Infectious Diseases

Paul Van Buynder is a Public Health physician on the Gold Coast and holds an appointment as a Professor in the School of Public Health at Griffith University in Queensland. He is the Immediate pat president of the Australian Immunisation Coalition. He has held previous senior public health positions in a number of Australian states, at the Centre for Infections in the United Kingdom and in two Canadian provinces. He has held personal appointments on the Influenza sub-committees of National Advisory committees in three continents.

Vaccine Effectiveness Studies

Peter Timms is Professor of Microbiology at the University of Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. He is a nationally and internationally renowned microbiologist with specific expertise in the area of Chlamydia. His laboratory is acknowledged as the leading Australian laboratory and one of the leading groups internationally working on all aspects of chlamydial infections. His research group of 12 staff and students is developing vaccines and new diagnostics for chlamydial diseases in humans and animals as well as an improved understanding of chlamydial genomics, cell biology and pathogenicity. The group is widely acknowledged for its major contributions to chlamydial infections in koalas and other wildlife, including the development of a vaccine for koalas. He has published over 250 papers, reviews and book chapters in peer-reviewed international scientific journals.

Chlamydial Infections, Cell Biology, Pathogenicity

Rubén Bueno-Marí finished his Ph.D. in 2010 in the University of Valencia (Spain) and obtained the Special Doctorate Award in the field of Natural Sciences two years later. He is an active member of several scientific associations at national and international level, highlighting his role as current President Elect of the European Mosquito Control Association (EMCA). He is an expert advisor of the Iberoamerican Society of Scientific Information (SIIC) and has published more than 60 scientific publications in journals related with the fields of medical and veterinary entomology, applied zoology, parasitology and public health. He currently cooperates with several universities and other academic institution in superior teaching issues related with his field of expertise (medical entomology, vector control and vector-borne diseases) and is the head of the Department of Research and Development (R+D) of a leading company in environmental health called Laboratories Lokímica.

Vector-Borne Diseases, Arbovirus, Zoonoses, Medical Entomology

Graduated from Medicine School, Sassari University, Italy (1980) and Specialized in Infectious Diseases (1983), Allergology and Clinical Immunology (1986), “La Sapienza University”, Rome, Italy. Researcher at the Department of Infectious Diseases, “La Sapienza University”, Rome (1981-1992) and Associated Professor of Infectious Diseases at University of Ferrara, Italy (1992-2004). Education at Department de Pathologie Exotique et Maladies Tropicales, Université Claude Bernard, Lyon, France (1988-1996), Groupe Immunité des Muqueuses et Agents Pathogenes, Université Jacques Lisfrang, Saint-Etienne, France (1998-2000), Department de Biotechnologies (1989-1995), Laboratoire des Mycoplasmas and des Chlamydiae, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France (1996-2005); Department of Biological Sciences (Pneumocystis jiroveci Unit, University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, 2001. Since 2005 is Full Professor and Chairman of Infectious Diseases, Chief of the Unit of Infectious Diseases and Dermatology at Department of Medical Sciences of the University of Ferrara and Director of the School of Specialization in Infectious and Tropical Diseases. He teaches at the PhD of Molecular Medicine and Pharmacology of the University of Ferrara.

HCV Infections, Tuberculosis

Pei-Yong Shi, PhD, is I.H. Kempner Professor of Human Genetics, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston Texas, USA. He is also adjunct Professor of Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore and Honorary Professor at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He received his Ph.D. in virology in 1996 from Georgia State University. After postdoctoral training at Yale University, he joined Bristol-Myers Squibb as a Principal Scientist to develop HIV and HCV therapeutics from 1998 to 2000. He then moved to the Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, to study West Nile virus. From 2008 to 2015, he served as Dengue Unit Head and Executive Director to lead drug discovery at Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases. His group developed the first infectious clone of the epidemic strain of West Nile virus, discovered two RNA cap methylation activities of flavivirus NS5 protein, identified essential RNA elements for flavivirus replication, established various platforms for flavivirus vaccine and drug discovery, and pioneered therapeutics development for dengue virus. He has published over 190 peer-reviewed articles and served as Editor (ACS Infectious Diseases, Journal of General Virology, and Nature Vaccine) and Editorial Board member (Journal of Virology, Virology, and Antiviral Research). He is internationally recognized for his scholar and administrative accomplishments at leading research institution, public health sector, and pharmaceutical industry.

Flaviviral Infection, Human Diseases, Drug Disovery and Vaccines for Viral Infections

Ross is a tenured Professor and Chair of Tropical Medicine & Infectious Diseases with Griffith University, Australia, and a Physician Scientist with Menzies Health Institute Queensland. His expertise and research interests lie in the realm of global health, tropical infectious diseases, medical microbiology, disease control, and vaccination. Professor Ross completed a Bachelor of Science in Biology (B.Sc., 1990) and a Masters of Science (M.Sc., 1994) in Human Biology in Canada before proceeding to Brisbane, Australia where he completed a Doctorate in Tropical Health (Ph.D., 1998) with Distinction, and a Doctorate of Medicine (M.D., 2010) through the University of Queensland. He is the author or co-author on over 100 international peer-reviewed publications, reviews and book chapters on various aspects of global health, infectious disease control and vaccine development. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathology in the United Kingdom (F.R.C.Path), Fellow of the Australian College of Tropical Medicine (F.A.C.T.M.) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health in the United Kingdom (F.R.S.P.H.).

Tropical Medicines, Infectious Diseases

Diane Williamson is a Dstl Fellow in Immunology, based at Porton Down. She has worked in R&D (starting in veterinary vaccinology and moving to human vaccines and therapies for serious pathogens) for 30 years. She has published extensively, on the theme of prophylaxis and therapy of serious human diseases for biodefence and emerging pathogens and has worked in the R& D pipeline from discovery to translation to the clinic. Additionally she is currently a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and of the Royal College of Pathology and has served as a Trustee and national Education secretary of the British Society for Immunology.

Immunology

Sherry Layton received her PhD from the University of Arkansas where she studied poultry science. Her early career research in poultry immunology and molecular engineering set the foundation for her pioneering scientific successes in animal and public health. Over the last decade Dr. Layton developed and patented an innovative orally administered sub-unit vaccine platform, Biotech Vac. This research and development led to the recent introduction of Biotech Vac – Salmonella in Latin America, which provides poultry with immunological protection from all mobile Salmonella species, a first in the poultry industry, and will help reduce the risk of food-borne Salmonellosis in humans. Currently, she serves as CEO for Vetanco USA and Chief Scientific Officer for Vetanco International/BV Science, a global animal health and nutrition company where her research focuses on maintaining public and animal health; as well as ensuring food safety globally. Dr. Layton currently leads a research team of veterinarians and scientists in the U.S. and South America and has developed a pipeline of pioneering and effective vaccines. She is currently focused on supporting the introduction of Biotech Vac – Salmonella and Biotech Vac Coccidia in Latin America as well as establishing biologicals in the U.S. market with the newly formed Vetanco USA.

Immunology