Meet our plenary speakers and chairs
Dr Caesar Atuire
Ethics Lead for MSc in International Health and Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford and Associate Professor of Applied Philosophy, University of Ghana
Dr Caesar Atuire’s work revisits the underlying conceptual frameworks informing bioethics by drawing on African and non-African philosophies to address inequity in the relationships that govern current approaches to global health. He writes about new ethical frontiers, decolonisation, and pluriversality. He leads a team from across the globe on a Wellcome Discovery Award to explore conceptualisations of solidarity and to design a solidarity index for ranking global health funders. Dr Atuire has designed a training package in clinical ethics for nursing trainees in Ghana, served on IRBS, and contributed to the course design and teaching of bioethics. He has led research on conceptualisations and ethics of mental healthcare among persons who hold strong cultural and religious beliefs. Dr Atuire is a member of the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Ethics and Governance Working Group, the Steering Committee of the Global Forum for Bioethics in Research and a Board Member of the International Association of Bioethics.
Dr Dalan Bailey
Group Leader, The Pirbright Institute, UK
Dr Bailey works on the molecular biology of respiratory RNA viruses including pneumoviruses, coronaviruses, morbilliviruses, and henipaviruses. He is particularly interested in the virus-host interactions that take place during virus entry and exit, and how they in turn influence host-range and zoonotic potential as well as antigenicity and vaccine effectiveness. Since 2005 he has published over 70 manuscripts in this area including senior author publications in leading journals. Dr Bailey is committed to the implementation of zoonotic research in policymaking and collaborates with WOAH, WHO and CEPI to influence stakeholder decision making. He is also passionate about scientific communication and public outreach and regularly takes part in podcasts, interviews and science festivals to share his enthusiasm for zoonotic research.
Dr Louise Blair
Senior Director of Analysis and Insights, Airfinity
Dr Louise Blair works at Airfinity, a global disease forecasting and analytics firm. She leads a diverse team of scientists, epidemiologists, and health economists. Dr Blair has provided data and insights to numerous governments during the COVID-19 pandemic to inform their decision-making processes, and more recently co-led the development of the company's tool, Biorisk, a cutting-edge product which assesses the risk of disease outbreaks globally. She has presented insights and modelling work on Bloomberg and BBC Radio and TV as well as being quoted in articles including in the Washington Post and Nature.
Professor Christopher C Broder
Chair of Microbiology and Immunology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Professor Broder’s research topics include virus-host cell interactions and receptor discovery, virus-mediated membrane fusion, vaccines and antibody therapeutics, and enveloped RNA virus surveillance. His collaborative contributions include the discoveries of the CXCR4 and CCR5 HIV-1 coreceptors; discovery of the entry receptors (ephrins) for Nipah (NiV) and Hendra virus (HeV); development of HeV/NiV soluble-G glycoprotein subunit vaccine candidates including the HeV equine vaccine, Equivac® HeV; Zoetis, Inc.; and development of antiviral human monoclonal antibodies including the anti-G mAb m102.4 which has been used in people in Australia and the US as post-exposure prophylaxis due to risk of HeV/NiV infection. Professor Broder’s honours include the AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize 1997, the CSIRO Chairman’s Medal 2013, and the 2013 and 2019 Federal Laboratory Consortium Awards for Excellence in Technology Transfer.
Professor Miles Carroll
Professor of Emerging Viruses, Pandemic Sciences Institute, University of Oxford
Before establishing the High Consequence Emerging Viruses Group at the University of Oxford’s Pandemic Sciences Institute, Professor Carroll was Head of Research at the National Infections Service at Public Health England. His current research includes: naturally acquired immunity to EBOV (Ebola virus) and other high consequence pathogens, understanding the host response to infection, high consequence emerging disease vaccines, and the application of molecular epidemiology to outbreaks. Professor Carroll is also involved in infectious disease research in West Africa. He completed his PhD on HIV vaccine research at the Medical Faculty at the University of Manchester, gaining a fellowship to study recombinant poxviruses at the National Institutes of Health, USA. Returning to the UK, Professor Carroll joined Oxford Biomedica as VP of Immunotherapy. Miles sits on a variety of Scientific Advisory Boards including the UK Animal and Plant Health Agency, Defence Science & Technology Laboratories, UK Vaccines Network and the WHO R&D Road Map for Priority Pathogens.
Dr Cristina Cassetti
Deputy Director, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID) at the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) part of the US
National Institutes of Health
Dr Cristina Cassetti has conducted research on poxviruses replication at the National Institutes of Health, influenza virus biology at Rutgers University and HPV vaccine development at the Vaccine Discovery Department at Wyeth (now Pfizer). In 2003 she became a Programme Officer at NIAID where she was responsible for the management and direction of extramural research programmes on several emerging viral diseases of global health importance including influenza and dengue. In 2016, she was appointed to coordinate the Zika research response in extramural NIAID and to manage translational research in the Virology Branch. In 2017 she was appointed as Chief of the Virology Branch in DMID. In 2019 Dr Casetti became the Deputy Director of DMID where she shares responsibilities with the Director for the overall scientific direction, administration and management of the largest extramural Division at NIAID. Dr Cassetti has a PhD in virology from the University of Rome, Italy.
Professor Christl Donnelly
Professor of Applied Statistics, Department of Statistics, University of Oxford
Professor Donnelly is a statistician and epidemiologist studying the spread and control of infectious diseases, with a particular interest in real-time analysis of outbreaks and their control. She is Head of the Department of Statistics at the University of Oxford and a Principal Investigator at the Pandemic Sciences Institute. She is also Visiting Professor in the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease in the Imperial College London School of Public Health. She has worked on a variety of diseases of humans and animals, including COVID-19, Zika, Ebola, MERS, influenza, SARS, bovine TB, foot-and-mouth disease, rabies, cholera, dengue, BSE/vCJD, malaria and HIV/AIDS. In addition to epidemiology and disease control, she is interested in conservation and animal welfare. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and was awarded the status of Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2018.
Dr Julia Fitzner
Unit Head, Insights and Analytics, World Health Organization’s Epidemic and Pandemic Intelligence HUB, Germany
Dr Julia Fitzner is a Medical Doctor and Epidemiologist. She is currently the unit head of insights and analytics at the World Health Organization’s Epidemic and Pandemic Intelligence HUB based in Berlin, Germany. Her work has focused extensively on enabling data reporting and analysis from different sources from around the world, covering the complete cycle from defining surveillance objectives, data collection, data harmonisation, analysis, reporting, training and evaluation. Dr Fitzner has worked for the World Health Organization for over 20 years.
Professor Christophe Fraser
Moh Family Foundation Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Pandemic Sciences Institute, University of Oxford
Professor Christophe Fraser is a mathematical modeller leading a multidisciplinary team at the University of Oxford that develops innovative approaches to epidemic control. As well as COVID-19, he has worked on epidemics including SARS, Ebola, H1N1 flu and HIV. He is interested in studying the population dynamics and epidemiology of pathogens, and translating this knowledge to public health, primarily using mathematical modelling and pathogen genomics. Trained in theoretical particle physics, Professor Fraser converted to mathematical biology in 1998. He was Royal Society URF and then Professor in the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Imperial College before joining the University of Oxford in 2016. His current research interests include HIV virulence; HIV treatment as prevention; HIV genomics; pneumococcal genomics; antibiotic resistance; outbreak response; COVID-19 contact tracing apps, COVID-19 epidemic modelling and COVID-19 sequencing.
Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert
Saïd Professor of Vaccinology, Pandemic Sciences Institute, University of Oxford
Professor Gilbert leads the Pandemic Sciences Institute’s research developing vaccines for emerging pathogens. She joined the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Medicine in 1994. Her chief research interest is the development of viral vectored vaccines that work by inducing strong and protective T and B cell responses. She leads work on influenza vaccine development as well as vaccines for many different emerging pathogens, including Nipah virus, MERS, and Lassa virus. Professor Gilbert’s work also focuses on the rapid transfer of vaccines into GMP manufacturing and first in human trials. In 2020 Professor Gilbert became the Oxford Project Leader for ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, a vaccine against the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. This vaccine is now in use in 180 countries in the fight against COVID-19 and is estimated to have saved more than six million lives. Professor Gilbert was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 2021 and her book, Vaxxers, describing the development of the COVID-19 vaccine was a Sunday Times bestseller.
Dr Ho Bich Hai
Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Ho Chi Minh City
Dr Hai trained in Computing Science (University of East Anglia) and Bioinformatics (Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology). Her current work at OUCRU in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam involves machine learning applications in low-resource intensive healthcare, particularly vital sign monitoring of infectious diseases.
Professor Christian Happi
Director, African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases, Redeemer’s University
Christian Happi is a Professor of Molecular Biology and Genomics and Director of the World Bank-funded African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID) at Redeemer’s University in Ede, Nigeria. After completing a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard University, Professor Happi worked there as a Research Scientist and is currently Adjunct Professor in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, USA. Professor Happi used next-generation sequencing technology to perform the first sequence of SARS-CoV-2 in Africa, within 48 hours of receiving a sample of the first case in Nigeria. This seminal work not only provided an insight into the detailed genetic map of the coronavirus in Africa, but also paved the way for the development of new countermeasures including new diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. Professor Happi has received a number of awards, including the 2021 Al-Sumait Prize for African Development of the Kuwait Foundation for Advancement in Sciences. He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Sciences.
Dr Ana Maria Henao-Restrepo
Co-lead R&D Blueprint, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization
Dr Henao-Restrepo serves as the technical lead for the R&D blueprint for emergency response at the WHO. During her esteemed career at the WHO, Dr. Henao-Restrepo was assigned to the Ebola Research and Development Team and coordinated the ring vaccination trial in Guinea and Sierra Leone. In addition, she contributed to the expansion of immunisation programmes and served as the WHO global focal point for measles and rubella control efforts. Notably, Dr. Henao-Restrepo also worked in the implementation and evaluation of strategies to eradicate poliomyelitis and eliminate measles and maternal and neonatal tetanus. Dr. Henao-Restrepo was born and raised in Columbia, South America. After receiving her Medical Doctor and Surgeon degree from the University of El Rosario in Bogota, Colombia, she received a Master’s degree in communicable disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Professor Sir Peter Horby
Director, Pandemic Sciences Institute, University of Oxford
Sir Peter Horby is Moh Family Foundation Professor of Emerging Infections and Global Health at the University of Oxford and the Director of the Pandemic Sciences Institute. The Pandemic Sciences Institute is a multidisciplinary initiative to create collaborative science-driven solutions to identify, prepare for, and counter pandemic threats. Professor Horby is also Executive Director of the International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infections Consortium (ISARIC), a consortium of international, national and local research networks whose research activities span 134 countries worldwide. Professor Horby is Co-Chief Investigator of the RECOVERY trial, the largest clinical trial for COVID-19 treatments in the world. He has advised the World Health Organisation, the UK government and other agencies on epidemic preparedness, clinical research and clinical trial design for epidemic infectious diseases. He is the founding Director of the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Dr Euzebiusz Jamrozik
Postdoctoral Fellow, Ethox
Centre, University of Oxford
Dr Zeb Jamrozik’s work focuses
on philosophical and policy issues related to infectious disease and global
health. He completed a PhD in Bioethics at Monash University in Melbourne,
Australia, where his doctoral thesis covered a range of emerging issues in
infectious disease ethics related to asymptomatic infection, drug resistance,
vector-borne diseases, and human challenge studies. During doctoral work he
interned at the World Health Organization in Geneva and was an Andrew Markus
visiting scholar at the Ethox Centre. Dr Jamrozik has also contributed to WHO
Ethics Guidance documents on vector-borne diseases and human challenge studies.
Dr Cassandra Kelly-Cirino
Vice President, Health Programs, FIND
Dr Cassandra Kelly-Cirino is a recognised diagnostics expert across multiple disease areas spanning research and development, evaluation, validation, implementation, market access and regulation. Dr Kelly-Cirino began her career at the Canadian National Microbiology Laboratory focused on emerging infections, then spent a decade at the Wadsworth Center in Albany, New York as Deputy Director of the Biodefense Laboratory, followed by five years in the private sector. Since 2017 Dr Kelly-Cirino has been working in Geneva, Switzerland for institutions including FIND and EGPAF, focusing on the development of diagnostics for infectious diseases that are affordable and easily deployable in resource-constrained countries. She recently re-joined FIND as Vice President, Health Programs to ensure alignment and improved co-utilisation of technology developments across nine health areas to foster equitable access to diagnostics globally. Dr Kelly-Cirino holds a PhD in Immunology and Infectious Disease from the State University of New York, Albany.
Dr Gary Kobinger
Director of Galveston National Laboratory, University of Texas Medical Branch
Dr Gary Kobinger’s research interests include global health, preparedness and response to infectious events of public health concerns, biosafety and biosecurity. He is Director of the Galveston National Laboratory, one of the largest active biocontainment facilities on an academic campus. Dr Kobinger has co-authored over 350 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts and accumulated more than 20 years of experience working in or managing high-containment laboratories. His research presently focuses on developing and testing new vaccine platforms and immune treatments against pathogens of high consequences to global public health. Serving the international community, Dr. Kobinger sits on several committees.
Professor Teresa Lambe, Calleva Head of Vaccine Immunology and Professor of Vaccinology & Immunology, University of Oxford
Professor Lambe, a Principal Investigator at the Pandemic Sciences Institute, leads a research group which improves human health by controlling disease through vaccination – stopping epidemics before they become pandemics. Professor Lambe is one of the Principal Investigators overseeing the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine programme; she co-designed the vaccine in January 2020, led the preclinical studies, and then oversaw the delivery of the immune results needed to support regulatory approval in late 2020. The vaccine has played a pivotal role in the fight against COVID-19 – estimated to have saved more than 6 million lives globally. Professor Lambe was appointed as an honorary OBE for her services to Sciences and Public Health in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours and received the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad in 2022.
Professor Sharon Lewin
Director, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
Professor Sharon Lewin is an infectious diseases physician and basic scientist, who is internationally renowned for her research into all aspects of HIV disease. She received her medical degree and PhD from Monash University, Melbourne and post-doctoral training at Rockefeller University, New York. She is the inaugural Director of the Doherty Institute, a joint venture of the University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital, and Melbourne Laureate Professor of Medicine at the University of Melbourne. She is also the inaugural director of the Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics, a new centre at the Doherty Institute. Scientists from the Doherty Institute were the first to isolate SARS-CoV2 outside of China and share it globally in January 2020. The Institute has a large programme on mathematical modelling, vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics for COVID-19 and Professor Lewin heads a laboratory of 25 scientists and clinicians. In 2019, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in recognition of her distinguished service to medical research, and to education and clinical care in the field of infectious diseases.
Professor
Nicola Lewis
Director,
Worldwide Influenza Centre and WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and
Response, Francis Crick Institute
Professor
Nicola Lewis’s research primarily focuses on investigating the ecology and
evolution of influenza A viruses in multiple animal hosts and the risks that
these viruses might pose to the human population, with a global context. In her roles, she provides consultancy to a range
of stakeholders but specifically including the European Commission, WOAH, FAO,
EFSA, ECDC, WHO and UKHSA. Alongside her WHOCC analyses of human seasonal
influenza virus evolution, Professor Lewis also contributes data and analyses
biennially to the WHO Vaccine Composition Meeting submission for animal
influenza viruses of zoonotic potential and serves on a variety of other expert
panels including the sub-group advising on COVID-19 Vaccine Composition. She is
also Professor in One Health Evolutionary Biology at the Royal Veterinary
College, from where she also graduated as a veterinary surgeon.
Dr Katherine Littler
Co-Unit Head, Health Ethics & Governance, World Health Organization
Dr Katherine Littler’s work focuses on the intersection of ethics, governance and policy in global health. While much of her recent focus has been pandemic-related, she has responsibility for a broad portfolio, including: realising the potential benefits of emerging technologies in different settings, with particular reference to human genome editing; research ethics, with a focus on priority setting and advancing equity and inclusion in research; governance, ethics oversight and clinical trial design; and climate change, health, equity and ethics. Prior to joining WHO in October 2018, Katherine co-led the Global Policy Team at Wellcome, where she provided strategic advice on regulatory, governance and ethical issues.
Professor Piet Maes
Assistant Professor in Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Riga Institute, KU Leuven University
Professor Piet Maes graduated as a PhD from the University of Leuven (KU Leuven, Belgium) in 2007. After postdoctoral tenures at the KU Leuven, the Institute of Primate Research (IPR, Nairobi, Kenya) and the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID, Fort Detrick, MD, USA), he was appointed as Research Expert in 2014 at the Clinical and Epidemiological Virology Laboratory (Rega Institute, Leuven, Belgium). In 2018, he was appointed as Assistant Professor at KU Leuven where he leads the Zoonotic Infectious Diseases unit. Professor Maes’ research is focused on the ecology of zoonotic viruses in their natural and dead-end host context, and the identification of novel viruses in humans, animals and insects. In addition, he studies the clinical relevance for and the genetic susceptibility of the host, and explores and predicts the mechanisms that determine the capability of these viruses to switch hosts as well as the pathogenic potential of these reservoir-borne viruses.
Professor Melinda Mills
Professor of Demography and Biosocial Health and Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science, University of Oxford
Professor Mills (MBE) is Special Advisor to the European Commissioner of the Economy, was on the Data Science Advisory Group for No 10 (UK PM’s office), and during COVID-19 served on the UK Government Office for Science SAGE (Science Advisory Group for Emergencies) SPI-B committee advising on social and behavioural impacts and the Royal Society’s SET-C (Science Emergency Technology-COVID19) group. Professor Mills is a Principal Investigator at the Pandemic Sciences Institute. Her research examines biosocial health, genetics and environment, demography, applied statistics, behaviour and modelling in public health.
Dr Sikhulile Moyo
Research Associate, Botswana-Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership and Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
Dr Sikhulile Moyo is a Medical Virologist/Research Scientist based at the Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership (BHP) and a Research Associate with the Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health. His research interests are focused on pathogen genomics (multiple pathogens), bioinformatics and phylogenetics, the characterisation of acute and primary HIV-1 subtype C infection, HIV cure, molecular epidemiology of HIV-1C infection, drug resistance, dynamics of viral evolution and cross-sectional methods for estimating HIV incidence. He led a team at the BHP that sequenced early cases of the Omicron variant, now the most dominant circulating variant worldwide. Dr Moyo recently received the German Afrika Foundation Award 2022, Martin Luther Jr Humanitarian Award, and was nominated in Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2022.
Professor Michael Parker
Ethox Centre Director and Professor of Bioethics, Pandemic Sciences Institute, University of Oxford
Professor Michael Parker leads a programme of cross-disciplinary research focused on the identification and analysis of ethical problems presented by advances in genomics, data science, and global health. He has special interests in ethical questions relating to: collective action, individual responsibility, and the common good in infectious disease response, research, and preparedness; research in global health emergencies; global health justice; conceptions of consent, privacy and confidentiality in data-driven health systems; clinical, research, and public health uses of genomics and genetics; and the roles of commercial and industry partnerships in healthcare innovation. Professor Parker's research is characterised by a commitment to the opportunities and challenges afforded by embedding ethics research into large scale biomedical science and healthcare innovations. Examples include the Malaria Genomics Epidemiology Network, the Wellcome Africa and Asia Programmes, the Oxford Big Data Institute, UK Biobank and the 100,000 Genomes Project.
Professor Steven Riley
Director General for Data, Analytics and Surveillance, UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)
Professor Steven Riley joined UKHSA in 2021 and is a member of the UKHSA Executive Committee. Prior to joining the UKHSA, Professor Riley was Professor of Infectious Disease Dynamics at Imperial College, London. He worked as part of the team that helped model the scale and progress of the COVID-19 pandemic and informed government decisions on necessary measures to control the spread. He was also part of the REACT programme. Professor Riley brings with him expert knowledge and understanding of how data can be used to shape and inform our response to infectious diseases. UKHSA’s Data, Analytics and Surveillance (DAS) Group is focusing on putting the full power of health and non-health data in the hands of those who need it and enabling the health protection ecosystem through the provision of world-class analytics capability to inform health protection activities, decision-making, action and outcomes.
Professor Brook Rogers
Professor of Behavioural Science, King’s College, London
Professor Brooke Rogers OBE is a social psychologist specialising in risk communication, public and practitioner attitudes to, perceptions of, and responses to health and security risks and threats. Her multi-disciplinary, collaborative projects explore psychological and behavioural responses to low likelihood, high-impact events such as chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear incidents, communication with vulnerable groups, community and organisational resilience, the role of schools in building resilience, and more. Professor Rogers chairs the Home Office Science Advisory Council (HOSAC) and the Cabinet Office Behavioural Science Expert Group (BSEG). Professor Rogers informs strategic decision-making about science and technology research and development priorities through the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology (CST), as well as sharing evidence-based advice with international organisations. She was an independent participant in the UK’s Science Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), and co-chair of SAGE’s behavioural science sub-group (SPI-B) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr Amadou A Sall
CEO, Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Senegal and Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Arborviruses and Viral Hemorrhagic Fever
Dr Amadou A Sall is the CEO of Institut Pasteur de Dakar in Senegal and Director of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Center for Arboviruses and Viral Hemorrhagic Fever. He has been chairman of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network and a member of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovation (CEPI) Scientific Advisory Board. Dr Sall is a virologist with a PhD in Public Health. He is an expert in epidemic response and control more specifically for arboviruses and viral hemorrhagic fevers (Ebola, Zika, Yellow fever) and high consequence pathogens. Dr Sall is member of several expert committees, co-chair of the COVID-19 laboratory technical working group of Africa Center for Disease Control, member of the Africa Union AFTCOR Steering Committee as well as the Senegalese Committee for COVID-19. He is the also chair of the Pasteur Network.
Dr Melanie Saville
Executive Director, Vaccine Research and Development, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI)
Dr Melanie Saville leads the technical teams supporting the vaccine development and enabling science projects funded by CEPI and is the R&D and Manufacturing workstream leader for COVAX. She currently sits on the Board of Trustees of the International Vaccine Institute (IVI). Melanie is a physician specialised in virology with 20 years’ experience in the development and licensure of vaccines for the developed and developing world. She has contributed to the development and licensure of several vaccines for seasonal and pandemic influenza, paediatric combinations, Rabies, Japanese Encephalitis and Dengue in Europe, US and internationally. Melanie obtained her medical degree from University College, London and holds a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology from University College, London and a Master’s in Medical Virology from Imperial College, London. In the vaccine industry, Melanie has held positions of increasing responsibility in research and development working for Wyeth, Sanofi Pasteur and Janssen.
Dr Kelvin Bryan Tan
Director, Future Systems Office, Singapore Ministry of Health
Dr Kelvin Bryan Tan leads the Analytics, Disease and Behaviour Modelling Co-operative of the Programme for Research in Epidemic Preparedness And REsponse (PREPARE) in Singapore. He is also the Director of the Future Systems Office and is responsible for driving IT and data enablement for population health initiatives within Singapore's Ministry of Health. Dr Tan has adjunct appointments at Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Duke-NUS Medicine and Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health. His research interests are in the areas of health economics, health insurance design and cost effectiveness modelling.
Dr Els Torreele
Policy Associate, Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, University College London
Dr Els Torreele is a global health and innovation expert, focusing on transforming medical R&D to address priority health needs and ensure equitable access to knowledge and technologies where and when needed, including for epidemic preparedness and response. With a bio-engineer degree and PhD from Brussels University (VUB), for over 20 years she has combined science, pharmaceutical R&D, policy analysis and research, and policy advocacy at Brussels University, Médecins Sans Frontières, Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative and Open Society Foundations and is now an independent consultant and Visiting Policy Fellow at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, University College London. A recent Rockefeller Bellagio Centre resident (March 2022), she is also an Honorary Science Fellow at the VUB, author on over 50 international journal publications, and regular contributor to the societal debate through media and social media.
Professor Ross Upshur
Dalla Lana Chair in Clinical Public Health and Head of the Division of Clinical Public Health at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health
Professor Upshur is senior scientist at the Lunenfeld Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health, and at the University of Toronto, a Professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Department of Family and Community Medicine, affiliate member of the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, and member of the Joint Centre for Bioethics and the Centre for Environment. He is a Staff Physician at Hennick Bridgepoint Hospital, Sinai Health. During COVID-19 he served as the co-Chair of the WHO Ethics and COVID-19 Working group. He is an elected Fellow of the Hastings Center and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.
Dr Janet Woodcock
Principal Deputy Commissioner, US Food and Drug Administration
Dr Janet Woodcock works closely with the Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to develop and implement key public health initiatives and helps oversee the agency’s day-to-day functions. She served as the Acting Commissioner of the FDA from January 2021 until February 2022. Dr Woodcock holds a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Bucknell University (Lewisburg, PA), and a Doctor of Medicine from the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University Medical School (Chicago). She is board certified in internal medicine.
Jenny Yang
DPhil student, Department of Engineering, University of Oxford
Jenny Yang specialises in clinical artificial intelligence. With a keen interest in ethical analysis of AI and the development of fair, bias-free models, she aims to push the boundaries of responsible technology. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, her work involved developing screening models capable of diagnosing the virus using routinely-acquired data in Emergency Departments across multiple NHS trusts. Collaborating with clinical colleagues, these models were successfully implemented in a prospective evaluation study at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital, proving their effectiveness. Prior to her studies at Oxford, Jenny completed her BASc in Engineering Physics and MSc in Bioinformatics at the University of British Columbia. Her expertise extends to various institutions and companies, including Stanford University, Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, and Exscientia, where she honed her skills in AI.