Bridging the Gap: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Respiratory Infections and NCDs

Nationality: German

Position: Head of Department, Leibniz Institute of Virology (Germany); and Professor of Virology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Germany

Research fields: Interspecies transmission and pathogenesis of influenza A viruses; High-risk groups of influenza (pregnancy, asthma, obesity); New antiviral strategies against influenza

ESWI member since 2009

Gülşah Gabriel is head of the department Viral Zoonoses - One Health at the Leibniz Institute of Virology (LIV) in Hamburg and professor for Viral Zoonoses at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover. Her research focus is to understand the molecular basis of influenza A virus interspecies transmission from birds to humans as well as pathomechanisms in high-risk groups.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, her research group was among the first to identify key pathomechanisms that are currently discussed to contribute to long-term consequences after acute respiratory infections. These include SARS-CoV-2 replication in human adipose tissue (Zickler et al., Cell Metabolism 2022) and altered sex hormone metabolism in COVID-19 patients (Schroeder et al., Emerging Microbes & Infections 2021; Stanelle-Bertram et al., Cell Reports Medicine 2023).

In 2009, Gülşah Gabriel was the first winner of the ESWI Best Body of Work Award. She was elected Vice Chair of ESWI in 2014. She has received many prestigious awards for her research, e.g. the Robert-Koch Förderpreis awarded from the Robert-Koch Foundation, the Best Minds Award from the Leibniz Association and the DZIF Award for Translational Infection Research from the German Center for Infection.

Since 2024, Gülşah Gabriel is speaker of the newly established Leibniz Lab Pandemic Preparedness: One Health, One Future that combines the expertise of 41 Leibniz Institutes from various disciplines with practical knowledge to develop evidence-based strategies that permanently strengthen the pandemic resilience of science and society.

Dr. Kirsty Short is an NHMRC research fellow and head of the viral pathogenesis lab at the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland.



Dr. Short and her group focus on reducing the severity of emerging respiratory viral infections. Their group performs a large amount of research on the role of chronic metabolic conditions (namely diabetes and obesity) in severe viral infections. Their work also includes a focus on avian influenza (‘bird flu’) in the context of pandemic preparedness.



Their group also works with SARS-CoV-2 with a particular focus on the role of children in disease transmission, the development of novel therapies and reducing disease severity in patients living with diabetes and obesity.

Nationality: Dutch 

Position: Intensivist, Spaarne Gasthuis, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and Senior Scientist, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Research fields: Special interest in acute care and infectious diseases

ESWI member since 2016

Marco Goeijenbier completed his Ph.D. in virology, focusing on "Haemostasis and Virus Infection," at Erasmus University Rotterdam in 2015. He currently serves as a specialist in acute internal medicine and critical care at Spaarne Hospital in Haarlem, The Netherlands. His expertise spans various aspects of infectious diseases, particularly in critical care medicine and viral infections. In addition to his clinical work, Goeijenbier holds a research position at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, where he mentors PhD students exploring critical care medicine and viral infections. His research interests focus on severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) pathogenesis, epidemiology, and their interaction with the coagulation system.

Some of Goeijenbier’s most published articles include:

1. Presence of procoagulant peripheral blood mononuclear cells in severe COVID-19 patients relate to ventilation perfusion mismatch and precede pulmonary embolism 
2.  Determinants of vaccination uptake in risk populations: A comprehensive literature review. 
3. Benefits of flu vaccination for persons with diabetes mellitus. 
4. Early Patient-Triggered Pressure Support Breathing in Mechanically Ventilated Patients with COVID-19 May Be Associated with Lower Rates of Acute Kidney Injury

Dr. Goeijenbier is ESWI’s lead member and Chair in the Influenza Diabetes Community (IDC). The IDC connects leading diabetes, patient, scientific, and professional organizations around the common aim of protecting persons living with diabetes from influenza and other viral respiratory diseases like COVID-19.

Starting January 2023, Dr. Goeijenbier has taken on the role of Chair of Medical Research and Education at Spaarne Hospital. Furthermore, since January 2024, Marco is the Editor in Chief for Nature Springer Tropical Diseases, Travel Medicine, and Vaccines.

Dr. Biering-Sørensen holds a distinguished academic background, having obtained his medical degree in 2011 and his Ph.D. degree in 2015 from the University of Copenhagen. He furthered his education with a Master of Public Health from Harvard University in 2018 and a Master of Science in Clinical Trials from the University of Oxford in 2023. 

He is the Founding Head of the Center for Translational Cardiology and Pragmatic Randomized Trials (CTCPR), a collaboration between Copenhagen University Hospital Herlev-Gentofte and the Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. Furthermore, he is the Founding Head of the Cardiovascular Non-Invasive Imaging Research Laboratory (CIRL), which is world-renowned for its innovative research in cardiac imaging. 

Together with his research group at CTCPR and CIRL which consists of more than 50 affiliated researchers, Dr. Biering-Sørensen conducts extensive investigations into the efficacy of cardiovascular imaging techniques to enhance individualized risk prediction. Moreover, he has initiated several large-scale pragmatic randomized trials utilizing the resources of the nationwide Danish registries, thereby contributing significantly to the advancement of pragmatic trial methodologies. 

Additionally, in his capacity as an academic leader, he has been awarded some of the most prestigious research awards in Denmark but also internationally, he has published more than 350 scientific publications and he provides mentorship to numerous medical students, PhD students, and postdoctoral researchers, offering guidance in various aspects of clinical research, with a particular focus on cardiovascular imaging, randomized trials, heart failure, and the effects of infections on cardiovascular outcomes. 

Research topics 

• Cardiovascular Imaging
• Heart Failure
• Infections effect on cardiovascular outcomes
• Randomized clinical trials