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.

Professor Diabetes - Immunovirology at Faculty of Medicine, Lund University and a MD in pediatrics. He is Principal Investigator in EXODIAB, a joint strategic research initiative in the diabetes area at Lund University (LU) and Uppsala University (UU) with the aim to create a national leading resource for diabetes research.

Corrado Cilio’s research focus is on the immunological mechanisms underlying autoimmune diseases. “We need to learn how the immune system works in order to understand what happens when it doesn’t, when the body’s own tissues are attacked and people get sick”, says Corrado Cilio.

Corrado Cilio came to Sweden from Rome in Italy where he studied medicine and started working on his doctoral thesis. He did one year of his specialist training in Umeå where he was offered to continue his PhD education. The next stop after the dissertation in Umeå was Lund University Diabetes Centre.

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.

David Heymann holds a BA in general science from Penn State University, an M.D from Wake Forest School of Medicine, and a DTM&H from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). He is currently Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at LSHTM and Head of the Centre on Global Health Security at Chatham House, London. From 2012 to March 2017 he was chairman of Public Health England.



For 22 years Heymann was based at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva on secondment from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during which time he rose from Chief of Research of the Global Programme on AIDS to Founding Director of the Programme on Emerging and other Communicable Diseases. He then was named Executive Director of the Communicable Diseases Cluster, a position from which he headed the global response to SARS, and finally was named Assistant Director for Health Security and the Director General’s Representative for Polio Eradication.



Before joining WHO Heymann was based for 13 years in sub-Saharan Africa on assignment from CDC where he worked Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, DRC and Malawi. During this period he participated in the response to the first, second and third outbreaks of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in DRC, investigated human monkeypox outbreaks throughout central and western Africa, and supported ministries of health in field research aimed at better control of malaria, measles, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases. Prior to joining CDC Heymann worked in India for two years as a medical epidemiologist in the WHO smallpox eradication programme.



Heymann is an elected fellow of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (US) and the Academy of Medical Sciences (UK), and has received seven different public health awards, including the Heinz Award on the Human Condition, that have provided funding for the establishment of an on-going mentorship programme at the International Association of Public Health Institutes (IANPHI).



Heymann has published over 200 peer reviewed articles, commentaries and book chapters, and is the editor of the Control of Communicable Diseases Manual, a major global reference for public health and health protection. In 2009 he was appointed an honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) for service to global public health.

David Addiss, MD, MPH is Director of the Focus Area for Compassion and Ethics (FACE) at the Task Force for Global Health in Decatur, Georgia. For 20 years he worked on neglected tropical diseases as a medical epidemiologist at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He has held positions in academia, migrant health, and philanthropy.

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.

 

Nationality: Dutch

Position: Associate Professor, Department of Viroscience, Erasmus MC, The Netherlands

Research Fields: Pathogenesis of respiratory virus infections; Neurological complications; Systemic Inflammation; Influenza A viruses; SARS-CoV-2; Enterovirus D-68;

Short description:
Debby van Riel is an Associate Professor at the Department of Viroscience, Erasmus MC, The Netherlands. After obtaining her MSc at the John Moores University in the UK, she continued her PhD studying the cell tropism of influenza viruses, which she defended in 2010. Since then her research focuses on the pathogenesis of extra-respiratory complications of respiratory virus infections, such as influenza A viruses (seasonal, pandemic and zoonotic influenza viruses), Enterovirus-D68, and SARS-CoV-2. These studies have revealed important new insights into the mechanism of systemic virus dissemination, routes of virus invasion into the central nervous system, systemic inflammatory responses, and the development of central nervous system complications. Her work has been published in leading scientific journals including Science, Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Materials and Trends in Neurosciences and she received multiple prestigious personal grants (a.o. Veni, Vidi, Aspasia, EUR fellowship, Erasmus MC fellowships) and prizes (ESWI award, Beijerinck Premium).

Position: Journalist, New Scientist

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

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

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

Dexter Wiseman is a Clinical Research Fellow at the National Heart and Lung Institute and an Honorary SpR at the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS trust. He is also a trainee Respiratory and General Internal Medicine physician in the North West London deanery.

As part of his research project Dexter is currently working in Professor Jadwiga 'Wisia' Wedzicha's lab, helping run the London COPD exacerbation cohort. His research interests include viral causes for COPD exacerbation, specifically looking at the role RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) has to play both at exacerbation and during periods of stability.

Dexter is a member of the international consortium RESCEU (REspiratory Syncytial virus Consortium in EUrope) and works closely with Professor Peter Openshaw and Dr Ryan Thwaites investigating the immunological markers of RSV susceptibility in COPD patients.

Dipti Patel is a specialist in occupational medicine and travel medicine. She is Director of the National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC) in the UK, and the Chief Medical Officer at the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). She is also an Honorary Lecturer in Population Health, Health Services Research and Primary Care within the School of Health Sciences at Manchester University.

She is a member of the UK Advisory Committee on Malaria Prevention, the Travel Subcommittee of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, and the WHO International Travel and Health Guideline Development Group.

Dipti is an associate editor for Travel Medicine and Infectious Diseases, and co- editor of the ABC of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Nationality: British

Position: Professor, MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research

Research fields: Molecular biology of influenza viruses

ESWI member since 2015

Prof. Hutchinson received his PhD from the University of Cambridge and was then a postdoctoral scientist at the University of Oxford from 2009 – 2016. In 2016, he set up a research group at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, where he is now Professor of Molecular and Cellular Virology.

Hutchinson’s research looks at the factors that make influenza and other respiratory viruses infectious, including the morphology and composition of virus particles, the way in which viruses interact and spread within the host and how these factors shape the course of a respiratory infection. He was named ‘Young Microbiologist of the Year’ by the Microbiology Society in 2007 and has held fellowships including a Junior Research Fellowship at Worcester College Oxford (2010 – 2014) and an MRC Career Development Award (2016 – 2021).

Hutchinson has an ongoing interest in science communication, winning the 2008 Biosciences Federation’s New Researcher Science Communication Award and the 2021 Microbiology Society’s Microbiology Outreach Prize, and in the training of postgraduate research students and early-career researchers. As well as being a member of ESWI since 2015, he sits on the Microbiology Society’s Virus Division and leads the Steering Group for the UK’s Influenza Update Meetings.

I am a medical doctor and epidemiologist with a master of public health and a PhD in breast cancer epidemiology. I have previously been assistant professor of hygiene and preventive medicine at the University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy) and I am currently senior expert in vaccine-preventable diseases at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). My main research areas are epidemiology, vaccines (COVID-19, pneumococcal, HPV), health outcomes research, and burden of disease.

Professor Eddie Holmes is known for his work on the evolution and emergence of infectious diseases, particularly the mechanisms by which RNA viruses jump species boundaries to emerge in humans and other animals. He currently holds an NHMRC Leadership Fellowship and is Professor of Virology at the University of Sydney. He moved to the University of Sydney in 2012. He has studied the emergence and spread of such pathogens as SARS-CoV-2, influenza virus, dengue virus, HIV, hepatitis C virus, myxoma virus, RHDV and Yersinia pestis. His previous appointments include Verne M. Willaman Chair in the Life Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University, USA, and Affiliate Member of the Fogarty International Centre (2005-2012), National Institutes of Health, USA. From 1999-2004 he was Fellow of New College, Oxford. In 2021 he received the (Australian) Prime Minister's Prize for Science. He is the author of 713 peer-reviewed papers and two books. 

Dr Walsh received an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Manhattan College and an MD degree from SUNY-Downstate Medical Center in 1974. He completed his residency at the URMC Strong Memorial Hospital in 1977 and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases in 1982. Since then he has been faculty in the Department of Medicine and a member Infectious Diseases division at the University of Rochester. Dr Walsh is head of the ID unit at Rochester General Hospital where his clinical activities and research activities are based.

Elisa Milani is a Milan-based healthcare professional currently working as a Senior Consultant and Project Coordinator in the Healthcare Area at The European House - Ambrosetti (TEHA Group) in Italy. She specializes in health policy, mental health, and strategic consulting for the healthcare sector.

Elizabeth Kuiper is Associate Director and Head of the Social Europe and Well- being programme at the European Policy Centre.  

 

Beyond her role as an Associate Director, Elizabeth heads the EPC's Social Europe and Well-being programme. Her focus is on EU health policy and further developing the concept of the economy of well-being, linking up the EPC's research on health care, social equality, sustainability and economic governance.  

 

Before joining the EPC, Elizabeth was Executive Director Public Affairs at the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), where she was leading the organisation’s advocacy and external engagement strategy and maintained a strong network of contacts with policymakers and other stakeholders. Amongst others, she led the industry’s Brexit Task Force and created the Brexit4Patients multistakeholder coalition, to ensure that patients’ interest were put first in the Brexit negotiations.   

 

In 2010, Elizabeth transferred to the Permanent Representation of the Netherlands to the EU in Brussels. There, she represented the Netherlands’ interests on health policies, pharmaceuticals and medical devices. She led negotiations on (inter alia) the Clinical Trials regulation, the Medical Devices Regulation and the Transparency Directive; and followed the European Semester process, including the implementation of the Country Specific Recommendations at national level. During her tenure at the Permanent Representation, she was responsible for briefing the Coreper-I Ambassador on healthcare related files and advised and supported senior officials and government Ministers before, during, and after EU negotiations. She also represented the Netherlands at relevant public/stakeholder events. 

 

Early in her career, she served as a political advisor to the Dutch Minister of Health, Welfare and Sports in the Balkenende-IV cabinet. She was responsible for managing relations with Members of Parliament and offered political advice and support to the Minister of Health on issues related to healthcare and social policy. In this role, Elizabeth regularly accompanied and assisted the Minister to Brussels for EPSCO Councils, as well as to Members States holding the Council of the Presidency of the European Union for so-called informal meetings of Health Ministers. She also assisted the Minister of Health in his engagement with US policymakers in the context of ongoing discussions about the Health Care Reform legislation, eventually leading to the adoption of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.  

 

Elizabeth lives in Brussels and enjoys reading political biographies and visiting contemporary art exhibitions as much as she can. She also fights fast fashion in her capacity as Brand Ambassador for a sustainable fashion brand. 

Dr Emilie Karafillakis, is an Assistant Professor and the European Director of the Vaccine Confidence Project at the Vaccine Confidence Project™, at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the University of Antwerp. She has more than 10 years of experience in international research and teaching in academia. With a background in public health, infectious disease control, and health systems and policies research, her work focuses on understanding individual and group beliefs, attitudes and confidence in health interventions and assess how these can influence public health control measures and health promotion strategies, including vaccination. She has extensive experience on issues of vaccine confidence in Europe, including among parents, adolescents, pregnant women and healthcare professionals.

Dr. Simoes is working with the World Health Organization for the management of common pediatric conditions in developing countries (Integrated Management of Childhood Illness) and studies the epidemiology, pathogenesis, and prevention of the short- and long-term effects of respiratory syncytial virus infection in children. Dr. Simoes has played a significant role in the World Health Organization's initiative to reduce childhood and infant mortality throughout the world with the development of a strategy called "Integrated Management of Childhood Illness." He has worked on this initiative since 1989, including testing and implementing its guidelines in many countries throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe.

Nationality: British, Slovakian-Hungarian

Position: Professor of Virology

Research Fields: Influenza virus molecular biology

Short discription:

Professor Fodor obtained his MSc in Chemical Technology from the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava. He worked as a Research Assistant at the Institute of Virology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava before pursuing graduate studies with Professor George Brownlee at the University of Oxford, where he earned his DPhil in Pathology in 1995. After completing his doctorate, he conducted postdoctoral research with Dr Peter Palese at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York. In 2002, he was awarded an MRC Senior Non-Clinical Research Fellowship to establish his research group in the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology at the University of Oxford. After a brief period as an Associate Professor, he was appointed as Professor of Virology in 2011 at the University of Oxford.

Professor Fodor’s research interests are centred on RNA viruses, particularly influenza viruses, and more recently coronaviruses. His research focuses on the fundamental molecular mechanisms used by viruses to transcribe and replicate their RNA genome, the role of host factors in these processes, and cellular responses to viral infection. In collaboration with Professor Jonathan Grimes from the Division of Structural Biology at the University of Oxford, he contributed to understanding the structural basis of influenza virus RNA synthesis by determining structures of the influenza virus RNA polymerase complex.

Professor Fodor has published extensively in leading scientific journals, including Nature, Nature Microbiology, Cell, Molecular Cell, and PNAS. He is the recipient of the 2019 AstraZeneca Award from the Biochemical Society. Professor Fodor is a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and was elected as a member of EMBO in 2021.

Dr Federica Morandi, Phd is Assistant Professor of Organisation Theory and Human Resource Management at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and Director of Academic Programs and Research in ALTEMS (Rome, Italy).  She is a member of the EHMA Programme Directors’ Group. Her research interests include the managerial and practical implications of the introduction of new organisational models within healthcare organizations, the study of the behavioural features of healthcare professionals, the human resource management policies, and perspectives within hospitals. Federica’s work has been published in internationally renowned journals. Federica’s research have been presented in a number of international conferences.

MD, PhD, Head of Paediatrics, Director of Translational Paediatrics and Infectious Diseases at the Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago (Spain), Associate Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Santiago and Academician of the Royal Academy of Medicine and Surgery of Galicia.
His main research interests are: vaccines, infectious diseases, meningococcal disease, host genetics, and biomarkers. He has directly managed or directed as PI more than 50 competitive research projects (2 FP7, 4 H2020 and 3 IMI2), 80 phase I to III vaccine clinical trials, and 25 collaboration grants related to infectious diseases and genomics.

Nationality: Ethiopian

Position: PhD Student, Addis Ababa University and Armauer Hansen Research Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Research Fields: Viral Etiologies and diagnostic biomarkers of acute lower respiratory infections, the burden and prevention strategies options of RSV in Africa

Short description:  Fiseha Wadilo Wada has successfully completed his Bachelor's Degree (BSc) in Medical Laboratory Technology, followed by earning his Master's Degree (MSc) in Medical Microbiology. He has been serving as a university lecturer at Wolaita Sodo University for over four years, where he teaches courses such as medical microbiology, immunology, virology, parasitology, and clinical laboratory methods. Furthermore, he has published 19 research papers in reputable international journals. Currently, his research focuses on investigating the viral etiologies and diagnostic biomarkers of acute lower respiratory infections in children under the age of five in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He is also actively involved in researching various prevention strategies for RSV.