chair/Vice-Chair of NERVTAG, 2015-2022). He was made a Commander of the British Empire for services to Medicine and Immunology in the 2022 UK New Year’s Honours and received the 2024 Imperial College Medal for his work as a Consul, reforming the university’s Ethos, Values and Behaviours.  

Nicholas Paton

Nicholas Paton is an infectious disease physician and clinical trialist. He trained in medicine and infectious diseases in Cambridge, Sydney and London, and in epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.  

He has based his career in both Singapore and UK for the last 30 years. In Singapore he was head of department at the national referral centre for HIV infection; and is now based at the National University of Singapore as Professor of Infectious Diseases. In UK, he worked at the MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL and is a Professor of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.  

His research interests are optimisation of HIV and tuberculosis treatment in resource-limited settings and has collaborated widely with research institutions in both Asia and Africa.  

In the area of HIV, he has led pivotal clinical trials such as EARNEST and NADIA, testing options for second line therapy in Africa; and is scientific lead of the CARES trial, testing 2-monthly injectible long-acting therapy for HIV. These trials have changed international HIV treatment guidelines and the approach to HIV drug resistance testing. He has supported the development of African institutional capacity for coordinating trials within sub-Saharan Africa.

In the field of TB, he leads a programme of treatment trials coordinated from Singapore, including the TRUNCATE-TB trial, conducted in a network of 18 sites in Asia and Africa that evaluated a strategy for using 8 weeks of initial treatment instead of the standard 24-week regimen for TB. He is a core academic lead for the EU-funded UNITE4TB trials consortium and the Chief Investigator for the flagship trial of that network – the PARADIGM4TB trial – which is testing multiple new drug combinations for tuberculosis in a global network of clinical research sites.  

Richard Pebody

Richard Pebody is a public health epidemiologist and currently Director of Epidemic and Emerging Infections at the UK Health Security Agency. He was previously High Threat Pathogen lead at WHO Regional Office for Europe where he was responsible for work on infections such as influenza and of course SARS-CoV-2. 

Martin Ryser

Dr. Martin Ryser serves as the Global Medical Head for Influenza and COVID-19 Vaccines at Sanofi. He holds a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree from Humboldt University in Berlin and began his career in academic research at the University of Dresden, where he focused on immunology & hematology. 

Dr. Ryser transitioned to the pharmaceutical industry with a focus on medical affairs, bringing over 15 years of experience spanning diagnostics and, since 2014, vaccines. He has held leadership roles at Becton Dickinson, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, and Sanofi. 

Deeply committed to advancing global public health, Dr. Ryser is particularly engaged in innovative approaches to evidence generation and medical education aimed at improving vaccine uptake worldwide. He is the author of more than 30 peer-reviewed publications  on immunology, infectious diseases & immunization. 

Jason Rosch

Dr. Jason Rosch received his undergraduate degree from the College of Wooster with a major in biology and a minor in chemistry. He received his PhD in Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis from Washington University followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in Infectious Diseases at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He is currently a Full Member in the Department of Host Microbe Interactions at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. His research focuses on virulence mechanisms of pathogenic streptococci and antibiotic resistance development, with an emphasis on respiratory infections. He has a particular interest in the role and mechanisms by which respiratory viruses such as influenza and RSV mediated heightened susceptibility to secondary bacterial pneumonia. His lab utilizes a broad range of tools to query host-pathogen interactions, including classical genetics, transcriptomics, murine models of infection, and high-throughput genetic approaches. He has over 20 years of experience in the filed of host-pathogen interactions with work spanning the basic underlying biology to mechanistic understanding of invasive disease and pathogen transmission.  

Gavin Smith

Professor Gavin Smith is Director of the Programme in Emerging Infectious Diseases at Duke-NUS Medical School. He received his primary training in ecology and evolution at The University of Melbourne and earned his PhD from The University of Hong Kong, where he also undertook his post-doctoral training in the Department of Microbiology before relocating to Singapore. His research focuses on the ecology and evolution of zoonotic viruses and the genomic epidemiology of human respiratory pathogens. His lab conducts human and animal disease surveillance across Asia in collaboration with universities, hospitals, government and intergovernmental research institutions (including UN agencies), NGOs and industry partners. The ultimate goal of his research is to better understand virus ecosystems in Asia, particularly at the animal-human interface, to inform and enhance disease control. A key component of his work is engaging with regional scientists to build local research and technical capacity for disease detection, prevention, and control. 

Julian Sutton

Dr Julian Sutton graduated from Oxford University Medical School in 1994.  In 1991, during his undergraduate studies he was awarded the Martin Wronker prize for best experimental dissertation (‘Cytotoxic T-cell responses to Influenza’)  and in his medical elective attachment at the MRC Unit in Banjul, The Gambia, he demonstrated the novel finding of HIV-specific cytotoxic T-cell responses in HIV-exposed but uninfected Gambian women, published in the inaugural issue of Nature Medicine, (1995).

Following junior House Officer (HO) posts in Oxford and Bath he worked in various medical specialities, including Infectious Diseases (ID), in senior House Officer (SHO) posts at the Hammersmith, Whittington, Royal Free and Queen Square, London, before an SpR post in ID and General Internal Medicine at Ealing Hospital, West London.

In 1999 Dr Sutton took up an MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship at Oxford University leading to the award a D. Phil on CD4+ T-cell responses to HIV, before commencing dual training in Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology at Imperial College, and UCH, London.

Dr Sutton was appointed Consultant in ID and Microbiology at University Hospital Southampton (UHS) in 2008 and co-founded the Infectious Diseases inpatient service at UHS in 2013.  As lead author of a new Infectious Diseases training curriculum in Wessex, he secured GMC approval for ID training in the region and was Training Programme Director for ID and Microbiology in Health Education England – Wessex from 2015 to 2021.   He became Clinical Lead of the UHS Department of Infection in January 2020 and also assumed the Lead Infection Control Doctor (ICD) role during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.   More recently he was appointed as Care Group Clinical Lead for Specialist Medicine and Inpatient Medicine.

Julian’s clinical and research interests include new and emerging pathogens, the application of rapid infection diagnostics in real world NHS settings, outbreak control, and the prevention of healthcare associated infection.

In his ICD role Dr Sutton has coordinated and led his Hospital Trust’s response to a large and prolonged outbreak of C. auris in one of its regional/tertiary surgical services.

Paul Ananth Tambyah

Paul Ananth Tambyah is currently Professor of Medicine at the National University of Singapore and also Senior Consultant Infectious Diseases Physician at the National University Health System. After completing medical school at the National University of Singapore and infectious diseases training at the University of Wisconsin, he returned to Singapore 25 years ago and has served in a number of national and international committees including as founding head of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the National University of Singapore. He is also immediate past President of both the International Society for Infectious Diseases and the Asia Pacific Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infection. He is a visiting consultant to the National Center for Infectious Diseases, Singapore and the Singapore Armed Forces. His main research interests are emerging infections including influenza clinical trials and device associated infections. 

Emma Thomson

Emma Thomson is the Director of the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research. She is Clinical Professor of Infectious Diseases, specialising in viral evolution and detection of emerging viral infections. She also holds a position as Professor of Emerging Viruses at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). Her research group develop and use next-generation sequencing (NGS) methods to detect new and emerging viruses in the UK and in East Africa (Uganda) and engage in improving local diagnostic capacity to allow for more rapid control interventions. Her group also work on linking the genotype of viruses with the phenotype in the laboratory and in clinical settings. She works as a consultant in infectious diseases and general (internal) medicine NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHS GG&C) and a PI for several vaccine studies.

Tan Chee Wah

Dr. Tan Chee Wah obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Malaya in 2014 on enterovirus A71–host interactions and joined Professor Wang Linfa’s lab in 2017 as a postdoctoral fellow, focusing on bat-borne viruses. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he led the invention of the SARS-CoV-2 surrogate neutralization test (cPass™), the first FDA EUA–approved assay for neutralizing antibodies, and later developed a multiplex sVNT to detect responses against SARS-CoV-2 variants and related coronaviruses. His work, published in NEJM, Nature Biotechnology, Lancet Infectious Diseases, and Nature Microbiology, has had significant global impact. In 2023, he established his own research group at the Infectious Diseases Translational Research Programme (ID TRP), NUS, focusing on pandemic sciences.

Jevin West

Jevin West is a Professor and the Associate Dean for Research in the Information School at the University of Washington. He is the co-founder and the inaugural director of the Center for an Informed Public at UW, aimed at resisting strategic misinformation, promoting an informed society and strengthening democratic discourse. He is the co-founder of the DataLab at UW, a Data Science Fellow at the eScience Institute, and Affiliate Faculty for the Center for Statistics & Social Sciences. His research and teaching focus on the impact of data and technology on science, with a focus on slowing the spread of misinformation in and about science. He has published more than 100 scholarly articles in computer science, human computer interaction, information science, biology, philosophy, law, and sociology. He is the co-author of the book, “Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World,” which helps non-experts question numbers, data, and statistics without an advanced degree in data science. He has given keynotes around the world and his work featured in The New Yorker, The Economist, Washington Post, NPR, BBC, Nature, Science, and many others.

Judith Wong

Dr Judith Wong has a background spanning clinical diagnostics and surveillance of viral diseases, quality assurance and multi-disciplinary research with focus on microbiology. In her recent role at the Environmental Health Institute, National Environment Agency, Singapore, she led a multidisciplinary scientific team working on various One Health initiatives including risk assessment and surveillance of vector-borne diseases, biosurveillance, and environmental monitoring of antimicrobial resistance.  Judith helped to set-up Singapore’s Wastewater-Based Epidemiology Programme, which expanded from a research initiative to a national surveillance system spanning across more than 500 locations countrywide.

Judith received her PhD in Biological Sciences from the National University of Singapore and was an ASEAN-Australian One Health Fellow with Murdoch University, Australia. She also serves as a Deputy Co-Lead for Environmental Transmission and Mitigation with the Programme for Research in Epidemic Preparedness and Response (PREPARE), Communicable Diseases Agency, Singapore.

Sook San Wong

Dr. Wong obtained her PhD in molecular virology, working on dengue virus, from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne, Australia. She subsequently completed her postdoctoral training at the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN, which was also the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center on the study of the ecology of influenza in lower animals. Prior to joining HKU, Dr. Wong was a PI at Guangzhou Medical University, China, where she was involved in some of the early outbreak response during early 2020. In the space of pandemic preparedness, she has been involved in risk assessments of avian influenza viruses, including H7N9 and studying the immunological correlates of protection against them. Her current laboratory’s research interest is focused on understanding the immunological and virological determinants of robust antibody responses at a population as well as at the individual level. This includes a focus on population immunity to avian influenza viruses, which will help in quantifying infection risks as well as in identifying strategies that can help mitigate the impact of avian influenza virus infections.

Mo Yin

Dr Mo Yin is the Deputy director of ADVANCE-ID clinical trial network, and an Infectious Diseases physician at the National University Hospital in Singapore. She is the lead investigator for the REGARD-VAP trial (Reducing Antibiotic Treatment Duration for Ventilator Associated Pneumonia) and the ACORN-HAI study (A Clinically-Oriented Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network for Healthcare Associated Infections). She has designed and conducted large multinational clinical trials which focus on pragmatic solutions for antibiotic resistant bacterial infections. She is driven by the ideal of using quality clinical research to improve patient outcomes and propel global policies. She has received numerous awards for her achievements in clinical care, research and teaching. Dr Mo Yin obtained her MBBS from the National University of Singapore and DPhil from University of Oxford.

Maria Zambon

Professor Maria Zambon is the current Head of Respiratory Viruses and Director of the National Influenza Centre at UKHSA’s National Reference Laboratory in Colindale, London.

With 40 years of experience as a medically qualified influenza virologist, of which three decades have been at the UK public health agency, UKHSA, and its predecessor organisations, she has played a crucial role in the surveillance and response to seasonal influenza as well as new and emerging respiratory viruses over this time.

Robert Allen

Robert Allen, Ph.D. has served as our Chief Scientific Officer since April 2023. He brings over 30 years of experience across the infectious disease space, most recently as the Chief Scientific Officer of SmartPharm Therapeutics, a subsidiary of Sorrento Therapeutics, from 2020 to 2023. During that time, he led efforts to develop gene-encoded monoclonal antibodies for COVID-19 that could be quickly adapted to respond to emerging variants of concern. He also served concurrently as Senior Vice President, Antiviral and Oncolytic Immunotherapy Development, at Sorrento Therapeutics. Prior to his time at SmartPharm Therapeutics, he held multiple senior scientific roles across the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries including Sorrento Therapeutics, SIGA Technologies, and the Oregon Translational Research and Development Institute. Robert holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology from Columbia University, an M.S. in Applied Biology from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a B.S. in Biology from Rhodes College. He has published extensively in the field of virology and completed his postdoctoral training in virology at Washington University in St. Louis and Emory University.

Kimberly Armstrong

Kimberly Armstrong, Ph.D., MT (ASCP) is the Director of the Influenza and Emerging Infectious Diseases Division (IEIDD) at the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) within the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the Department for Health and Human Services. IEIDD is focused on preparing for the next influenza pandemic by modernizing influenza vaccines, developing new therapeutics for the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome, protecting the most vulnerable populations with pre-exposure prophylaxis options, and sustaining influenza vaccine manufacture infrastructure. IEIDD’s response efforts are evident in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic where vaccines and therapeutics were developed, tested, and authorized in record time. In addition to influenza and COVID-19, the division has invested in vaccines to protect against Zika virus infection as well as enabling vaccine technologies to support delivery of vaccines without needles and syringes. 

Prior to becoming the Division Director in 2023, Dr. Armstrong was the Chief of the Therapeutics Program within IEIDD. Her work within the program focused on testing antivirals for the treatment of hospitalized influenza infections and eventually pivoting the program to host-directed therapeutics for the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Armstrong led the therapeutics team to achieve Emergency Use Authorizations for 10 therapeutics and procurement of millions of treatment courses of COVID-19 antivirals that were distributed across the country.  

 Before joining BARDA in 2015 as a project officer, Dr. Armstrong managed a regulatory science research portfolio for the Office of Counterterrorism and Emerging Threats at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Armstrong joined the federal government as a Presidential Management Fellow at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). She received her Ph.D. from the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in Biological Sciences in Public Health where her work focused on drug resistance in the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Dr. Armstrong received her certification as a medical technologist from the American Society for Clinical Pathology. 

Stephanie Buchholz

Stephanie Buchholz is a Seconded National Expert at the Public Health Threats department of the EMA. In her function her work focus is on pandemic preparedness. She holds a PhD in virology and before she joined EMA, she was a senior clinical assessor for antivirals at the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical devices (BfArM) in Germany. She has served as independent consultant on projects for WHO. She has broad experience in regulatory requirements for clinical study design for antivirals and monoclonal antibodies. In addition, she has a broad scientific knowledge in the assessment of non-clinical and clinical data relevant for regulatory decision making and broad experience on EU regulatory requirements concerning regulatory strategies for antivirals

Chris Butler

Chris Butler, FMedSci, trained in Medicine at the University of Cape Town, did doctoral work at the University of Wales College of Medicine, and studied Clinical Epidemiology at The University of Toronto. He is Professor of Primary Care at the University of Oxford, directing the Primary Care Clinical Trials Unit. His research focuses mainly on the diagnosis and management of common infections. He has helped lead >30 trials in the community including the pragmatic ALIC4E trial of oseltamivir for influenza in the community, and the PRINCIPLE and PANORAMIC national Urgent Public Health Trials that ‘democratised’ trials research by randomised over 40,000 people UK-wide, and evaluated nine treatments of COVID-19. He is the coordinator of the ECRIAD-Prime adaptive platform trial of therapeutics for acute respiratory infections, which is recruiting in 8 countries. Chris has published > 500 scientific papers.  

Benjamin Cowling

Prof Cowling is currently a Professor in the WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control at the School of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong, and a member of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at Harvard School of Public Health. He is a consultant for the World Health Organisation and serves on the editorial boards of Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, PLoS ONE and PLoS Currents: Outbreaks. In 2015 he was awarded a Croucher Senior Research Fellowship for his work on influenza virus epidemiology. Prof Cowling conducts research into the epidemiology of influenza and other respiratory viruses. His research team has characterized how easily seasonal and pandemic influenza viruses can spread in households, and the measures which can reduce transmission such as face masks and improved hand hygiene. His recent research has focused on the effectiveness of influenza vaccines and the complex transmission dynamics of respiratory viruses. He has authored more than 270 peer-reviewed publications.

Carisa De Anda

Carisa De Anda is an accomplished clinical research professional with over 30 years of experience, specializing in infectious diseases. Since joining MSD in 2015 as Executive Director of Clinical Research in the Infectious Diseases therapeutic area, she has successfully led pivotal trials for a range of antibacterials and antivirals. Notably, Carisa has played a key role in the product development of several important therapies, including SIVEXTRO® (tedizolid phosphate), ZERBAXA® (ceftolozane and tazobactam), and RECARBRIO™ (imipenem, cilastatin, and relebactam). Since January 2021, she has been at the forefront of the product development team for LAGEVRIO™ (molnupiravir), contributing significantly to advancements in the treatment of infectious diseases.

Elena Govorkova

Dr. Elena Govorkova heads the research team on influenza antiviral studies in the Department of Host-Microbe Interactions at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA and is a leading scientist in the NIAID Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Response. She received a medical degree from Moscow Medical Academy and a PhD in Virology at the DI Ivanovsky Institute of Virology, Moscow, Russia. For a number of years Dr. Govorkova worked at The DI Ivanovsky Institute of Virology in the Influenza laboratory collaborating with the World Health Organization.

In 1993 she joined the laboratory of Professor Robert G. Webster at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Dr. Govorkova’s research interests are primarily focused on evaluation of antiviral drugs against highly pathogenic influenza viruses on enzymatic and cellular levels, as well as in the animal models. Her work has involved investigation of advantages/disadvantages of combinations of antiviral drugs that target different viral proteins and have different mechanisms of action on the reduction of influenza virus replication in vitro, protection in animals and emergence and fitness of resistant variants.

She is the author of over 150 original research publications and review papers in peer-reviewed journals, in addition to patents and awards. Dr. Govorkova is a member of a number of professional societies and is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Antiviral Research, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Vaccines. She is actively sharing her expertise to mentor and train graduate students and Postdoctoral Fellows.

Frederick G Hayden

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.  He received his medical degree from Stanford University School of Medicine in 1973 and completed his clinical training in internal medicine and infectious diseases at Strong Memorial Hospital, University of Rochester, New York.  Dr Hayden 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 principle 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. He has conducted studies of influenza antivirals for over four decades and contributed to the development of seven agents approved for clinical use in one or more countries. During the COVID-19 pandemic he collaborated with colleagues in China to conduct the first controlled trials of candidate antivirals in hospitalized patients in Wuhan and has served as a consultant to platform studies (UK CTAP- RECOVERY, ACTIV), academic groups, and industry regarding the selection of therapeutics for clinical trials.  He has published over 450 peer-reviewed papers, chapters, and other articles, and co-edits the textbook Clinical Virology. In 2019 Dr Hayden received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Influenza Research from International Society for Influenza and Other Respiratory Viral Diseases.

Mike Ison

Dr. Michael Ison completed his medical school training at University of South Florida College of Medicine and the obtained training in Internal Medicine at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, Oregon followed by Infectious Diseases at the University of Virginia and Transplant Infectious Diseases Training at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School.  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.  He also currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Transplant Infectious Disease and Chair of the ISRV Antiviral Group.

Vernon Lee

Prof Vernon Lee, a preventive medicine physician, has a distinguished record in global health, focusing on pandemic preparedness, infectious disease epidemiology, and health policy. His pivotal role in Singapore’s COVID-19 strategy and his response to the SARS, influenza, and Zika outbreaks highlight his contributions.

Prof Lee’s previous positions as Advisor to the WHO’s Assistant Director-General, Medical Epidemiologist in WHO Country O􀆯ice in Indonesia, and Head of the Singapore Armed Forces’ Biodefence Centre, demonstrate his global health security expertise. He continues to serve on expert committees at the international level.

A proponent of evidence-based health policy, Prof Lee has authored around 200 scientific papers featured in NEJM, JAMA, and Lancet. He maintains an adjunct professorship at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health in Singapore.

His academic achievements include an MBBS from the National University of Singapore, a PhD in epidemiology from the Australian National University, and MPH and MBA degrees from Johns Hopkins University.

Lieve Naesens

Co-Chair

Lieve Naesens heads the research team on influenza- and coronaviruses at the Rega Institute (KU Leuven – University of Leuven, Belgium). After receiving a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Leuven in 1992, she continued working at this university where she is professor in virology since 2003. She has >30 years of experience in antiviral drug development, from initial discovery to mechanistic and preclinical evaluation. She was involved in the discovery of the leading HIV drug tenofovir and has more than 280 publications including in Nature, PNAS, Journal of Virology and Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.  

Her current research on influenza- and coronaviruses focusses on small molecule inhibitors of viral entry and viral genome replication. She has a particular interest in the influenza virus hemagglutinin and polymerase, and has discovered inhibitors of these viral proteins with relevance for pharmaceutical development. Her team collaborates with medicinal chemists, structural biologists, biochemists and virologists, to design innovative antivirals, define their mechanism of action, and translate this knowledge into a better understanding of viral replication strategies.  

Peter Openshaw

Peter Openshaw is Professor of Experimental Medicine at Imperial College London, UK. A respiratory physician and mucosal immunologist, his research focuses on how the immune response both protects against viral infection but also causes disease. 

He has published widely on vaccinology, the immunopathogenesis of pulmonary viral diseases and lung inflammation, especially in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza and COVID-19 infection. He works on human challenge in volunteers (Google Scholar and https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7220-2555). 

He is a Board Member of the Science Media Centre and Director of the HIC-Vac consortium (https://www.hic-vac.org/).  He was the first clinical President of the British Society for Immunology (2013-18) and received prizes for his lifetime contribution to RSV research (Chanock Award, 2012), the European Federation of Immunological Societies Award (2014) and the Per Brandtzaeg Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award in mucosal immunology (2024). 

He advised the UK government on pandemics (SAGE, 2009-12; Chair/Vice-Chair of NERVTAG, 2015-2022). He was made a Commander of the British Empire for services to Medicine and Immunology in the 2022 UK New Year’s Honours and received the 2024 Imperial College Medal for his work as a Consul, reforming the university’s Ethos, Values and Behaviours.  

Andres Pizzorno

Co-Chair

Andrés Pizzorno holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology-Immunology and currently works as a postdoctoral researcher at the VirPath Team of the Centre International de Recherche en Infectiologie in Lyon (France). With +10-year research experience in the field of respiratory viruses, antiviral resistance and therapeutics, his research focuses on the study of virus-host interactions at the transcriptomic, molecular and cellular level as the starting point for the development, characterization, pre-clinical and clinical evaluation of innovative host-targeted antiviral approaches. Dr. Pizzorno is author of 26 scientific publications and co-inventor of several patents. He is also co-founder and project manager of Signia Therapeutics SAS. 

Stefan Pöhlmann

Stefan Pöhlmann received his Ph.D. from the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently Head of the Infection Biology Unit at the German Primate Center and Professor of Infection Biology at Georg-August-University Göttingen, Germany. His research focuses on host cell interactions and pathogenesis of emerging viruses, particularly coronaviruses and influenza viruses, with an emphasis on viral entry mechanisms. His laboratory has made key contributions to COVID-19 research, including the discovery that SARS-CoV-2 uses ACE2 and TMPRSS2 for cell entry, and that an intact furin cleavage site in the spike protein is critical for infection of lung cells. The lab also demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 variants can arise under antibody pressure and that the Omicron variant evades antibody-mediated neutralization with high efficiency. Currently, his research centers on the host cell interactions of emerging Omicron subvariants and the development of broad-spectrum antivirals for pandemic preparedness. 

Stacey Schultz-Cherry

Stacey Schultz-Cherry, PhD, is a Full Member and Professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN as well as Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the St Jude Graduate School of the Biomedical Sciences. She serves as Co-Director of not only the Center for Excellence in Influenza Research and Response but also the Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Center, both research centers supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. 

Dr. Schultz-Cherry received her PhD in Molecular and Cellular Pathology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham investigating extracellular matrix and growth factor interactions. After a short postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying influenza virus-induced apoptosis and cellular responses, she served as a Lead Scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory in Athens, GA, doing research on emerging highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses and astroviruses. She subsequently joined the faculty in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison Medical School rising to become tenured Associate Professor before moving to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in 2009. 

Dr. Schultz-Cherry is recognized internationally for her studies on the pathogenesis of influenza and enteric viruses, especially astroviruses, in high-risk populations, and on the interactions of influenza viruses among different avian species and other animals and humans. She is the author and co-author of over 200 research articles, reviews, and book chapters and has lectured internationally.  She has been a member of the editorial boards of several prominent journals and is now the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Virology.                         

Dr. Schultz-Cherry has served on the National Institutes of Health study sections and other of its institutional committees. She was elected President of the American Society for Virology in 2017, is the current chair of the Public and Scientific Affairs Committee for the American Society for Microbiology and is an American Academy of Microbiology Fellow. Since 2012 she has been Deputy Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals and Birds.

Takeki Uehara

Dr. Takeki Uehara received his DVM degree from the Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan, in 2002. He then joined SHIONOGI, where he has worked for over 20 years.   

As a research scientist, Dr. Uehara has authored multiple publications and, in 2008, earned a PhD in Veterinary Medicine from Osaka Prefecture University. His research career includes serving as a visiting research scientist in Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.   

In SHIONOGI’s Development Department, Dr. Uehara serves as the Global Project Leader for baloxavir and ensitrelvir, contributing to the successful development of these antivirals. Currently, he holds the position of Corporate Officer, Senior VP at Shionogi, serving as the Global Head of Development and Regulatory Affairs.   

Dr. Uehara has published approximately 100 peer-reviewed papers and has organized international workshops and educational courses at several global conferences.  

Cameron Wolfe

Jim Wu

Dr. Jim Wu is founder, chairman and CEO of Shanghai Ark Biopharmaceutical Co. (Ark Bio). Ark Bio is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focusing on discovery and development of innovative drugs for treatment of respiratory and lung diseases, and pediatric diseases. Its R&D pipeline covers full cycle of acute, chronic and end-stage respiratory and lung diseases, especially in the areas of respiratory viral infection, pulmonary fibrosis and pediatric diseases, with 10 drug candidates. Among them, ziresovir has a breakthrough designation, conducts the pivotal clinical trial with a promise to become first drug to treat respiratory syncytial virus infection globally.  

Dr. Wu obtained his BSc from University of Science and Technology of China, his PhD from Brown University, and conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School. He worked at Schering-Plough, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, and Roche with various R&D management and leadership roles. He has co-authored >70 scientific papers, served as a member of editorial advisory board of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, was an adjunct professor at Fudan University School of Pharmacy and Shanghai Medical College.

Hui-Ling Yen

Co-Chair

Dr. Hui-Ling Yen is currently an Honorary Assistant Professor at the Division of Public Health Laboratory Sciences, School of Public Health, at the University of Hong Kong. She received a Ph.D in Epidemiological Science in 2005 from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and carried out her post-doctoral training at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN, USA.

Her research interests focus on understanding the mechanisms facilitating the transmission of influenza A Virus among and between different reservoirs, exploring the potential virus-host interactions that affect viral pathogenicity and the host clinical outcome, and examining the molecular determinants that confer antiviral resistance. She has worked at understanding the fitness of neuraminidase inhibitor resistance variants of seasonal and zoonotic influenza viruses with pandemic potential.

Dr Yen is a full member of the American Society of Virology, and Editor at Antiviral Research and an Academic Editor at PLoS ONE.