Infectious Diseases

Ishwar Gilada: A medical doctor, specialized in Skin & STDs with special training in HIV management, Managing Director and Consultant in HIV/AIDS at Unison Medicare& Research Centre-India’s first private sector comprehensive HIV Care clinic; President of AIDS Society of India (a professional organization of physicians in HIV care); Secretary General of Peoples Health Org. (India). He was Secretary General of ASI from 2005-2011 and the Jt. Sec. of National AIDS Committee, Govt of India (1995-97). He was the first to raise alarm against AIDS in 1985, is known for bringing India on AIDS control map, had started India’s first AIDS Clinic-1986 and has expertise in HIV care in resource-poor settings. He had trained several doctors, nurses and social workers; he was Editor-Publisher of AIDS ASIA from 1993 to 2008. He initiated, managed, supervised, evaluated over 40 HIV/AIDS projects in India, addressed over 3700 public meetings and training programs in India and abroad, has 235 scientific papers at conferences, written chapters in books on AIDS/STDs. He was consultant for American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR), World Vision, USAID; has more than 65 awards to his credit including the "Outstanding Young Person of the World" –Glasgow in 1995 and Annemarie Madison Award-Germany in 1999 in Munich, Germany where he was termed as ‘the Indian Machinegun against AIDS’.

Specialized in Skin & STDs with special training in HIV management

Dr. Guirakhoo joined GeoVax as Senior Vice President R&D in October 2015. Dr. Guirakhoo was named one of the ‘50 Most Influential People in Vaccines’ in Vaccine Nation’s 2014 list. His previous assignment was Chief Technology Officer at Vaxess Technologies, a Cambridge, MA, based biotechnology company researching thermostabilization of vaccines and biologics using silk fibroin protein. Prior to this, he served as Chief Scientific Officer at Hookipa Biotech in Vienna, Austria, developing vaccines against Cytomegalovirus and cancers based on a novel replication deficient viral vector platform. Prior to that, Dr. Guirakhoo held the position of Executive Director of External R&D at Sanofi Pasteur from 2007-20012. Before joining Sanofi Pasteur in 2007, Dr. Guirakhoo was Head of Virology Research at Acambis for 15 years. During this time, he co-invented the ChimeriVax TM -technology platform in association with St. Louis University. This platform utilizes the YF 17D vaccine virus as a vector to develop chimeric live viruses. The ChimeriVaxTM vector platform was successfully used in the development of innovative vaccines such as: a) a single dose vaccine against Japanese encephalitis (IMOJEV™), marketed in Asian countries by Sanofi, b) a single dose veterinary vaccine for the prevention of West Nile encephalitis (PREVNILE™), marketed by Merck Animal Health, and c) DENGVAXIA®, the world’s first dengue vaccine approved in Mexico and Brazil in December 2015 and marketed by Sanofi. This tetravalent vaccine represents a historic milestone for half of the world population who lives at risk of dengue. Dr. Guirakhoo has over 30 years of experience in developing vaccines against infectious diseases. Dr. Guirakhoo holds a BSc in Biology, a MSc in genetics, and a PhD in Virology from the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, and was awarded a National Research Council post-doctoral fellowship at the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Fort Collins, CO, from 1990-1992.

Catherine Mullié obtained a PhD in Microbiology and a PharmD at the University of Lille, France, in 1999. After a post-doc year at the Faculté de Medicine in Amiens (Laboratoire d’Immunologie, INSERM-EMI 0351), she was appointed as assistant professor at the Faculté de Pharmacie in Amiens in 2000 and joined the LG-2A (Laboratoire de Glycochimie des Antimicrobiens et des Agroressources, UMR 7378 CNRS) in 2008. She has been a member of the French Society for Microbiology since 2000. Her research is focused on the development of new antimicrobial and antimalarial drugs, with a special interest in efflux-mediated antibiotic resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii. She currently heads the French part of a bilateral project funded by France and Algeria (Partenariat Hubert Curien Tassili) on this topic.

development of new antimicrobial and antimalarial drugs, with a special interest in efflux-mediated antibiotic resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii

Professor Dr. Andy I.M. Hoepelman (26-03-1955) is Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases in the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands. Until 2016 he was also the head of the Department of Internal medicine. Since August 1st 1998, he is Professor in Medicine. Dr. Hoepelman received his medical training from the University of Utrecht, receiving his Doctorate in 1978 and his MD degree in 1980. He completed two internships at the University in 1980 and 1985 to earn his board certification as a specialist in Internal Medicine. He received his PhD in 1989. In 1991/1992 he worked at the Rockefeller University, New York (Laboratory Prof. E. Tuomanen) and at the Memorial-Sloan Kettering (Department of Infectious Diseases, Prof.dr. D. Armstrong). In 1993, he was board certified as a specialist in Infectious Diseases. He also heads the training programme in Infectious Disease for internal medicine specialists at the University Hospital Utrecht. He is author/co-author of more than 400 published articles and is a member of several professional associations. His research interests are pathogenesis and treatment of HIV and viral hepatitis. He won a bronze medal in waterpolo at the Montreal Olympics

pathogenesis, treatment of HIV and viral hepatitis

Ali Karami is Molecular biologist, Medical Biotechnologist and expert in Genetic Engineering working on Molecular detection of infectious diseases, cloning, expression and purification and characterization of recombinant proteins for medical applications. I also have been working for long time on Recombinant vaccines, DNA vaccines, Bioinformatics, microarray and other eras of molecular Biotechnology.

Biotechnology, Genetics, Molecular ,Molecular Biology, Recombinant DNA

Refat Sadeq, Prof. and Head of Medical Microbiology and Immunology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Port said University, Egypt. He has been on microbiology field over 40 years. He has started and graduated in Zagazig Faculty of Medicine for M.Sc. and Ph.D. Then started to research articles reaching more than 80 articles, many of which have been published in international scientific journals, and he has reviewed over 150 articles on different journal sites. He is a Featured Author, for books in Medical Microbiology and Immunology for both medical students and nurses. Work from 2008-2011 as Head of Microbiology Department, Faculty of Medicine- Zagazig University. Also work as member of Egyptian scientific committee for graduation of Professor and assistant Professor in Microbiology in Egypt and some Arabic countries. He signed as Board editor of EC Microbiology Journal and Journal of Human Virology and Retrovirology. Since Oct 2014 he pointed as a Head of Microbiology and Immunology department, Faculty of Medicine, Port said University. He is very goal-oriented, assisted in building many units in his department but the favorite one was that of Virology and Molecular biology. He loves how to help junior doctors in his department to solve their scientific problems. His advice to new contributors is to take your time to get to know all the tools and to invest your energy and be sure that success will happened.

Virology and Molecular biology.

Professor Janak Kishore is Chief of Serology and Molecular Virology in the department of Microbiology, Sanjay Gandhi Post-graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, India. He was Associate Editor Indian Journal of Virology, member National Academy Medical Sciences, American societies and Fellow of JICA, Japan. His passion is on healing and minimising human sufferings; on unveiling emerging viral infections and finding aetiologies in viral epidemics and in investigating undiagnosed/missed clinical infections so that appropriate treatment is given and life is saved. Dr. Kishore taught for over 30 yrs with pioneer work on parvovirus B19, developed in-house molecular techniques and published three novel clinical associations besides finding novel oncolytic property of B19. He also worked on cytomegalovirus, enteroviral haemorrhagic conjunctivitis, rubella. Dr Kishore published over 50 papers, served as reviewer for reputed journals, organized conferences, Chaired sessions and frequently invited to speak at international conferences.

Emerging viral infections,Viral epidemics and Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Dr Ashok Kapse is consulting Pediatrician practicing in the city of Surat in the Gujrat state of India, besides owning a private pediatric hospital he is also head of the pediatric department at a prestigious Mahavir super specialty hospital. He has special interest and skill in infectious diseases. Working along with CDC Atlanta he evolved simple clinical approach for diagnosis and management of Dengue illnesses particularly in resource limited situations. Recipient of many oration awards he is a popular and sought after speaker, he has delivered hundreds of lectures on Dengue, Malaria, Typhoid and antibiotic uses across the India. He has published more than 10 articles in reputed national & international journals also has contributed chapters in prestigious books.

Dengue, Malaria, Typhoid and Antibiotics

Professor Dr. Reza Nejat (1963) is Chief of Khatam-ol-Anbia Hospital, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, 1992-1994, Taibad City, Khorasan Province, Iran. Emergency Dept of Tehranpars General Hospital 1994-2009. Emergency Dept of Iranmehr General Hospital 1997-2000. Chief of Imam Khomeini Firuzkuh Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, 2006-2007, Firuzkuh, Tehran Province, Iran. Directing Manager of Biotourism, Consultant to Deputy of Therapeutics, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, 2007 to March, 2008. Member of managerial board of the committee of Health Tourism, Consultant to The Chancellor of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Health Tourism, March 2008-September 2008. Staff of Open Heart Surgery ICU of Day General Hospital, Tehran, Iran, June 2008-September 2009. Staff of ICU of Shohadaye Tajrish Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, August 2008-March 2011. Assistant Professor, Anesthesiology Dept. at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, March 2011 onward. Assistant Professor, Anesthesiology Dept., ICU at Shohadaye Tajrish Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, March 2011-April 2011. Assistant Professor, Anesthesiology Dept. at 15th Khordad Hospital, OR of plastic and reconstruction surgery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, April 2011-April 2012. Assistant Professor, Anesthesiology Dept. at Taleghani Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, April 2012-January 2013. Critical Care fellowship programme at Sina Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, January 2013-July 2014. Assistant Professor, Fellowship of Critical Care Medicine (FCCM), ICU, Taleghani Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, July 2014-May 2015. Chief of CCM Dept., Bazarganan Hospital, Feb 2016- till now

Echocardiography, acute heart failure, stress response, sepsis and IVIG.

Professor David Ussery was born and raised in Springdale, Arkansas. He has been working with bioinformatic analysis of bacterial genomes since the first sequence was published in 1995. His group has published more than 150 papers since 2000, including two papers that have been cited more than a thousand times. He has been a co-applicant on grants funded totaling more than $30 million, since 2010. His popular course on Comparative Microbial Genomics, taught at The Technical University of Denmark from 1997 - 2013, is currently running for the 19th year; one-week workshops based on this course have been held in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. DU has collaborative projects with groups in the UK, Norway, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, and Spain as well as in the U.S. Prior to joining UAMS, Dr. Ussery was the Comparative Genomics Group lead at Oak Ridge National Labs, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (2013-2016). He led the Comparative Microbial Genomics group at The Technical University of Denmark from 1997 – 2013, where he has successfully supervised more than 20 Ph.D. students in bioinformatics. Dr. Ussery received a doctorate in Molecular Biology in1993 from The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and did a post-doctoral fellowship at Oxford University (1992-1996). He earned his master’s degree in biophysical chemistry at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from William Jewell College (Liberty, Missouri) in 1982, and graduated from Springdale High School (Springdale, Arkansas) in 1978.

Bacterial genomics, Sequencing, Bioinformatics, Proteomics.

Dr. Montelaro is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine with secondary appointments in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology (Graduate School or Public Health) and the Department of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases. He serves as the Co-Director of the Center for Vaccine Research and the Scientific Director of the Peptide Synthesis Core. He received his PhD in Biochemistry in 1975 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research interest is in viral immunology and vaccine development, especially as related to AIDS, emerging diseases, and biodefense.

The primary focus of the Montelaro lab is to elucidate the intricate interactions between viral pathogens and host immune responses to determine the mechanisms by with host immunity contributes to protection and disease and to serve as a basis for the development of effective vaccines. A particular interest of the lab is to develop effective strategies to overcome the challenge of natural viral antigenic variation that has evolved as a common complication to the development of effective vaccines to important viral diseases, including those related to biodefense and emerging infectious diseases. Systems currently under investigation include HIV-1 and related animal lentiviruses (SHIV, SIV, and EIAV). Studies in these systems include investigation of the nature and role of antigenic variation during infection, the development of novel assays to characterize virus-specific innate, humoral, and cellular immune responses, and the design of engineered immunogens for effective vaccination against variant strains of a particular virus. In addition to these vaccine related studies, the lab also maintains a research program to develop novel de novo antimicrobial peptides (engineered cationic amphipathic peptides, or eCAPs) that can be used to inactivate a diverse spectrum of bacteria or enveloped viruses in a prophylactic or therapeutic treatment modalities.

C. A. Guzman graduated in Medicine and become Board Certified in Medical Bacteriology in Argentina. Later, he graduated as Doctor of Medicine and Surgery and obtained his Doctorate in Microbiological Sciences (University Genoa, Italy). In 1994 he became Head of the Vaccine Group (German Research Centre for Biotechnology, Germany). In 2005 he was appointed Head of the Department of Vaccinology and Applied Microbiology (HZI), becoming later also APL-Professor at the Medical School and Member of the Centre for Individualized Infection Medicine (Hannover). His work was instrumental for developing new adjuvants and antigen delivery systems, leading to more than 200 publications.

Professor Grażyna Rydzewska M.D., PhD serves as a Head of the Department of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology with IBD Subdivision, Central Clinical Hospital of Ministry of Interior and Administration, Warsaw, Poland. She currently serves also as a Vice-president of the Polish Society of Gastroenterology, and founding member and President of the Polish Pancreatic Club, member of coucil in International Association of Pancreatology and member of the European Pancreatic Club. She is also a professor and Director of Institute of Nursing and Obstetrics in Haculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Jan Kochanowski University, Kielce. She has founded and currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Gastroenterology Review, also as Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Gastroenterology Disorders & Therapy. She is a member of editorial board in many journals in gastroenterology and internal medicine field (Nowa Klinika, Polish Gastroenterology, Medical Studies, Lekarz POZ, Gastroenterologia Praktyczna and others). During 10 years she was as Chief of Polish Medical Advisory Council on Gastroenterology (national consultant) and national representative in European Crohn and Colitis Organisation. Professor Rydzewska serves also as a member of clinical advisory boards at some pharmaceutical companies.

Professor Rydzewska main areas of interest are pancreatology, especialy signal transduction in pancreatic cells, prognosis and treatment of acute pancreatitis, treatment and prognosis in inflammatory bowel disease, and gastrointestinal endoscopy. She has published over 150 articles in peer-reviewed journals and over 10 chapters in medical textbooks.

Irene Wagner-Dobler studied biology in Munich and a PhD on an environmental issue - the vertical migration of planktonic insect larvae in lakes. Then she came as an assistant of the Scientific Director to Braunschweig at the GBF - now the HZI - and rose 1989 in the Department of Microbiology. Since they deal with topics of microbial ecology . Since 2001 Irene Wagner-Dobler is a professor at the University of Braunschweig and forwards since 2004, the working group "Microbial Communication". She has won several international research awards.

To understand the mechanisms behind the bacterial communication in detail. Then we can disrupt this radio and thus prevent the bacteria develop their pathogenic properties.

Carmen Alvarez-Dominguez has completed her Ph.D at the age of 29 years from Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and postdoctoral studies from Washington University School of Medicine on Small GTPases role in Listeria monocytogenes phagocytosis. She is the director of the Group on Genomics, Proteomics and Vaccines at the Research Institute Marqués de Valdecilla (IDIVAL) in Santander, Spain. She has published more than 29 papers in reputed journals and serving as an editorial board member of Microbes and Infection and OMICS. She also is coauthor of the patent: Immunogenic peptides against Listeria and Mycobacterium, antibodies and their uses with reference PCT/ES2007/070144.

Kathleen Hefferon received her PhD from the Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto and continued her post-doctoral studies at Cornell University. Dr. Hefferon has worked on faculty at the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell and has written two books on biopharmaceuticals in plants. She teaches and conducts research at both the University of Toronto and Cornell University. Kathleen has 4 patents, has edited 6 books, and has multiple research publications. Kathleen currently lives with her family near Ithaca NY.

Pietro Mastroeni received a Degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Messina, Italy. He moved to the University of Cambridge, UK where he completed his Ph.D before becoming a Research Fellow at Imperial College, University of London UK. He is currently a Reader in Infection and Immunity at the University of Cambridge. He has published more than 100 papers in reputed journals and serves as an editorial board member.

Recent research in his group is focused on the study of pathogenesis and immunity to bacterial infections and on the improvement of strategies to deliver vaccines to the immune system. They concurrently run a number of multidisciplinary integrated research projects. Their past research has defined the role of cytokine networks, antibodies, phagocytes, B-cells and T-cell in host resistance to bacterial infections and has unravelled many bacterial virulence genes that counteract the immune system. This work is still evolving and has already contributed to the generation of new vaccine candidates. Recently, they are focused on understanding how individual bacteria interact with host cells in vivo and how subpopulations of microbes spread and distribute in the body. This has been achieved by novel multidisciplinary research approaches that integrate information acquired at different levels spanning from individual cells to global systems. This work has opened the possibility to comprehensively study the mechanistic bases of immune control of bacterial infections, thus opening the field to novel high impact research on improved prevention measures and medical treatments to fight infection. And currently, also delving into the interactions between the host and bacterial genome highlighting which bacterial genes play a role in counteracting specific host mechanisms. This research will lead to the identification of novel targets for vaccines and drug development. We are also exploring other new areas within infection such as the interplay between microbes and autoimmune diseases and the possibility to use recombinant bacteria as anti-cancer agents. This research may have translational outcomes in the generation of tools to modulate the course of autoimmune diseases and to destroy cancer cells in vivo. Another crucial line of research that we are actively pursuing deals with the understanding of how different cellular population and cell-surface receptors co-operate for the initiation and expansion of immune responses. This research is providing clues on what is required from bacterial vaccines to be effective and is guiding the development and testing of new vaccine preparations in human and domestic animals.

A. Paulo G. Almeida is Associate Professor in Medical Entomology/ Parasitology, at the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (IHMT/UNL), since 2009, where he is Director of the Unit of Medical Parasitology. He is currently a visiting professor at the ZRU, University of Pretoria. He has a Medical degree from the Classic University of Lisbon; Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene (DTM&H), Royal College of Physicians, London; MSc Medical Parasitology, University of London (LSHTM) and PhD in Medical Entomology/Parasitology, University of London (ICSTM). Researcher and teacher in Medical Entomology and Parasitology and Coordinator of the MSc in Medical Parasitology of the IHMT/UNL. Has been invited as teacher in University of Oporto, University of Algarve, Faculdade Ciências e Tecnologia/ UNL, Faculdade de Veterinária/ UTL, Instituto de Ciências Sociais e Políticas/ UTL and Faculdade de Ciências/ UL. APG Almeida is author/co-author of over 30 peer reviewed publications and 5 book chapters.

APG Almeida's main areas of interest are anti-vector (mosquito and tick) vaccines and immunity and Vector-Parasite relationships; Studies on mosquito vectors aimed at malaria, arboviruses (WNV, dengue), filariasis, vector incrimination, and epidemiology; Mosquito systematics, molecular biology, bioecological and surveillance and control studies in different ecological settings; Climate change and risk analysis of mosquito borne diseases, in collaboration with specialists on remote detection. Almeida has led various research projects in those areas, supervised several postgraduate degrees, and acted as a consultant for the Portuguese National Directorate of Health and ECDC.

Dr. Bogdan Circiumaru currently hold the position of a Consultant in Infectious Diseases at the „Matei Balş“National Institute of Infectious Diseases, in Bucharest, Romania. Qualified in 1989 at the Bucharest State University of Medicine, He obtained a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and a Master of Science in Infectious Diseases from the University of London. This was followed by a PhD at the Bucharest State University of Medicine. He is an experienced clinician, with good skills in clinical infectious diseases and tropical pathology. His experience includes work under the supervision of Prof. Jon Cohen and David Mabey (London), and I also worked under the supervision of Prof. Antonella D`Arminio Monforte (Milan) with HIV/AIDS patients. He had numerous publications, especially in the infectious and Tropical Diseases. He had been awarded by the University of Bucharest with The Diploma of Excellence for the Book “Compendium of Infectious Diseases“. He also published a paper into the book: “NBC Risks (1999). Current Capabilities and Future Perspectives for Protection. NATO Science Series”.

Dr Atmaram Bandivdekar completed Ph D Degree at the age of 31 years from Mumbai University. He was Post-Doctoral and Carrier fellow at Population Council, New York. He was also the visiting scientist at UC Davis Primate Center, USA. He is the Consultant at National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health which is the premier Institute in India in the field of Reproductive Health Research. He has published more than 85 papers in peer reviewed journals and also the book and two conference proceedings. He also has six National and International awards for his scientific contributions.

Reproductive Biology, Endocrinology, Biochemistry, Virology and Immunology