Nationality: Dutch

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

Research fields: Virus infections of humans and animals

Professor Osterhaus is the Founding 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 (currently part of CERBA) 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 80 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 85 PhD students and holds several key patents. He is the author of more than 1360 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, together cited > 90,000 times with an H index > 145. 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.

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

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

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

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

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

Dr. Aeron Hurt is the Principal Global Medical Director, for both COVID-19 and Influenza at Roche, Basel, Switzerland.



Aeron was previously Head of the Antiviral Susceptibility Analysis Surveillance Unit and Research group at the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, Melbourne, Australia. Aeron has had a career-long interest in antivirals and regularly acted as an external Temporary Advisor to the WHO. He has completed a number of short-term consultancies for the WHO, and national Governments related to influenza surveillance, epidemiology and laboratory analysis.



Aeron has published over 180 peer-reviewed research and review papers in the field of influenza, COVID-19 and virology including articles in Science, Nature, New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Medicine and Lancet Infectious Diseases. Aeron completed a PhD in influenza virology at Monash University and is currently an Associate Professor with the University of Melbourne.

Dr Anjali Tripathi is the Secretary General of the International Federation on Ageing (IFA), an international non-governmental organization with general consultative status at the United Nations and a non-State Actor with the World Health Organization (WHO).

Representing over 75 million older people through the membership of government, NGOs, academia, industry and individuals Anjali has direct responsibility for its strategic development and implementation and operational performance.  This includes leadership and collaboration with the IFA representatives in New York, Geneva and Vienna at the United Nations and the World Health Organization.

Throughout her career Dr Tripathi has directed efforts towards initiatives that positively impact people and populations.  She has consistently chosen work that informs and improves the lives of people all ages and the prosperity of communities.

Her Doctoral studies have focused on the epidemiology of dermatophytosis (Skin disease caused by Fungi) across all age groups, and contributed to numerous studies for the WHO, UNICEF, and The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada.  She collaborated with the WHO SAGE group to support evidence-based policy development for guidelines on vaccination during humanitarian emergencies, including war, internal conflicts and natural disasters.  Further collaborations were with UNICEF to measure the impact of MDG4 and MDG5, advocating for innovative financing for primary healthcare in the Southeast Asia Pacific region.

Part of her work at the Hospital for Sick Children, included participation in the Global Action Plan for Diarrhea and Pneumonia (DGAPP) a joint project from UNICEF, The Hospital for The Sick Children and the Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation. The Research work primarily focused on evidence-based medicine, nutrition and vaccination status in children and pneumococcal vaccination status in the ageing indigenous population in Australia, Canada, and the United States.

Anjali is also one of the founding members of South Asians for Life, a non-profit organization that closely collaborated with Canadian Blood Services to raise awareness about the Stem Cell registry and promote heart health in the ageing South Asian population in Canada.

Other areas of interest include serving as a citizenship consultant to TD Bank Financial Group, tasked with creating a framework to measure the ESG impact generated by TD Ready Commitments initiatives.

Most recently as an Employment Counselor at Employment Ontario Dr Tripathi focussed on counseling older people on securing meaningful employment and access to essential supports.  Through personal narratives real-life evidence was gained on the challenges faced by older individuals, which extend beyond employment and financial struggles to include housing, food, healthcare, emotional well-being, social support and loneliness.

Throughout her career, Dr Tripathi has actively engaged in shaping age-related policies, advocating for the rights of older individuals, and fostering strategic collaborations at local and international levels.  She emphasized the importance of facilitating cross-sector and cross-disciplinary collaborations, a fundamental tenet of IFA’s philosophy, to address complex challenges and create environments that enable older people to realize what they value.

Anjana Ahuja is a science columnist at the Financial Times in London, writing a weekly column on science, technology and global health.



She was one of the first journalists, in early January 2020, to cover the emergence of a novel pneumonia in Wuhan. She subsequently co-authored a widely acclaimed book, Spike: The Virus versus The People, with Wellcome Trust director Sir Jeremy Farrar. It was named as The Times’ top science book of 2021 and has been shortlisted for the 2022 Orwell Prize for Political Writing. Anjana is a trustee of Sense About Science, a small charity which champions the use of evidence in policymaking and public life.



She has a PhD in space physics from Imperial College London.

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.

Dr Falsey is a Professor of Medicine at the University Of Rochester School Of Medicine.
The focus of her research has been clinical and translational research in the field of respiratory viral infections in adults. Dr Falsey received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology at Providence College and Doctorate in Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Strong Memorial Hospital at the University of Rochester and infectious disease fellowship at Yale University and the University of Rochester. Initially the focus of her research was defining the epidemiology and impact of respiratory syncytial virus in adult populations. More recently, Dr Falsey has broadened her research to include numerous viral respiratory pathogens including influenza, coronaviruses, parainfluenza viruses and human metapneumovirus. She has conducted numerous adult surveillance and vaccine studies in a variety of settings including ambulatory older adult clinics, nursing homes and senior daycare centers. She has extensive experience in the development and performance of diagnostic and serologic assays for influenza and other respiratory viruses including cell culture, RT-PCR, EIA and neutralization assays. Dr Falsey has been a standing member of the Clinical Studies and Field Research Study Section and has served as an ad hoc reviewer for numerous NIH study section reviews. She is a member of the steering committee for the Global Influenza Initiative, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American Virology Society. Dr Falsey has published over 200 peer reviewed articles, reviews, book chapters and abstracts.

Prof Anthony Gordon is the Chair in Anaesthesia and Critical Care at Imperial College London, an NIHR Senior Investigator, and works as an Intensive Care consultant at St Mary’s Hospital. His research focuses on developing precision medicine in sepsis.

He leads a multidisciplinary group investigating the use of -omic techniques and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve outcomes in sepsis, with a particular focus on clinical trials and translational studies. He is the UK Chief Investigator for the international REMAP-CAP trial for COVID-19 and influenza, that has generated evidence that has improved treatments for severe COVID-19 around the world.

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/anthony.gordon

Nationality: British

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

Research Fields: respiratory viruses

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

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

Nationality: German

Position: Co-founder & Chair, VaccineSafety Initiative

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

Short description:

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

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

Nationality: British

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

Research fields: infectious disease epidemiology

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

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

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

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

Ber Oomen is the Executive Director of ESNO, European Specialist Nurses Organisation. He is responsible for several projects to promote and represent the interests of Specialist Nurses in a European context. In this capacity, since 2006 he has built strong relations with agencies such as the European Medicines Agency and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and is frequently in contact with DG Santé at the European Commission.

In parallel, he has developed solid and trusted contacts with colleagues from other European organisations for health care professionals. He still practices as a nurse two days each week, spending the rest of his time in his management role for ESNO, to advance different health projects, acting as a bridge between ESNO’s members and the European Institutions, platforms or forums, coordinating ESNO’s response to international health threats and creating opportunities for the association and its members. In his role, he is also the project leader of the European Nurses Guide on Vaccination, AMR and Infection control and engaged in a number of European projects related to vaccination.

After her 3 year research training in the group of Prof. S. Ross, at the Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Bernadette obtained her PhD at the dept. of Viroscience, ErasmusMC Introduction on "the Discovery and Characterization of the Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV)". Since then, Bernadette has been investigating all aspects of the interaction between HMPV and the human immune system. She has contributed to the development of a reverse genetics system for HMPV, designed and evaluated several vaccine candidates, and identified Favipiravir (T-705) as a possible antiviral therapy for pneumo-and paramyxoviruses. 

Achievements 

Bernadette has shown that HMPV, just like HRSV, subverts the type I interferon pathway of the host innate immune system and she has shown that HMPV stocks generate defective interfering particles (DIs) quickly upon viral infection and these DIs strongly activate the type I interferon pathway. Using recombinant viruses for RSV, HMPV and chimera of these, the research group of Bernadette is aiming to identify the mechanism HMPV uses to subvert the host innate immune response.

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.

Honorary Professor of Paediatrics, Paris VII University, France 

Catherine is a distinguished member of the CLCI board who brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in paediatrics and vaccinology. She earned her medical degree in Paris and has been a Professor of Paediatrics at Paris VII University since 1989. 

From 1995 to 2005, she held the prestigious position of Head of the Department of General Paediatrics at Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris. Her expertise has been sought in various capacities over the last two decades. This includes serving as an expert for the French Drug Agency (AFSSAPS, now ANSM), where she worked in the technical group to register vaccines, antibiotics, and anti-virals, a Core Member of the European Medicines Agency Vaccine Working Party, a valued member of European Centre for Control and Prevention (ECDC) working groups, Infovac France and several French paediatric groups. Her involvement with French health policy extends to being a member of the national French Technical Committee on Vaccination and the National Committee against Influenza.

Bio-engineer and translational scientist with 13+ years of diversified vaccines development experience, I'm currently responsible for Sanofi Vaccine R&D Partnerships and Stakeholders Engagement in Europe. My focus is on infectious diseases, in particular respiratory diseases and European public-private partnerships. I am the Project Lead for the IMI PROMISE dedicated to RSV.

Nationality: British

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

Research Fields: Human respiratory viral infection

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

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

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

Christian Drosten has a clinical virology background. He started working on virus detection when PCR-based blood donor screening was developed in the 1990s by his supervisor Kurt Roth at University of Frankfurt. After his thesis he moved on to work on emerging viruses at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg. Having discovered the SARS agent in 2003, he started working on coronaviruses more specifically, with a focus on their cross-host adaptive processes. In recent years he has done a lot of work on principal epidemiological aspects of MERS in humans and camels. Description of viral diversity, mainly of RNA viruses in mammalian and insect hosts, has been another interest ever since. Several projects in Africa have resulted from this work.



Over the past three years he moved most of his team from the university of Bonn to Charité. Several former group members have become independent during the process, and he has given high priority to assisting them in establishing their own groups.

He still co-supervises a few PhD projects that started during the transition time.



He has co-developed Charité Global Health for which he is acting as the scientific director.

My work centres on communicating ideas and policies for a better world; favourite topics include sustainable energy, environment and concepts like One Health.
I especially love talking with people who are experts in their field.

Mostly I am a word-worker, typical projects include media advocacy, supporting national authorities' implementation of EU energy directives, writing and research for TV and podcast series, documentaries and journalism. As a former magazine publisher, I enjoy skilful communications, wicked problems and well-plotted thrillers.

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.

Nationality: American, British

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

Research field: Virus Evolution

ESWI member since 2019

Colin Russell is a professor at the University of Amsterdam School of Medicine. His research focuses on the evolutionary dynamics of human respiratory viruses and the immune responses that control them. He has worked extensively on the within-and-between host evolution of influenza viruses, influenza virus vaccine composition, and issues related to diagnostic and sequencing resource allocation for virus surveillance. Professor Russell regularly advises a wide variety of international organisations, including WHO, on topics ranging from surveillance to pandemic preparedness, vaccine design, and test-to-treat programs. Colin is the Chair of the ESWI since 2023 and the Chair of the EU Steering Group on Influenza Vaccination since 2024.

Nationality: Dutch

Position: Assistant Professor Virology, Erasmus MC, The Netherlands

Research fields: Immunity against emerging viruses

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

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

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

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

Dan Howarth is the Head of Care for Diabetes UK. He has been a Diabetes Specialist Nurse (DSN) since 2005 and has been based in the UK, New Zealand and Belgium. He is a registered nurse in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Dan’s sub specialty is insulin therapy, young adults, and inpatient/emergency management. Dan completed his Cert in diabetes care at the University of Warwick at the start of his DSN career, and has since completed post grad advanced practice at the University of Auckland. He later completed an MSc in Diabetes Care at the University of Salford, Manchester.

Dan has worked with in most areas of diabetes management, including community and inpatient care in the UK. He moved to New Zealand to set up a young adult clinic and co-lead on the regional DAFNE group. After three years growing and evolving the MDT young adult service Dan returned to Europe and worked for the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). During his time at IDF in Brussels, Dan managed various global education projects which included regular training provided to health professionals across the world. Dan has been at Diabetes UK since April 2016, prior to that, he returned to the South Pacific and was clinical lead for inpatients at Waitemata DHB, Auckland, NZ. Dan thrives on the educating people about diabetes, so much so he continues this work in his own time and often volunteers with international charities in Palestine, India, South East Asia and the Pacific Islands.

Dan is a passionate rugby fan. He has played for various different clubs and is currently the club captain of his team in London.

Fisman is a professor of epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto and a practicing internist with a focus on infectious diseases at Michael Garron Hospital.



He is a physician epidemiologist with research interests that fall at the intersection of applied epidemiology, mathematical modelling, and applied health economics. He is interested in developing and applying novel methodological tools that allow physicians and public health experts to make the best possible decisions around communicable disease control, using the best available data.



Fisman completed a residency in internal medicine at both McGill and Brown Universities, before completing a fellowship at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre in Boston, and a Master of Public Health from Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Fisman was also an AHRQ fellow in health policy at the Harvard Centre for Risk Analysis from 1998 to 2001.