Emeritus Prof. Stanley Plotkin
Chairman
Emeritus Professor of Wistar Institute and University of Pennsylvania
Principal, Vaxconsult
Dr. Stanley Plotkin, Emeritus Professor of Wistar Institute and University of Pennsylvania, developed the rubella vaccine now used worldwide and has worked extensively on the development and application of other vaccines including polio, rabies, varicella, rotavirus and cytomegalovirus. Dr Plotkin has held senior positions at the Epidemic Intelligence Service, U.S. Public Health and with Sanofi Pasteur. He wrote over 700 articles, and has edited several books including Vaccines, now the standard textbook in the field.
Dr. Nicole Guiso (France)
Former Research Unit Head at the Institut Pasteur, Paris
Former Director of the French National Center of Reference for Pertussis
Dr. Nicole Guiso is the former Head of the Institut Pasteur Research Unit, Molecular Prevention and Therapy of Human Diseases, Paris (France), and Director of the French National Center of Reference for Pertussis and other bordetelloses and for toxinogenic corynebacteria. She was an advisor to the Pertussis and Diphtheria working groups of the French committee for immunization and was appointed as expert of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts working group on Pertussis Vaccines. Dr Guiso wrote over 300 articles in the field of infectious diseases?and directed studies of several post-graduate students, post-doctoral investigators and trainees.
Prof. Adam Finn (UK)
Professor of Paediatrics, University of Bristol
Honorary Consultant Paediatrician, Bristol Royal Hospital for Children
Professor Adam Finn is Professor of Paediatrics and Lead for the Infection & Immunity Research Network at the University of Bristol, and Clinical Research Lead Children, Genetics, Haematology, Reproductive Health and Childbirth for the NIHR Clinical Research Network: West of England. He is also an Honorary Consultant Paediatrician at the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children and heads the Bristol Children’s Vaccine Centre. He is Chair of the WHO European Technical Advisory Group of Experts (ETAGE) on Immunization and an ex officio member of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts. He is a member of the UK Department of Health Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and President of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID).
Dr. Norbert Pardi (USA)
Assistant Professor at the Department of Microbiology of the Perelman School of Medicine
Dr Norbert Pardi holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry and genetics. He has been working at the University of Pennsylvania since 2011 and currently holds an Assistant Professor position at the Department of Microbiology of the Perelman School of Medicine. His research interest is the development of mRNA-based therapeutics with particular focus on new generation infectious disease vaccines. He explored the development of a novel vaccine platform using nucleoside-modified mRNA in lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) and used it to generate highly effective vaccines targeting various pathogens (influenza virus, coronaviruses, malaria and others). Dr. Pardi is a pioneer of the nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccine technology and published milestone papers in the field.
Prof. Peter Openshaw (UK)
Professor of Experimental Medicine at Imperial College London
Former president of the British Society for Immunology
Peter Openshaw MD PhD CBE is Professor of Experimental Medicine at Imperial College London, UK. A respiratory physician and mucosal immunologist, he studies how the immune response both protects against viral infection but also causes disease. Dr Openshaw is a past President of the British Society for Immunology (2013-18), well known for his research on respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza and COVID-19, and for the development of human challenge in volunteers. He has served on many grant committees and Advisory Boards and has published widely on vaccinology, the immunopathogenesis of pulmonary viral diseases, lung inflammation, asthma and obstructive lung disease. Prof. Openshaw joins us on an independent basis via Imperial Consultants.
Dr. William Gruber (USA)
Former SVP and Head of Pfizer Vaccine Clinical Research and Development (VCRD)
Dr William (Bill) Gruber retired from Pfizer, Inc. in December of 2023, where he served as SVP and Head of Pfizer Vaccine Clinical Research and Development (VCRD) since 2009, and as VP and Head of the legacy Wyeth VCRD beginning in 1999. His group was responsible for the global clinical research and development of now-licensed pneumococcal, meningococcal, influenza, COVID-19, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines, in addition to numerous investigational vaccine candidates. Prior to joining the industry, Dr Gruber was a tenured faculty member in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He has contributed to more than 200 original research articles and numerous invited articles and book chapters on infectious diseases and vaccine development.