Odile Leroy
Odile has been the Executive Director of the European Vaccine Initiative, formerly European Malaria Vaccine Initiative (EMVI) since 2006.
Odile has spent most of her career in vaccine development, as a scientist in Africa for nine years, followed by Corporate Clinical Director of airborne vaccines for ten years at Pasteur Mérieux Connaught (Sanofi Pasteur). She joined EMVI in 2002 as Clinical and Regulatory Director, and from 2005 to 2006, she headed the European and Developing Countries’ Clinical Trial Partnership as Executive Director.
Odile is a member of the Science Board of the Brighton Collaboration, coordinator of the FP7 vaccine infrastructure project TRANSVAC, and a member of the WHO product development group for the measles aerosol project.
Odile is a trained physician who has specialised in the areas of epidemiology, clinical pharmacology, and vaccinology.
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Prof. Dr. Claus Bartram
Claus R. Bartram graduated from the University of Hamburg in 1978 with a ´summa cum laude´ Degree in Medicine. He then went on to specialise in paediatrics and gained a DFG scholarship from Erasmus University Rotterdam, Department of Cell Biology and Genetics. In 1987, Claus was appointed Associate Professor and Head of the Section Molecular Biology in the Department of Pediatrics II at Ulm University. This was followed by an appointment to the Chair of Clinical Molecular Biology at the University of Ulm in 1993. In 1995, after obtaining his Board Certification in Human Genetics, he was appointed to the position of Chair of Human Genetics at the University of Heidelberg. Claus is currently Director of the Institute of Human Genetics at the University of Heidelberg and Dean of the Medical Faculty of Heidelberg. He is an active member of a large number of scientific committees and learned societies, e.g. DFG, Leopoldina as well as the German Medical Association, to name but a few. Several prestigious awards have been bestowed on Claus, and he has authored more than 400 articles in peer reviewed scientific journals, books and book chapters.
Claus’s areas of expertise can be summarised as follows: Cancer genetics, Human genetics.
Claire Boog
Claire Boog is Scientific Director of the Netherlands Vaccine Institute (NVI), Bilthoven. She trained as a Medical Biologist (University of Amsterdam, 1983; cum laude), followed in 1988 by a Ph.D at the faculty of Medicine Leiden University while working at the Central Lab. of Blood Transfusion Service (CLB) and the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam. Claire then joined the Department of Immunology of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, of the University of Utrecht, and was concurrently yearly visiting lecturer at the University of Harare, Zimbabwe teaching immunology up to 1991. 1994 saw her as Head of the Department of Transplantation Immunology at the CLB, in Amsterdam, and in 1999 she became Head of the department of the Immunology of the Laboratory of Vaccine Research of the National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection (RIVM), in Bilthoven, where her research activities focused on defining immunological correlates of protection on the T and B cell level after natural infection and vaccination. In 2003 Claire became Head of the Department of Vaccine Research of NVI, where she coordinated and managed the Strategic Vaccine Research Program, designed to form a bridge between fundamental scientists in the field of microbiology, immunology, and vaccinology from (inter)national universities, biotech companies and/or vaccine institutes and NVI. In 2007 she became Deputy Scientific Director of the NVI, and also Professor at the Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Utrecht.
Claire has authored or co-author ~100 publications and is (or was) a member of several national scientific boards.
Alister Craig
Alister Craig graduated in 1981 from the University of Edinburgh with an honorary B.Sc. degree in Genetics. This was followed by Ph.D. studies at the University of Leicester, completed in 1984 with a thesis entitled “The Gene Family Encoding a Major Glycoprotein in the Murine Submaxillary Glands”. Several post doctoral research fellowships followed at prestigious institutions abroad and at home in England. Alister Craig has been associated with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) since 1999, where he currently holds the position of Professor of Molecular Parasitology and is Chair of the LSTM Research Committee.
In his own words Alister Craig’s main interests in research 'are the mechanisms of cytoadherence in Plasmodium falciparum and its role in severe disease'. Alister Craig has authored and co-authored numerous articles published in top international scientific journals.
Alister Craig’s areas of expertise can be summarised as follows: Malaria, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, disease mechanisms.
Giuseppe Del Giudice
Since 2006 Giuseppe Del Giudice has been Global Head of Translational Medicine at Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Siena.
After graduating as a Medical Doctor from the University of Milan in 1980, Giuseppe specialised in infectious diseases, and after obtaining his PhD at the University of Geneva in 1989 he worked extensively for the World Health Organization and the universities of Geneva and Lausanne in various capacities, before joining industry in 1996.
Giuseppe is a member of Italian, Swiss and American societies for immunology and parasitology, and has authored/co-authored an impressive number of articles (over 240) in international journals.
Giuseppe’s areas of expertise are immunology, infectious diseases, vaccines, vaccine adjuvants
Charles de Taisne
Charles de Taisne is currently Senior Director Corporate Development at Sanofi Pasteur. He holds a PhD in microbiology (Institut Curie, Paris) and a MBA. He conducted his post-doctoral research at the Institut Pasteur of Lille in Dr Stehelin laboratory. After joining Sanofi Pasteur, he was responsible for various vaccine research projects on viral vaccines and malaria (P falciparum) vaccines. Most of these projects involved collaboration with academic and private institutions. Charles held various positions in Sanofi Pasteur R&D before transitionning to Corporate Development. He has been a member of various boards – among them the EMVI board- and experts committees.
Roland Dobbelaer
Roland Dobbelaer holds a PhD in Biochemistry. In mid 2007 he retired as Head of the Section for Biological Standardisation of the Scientific Institute of Public Health in Brussels, where he was responsible for the National Control Authority Batch Release of vaccines and plasma derivatives operating in the EU Network of Official Medicines Control Laboratories. In this capacity, Roland advised the Belgian Medicines Agency. As a member of the EU CHMP Biologics Working Party, he also advised the European Authorities in matters of licensing and regulation of biologicals. Between 2006 and 2008, Roland chaired the following committees: WHO Expert Committee on Biological Standardisation (ECBS), CHMP Vaccines Working Party, Biological Standardisation Steering Committee of the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines (EDQM), and the European Pharmacopoeia Expert Group N° 15 on vaccines.
Roland’s areas of expertise can be summarised as follows: Vaccinology, Clinical Trials, GMP production, Regulatory affairs.
Céline Dutruel
Céline Dutruel joined the European Vaccine Initiative in April 2012 as Project Manager. She obtained her PhD in biology in September 2012 at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität, Heidelberg. Céline also has a Bachelor and a Master in molecular and biological chemistry from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. She has given a couple of oral presentations and has two publications in international journals to her credit.
Juhani Eskola
Juhani Eskola graduated as a Doctor of Medical Science from the University of Helsinki (UH) in 1983, and went on to specialise as a General Practioner (GP) and paediatrician the same year. In 1989, Juhani Eskola was appointed Docent (Associate Professor) in Infectious Diseases at UH. Early on in his career, Juhani Eskola gained hands-on medical experience as a GP and paediatrician, and between 1991 – 1999, held several top positions at the National Public Health Institute (KTL). During the latter part of this period, Juhani Eskola was also Visiting Professor at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London, augmenting his international experience between 2000 – 2003 at Aventis Pasteur, but returning to KTL in 2004. Juhani Eskola currently holds the position of Deputy Director General; Professor at the National Institute for Health and Welfare. Apart from the over 100 articles in international scientific journals, Juhani Eskola has also written seven books.
Juhani Eskola’s areas of expertise can be summarised as follows: Public health, Vaccinology, Immunology, pharmaceutical industry, Preclinical toxicology studies, Clinical trials.
Marja Esveld
Marja Esveld currently holds the position of Senior Policy Advisor, Department for Social Development, Ministry of Foreign Affiairs, Netherlands.
Marja has been seconded for four years by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports, to support the health team of the MoFA. Her main areas of work are global TB and malaria control, and biomedical research for poverty related diseases. She is health advisor to the Embassy in Vietnam.
As part of her work, she manages grants with Product Development Partnerships (PDPs) in the areas of Aids, TB and other neglected diseases. She is Vicechair of the European Developing Countries Clinical Trials’ Partnership (EDCTP), and represents NL and Sweden on the Board of the UN Special Programme for Tropical Diseases Research (TDR). She also represents the Netherlands and UK on the StopTB Partnership Board.
For the past two years, Marja has been involved in the organisation of meeting on ‘Strengthening pharmaceutical innovation in Africa’, led by COHRED and NEPAD, under the auspices of the African Union. She is also liaison officer for COHRED’s work on strengthening health research capacity in Africa.
Recently, she became involved in inter-ministerial working groups on Life Science, policy coherence and Global Public Goods.
Marja is an infectious diseases epidemiologist by training. She has worked with the National Institute of Public Health (RIVM), the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization (Geneva) and the Inspectorate for Health Care, before she joined the MoFA.
Mark Geels
Mark joined the European Vaccine Initiative (EVI) in January 2011 as Project Manager for primarily the European Commission FP7 funded TRANSVAC project, but also other EVI core projects.
Until joining EVI Mark was a vaccine scientist at Nobilon International in The Netherlands. He was responsible for the CMC development of several viral vaccines (e.g. influenza, Chikungunya) including preclinical research, analytics, GMP vaccine production & release, documentation, CMC/regulatory affairs.
Between 1995 – 2000 Mark obtained a M.Sc. in Medical Biology from Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam followed by a Ph.D in HIV immunology and virology in 2006 from the Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam. Mark has (co-)authored several technical dossiers for clinical trial applications and scientific articles in peer reviewed journals.
David Goldblatt
David Goldblatt is Professor of Vaccinology and Immunology at Institute of Child Health, University College London (UCL) where he heads the Immunobiology Unit and is Director of the WHO Reference Laboratory for Pneumococcal Serology. In addition he is clinically active and is an Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Immunology at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, National Health Service Foundation Trust (GOSH, Appointed 1995). In addition he is Director, Clinical Research and Development at GOSH and also Director of theGOSH-UCL National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre.
David obtained a PhD from University of London (1991), followed in 1994 by a Joint Committee for Higher Medical Training Accreditation in Paediatrics with a special interest in Infectious Diseases.
He emigrated from South Africa to UK in 1985 where he held paediatric positions in London hospitals before embarking on an impressive career at London leading hospital for sick children, Great Ormond Street. Between 1995 – 2000 he was also a Senior Lecturer at UCL
David is or has been a member of numerous prominent societies, associations and committees in Britain and Europe, several of which he has chaired. He is a peer reviewer for several prestigious journals, and has received numerous grants, prizes and awards. He is frequently invited to speak and give lectures all over the world. He has authored and co-authored books and over 100 articles in peer reviewed journal, and has several other publication to his credit.
David’s areas of expertise are paediatrics, immunology and infectious diseases, specifically the immune response to vaccines and infectious diseases with a focus on the meningococcus and pneumococcus and conjugate vaccines.
Brian Greenwood
Brian Greenwood is Manson Professor of Clinical Tropical Medicine at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM,) which he joined in 1996. He also chairs the Jenner Vaccine Foundation. He qualified in medicine at the University of Cambridge, UK in 1962. Following house-officer appointments in London, he spent 3 years in Western Nigeria as a medical registrar and research fellow at University College Hospital, Ibadan. After receiving training in clinical immunology in the UK, he returned to Nigeria in 1970, this time to help in establishing a new medical school at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria where he developed his research interests in malaria and meningococcal disease whilst continuing to teach and practice both adult and paediatric medicine.
In 1980, Brian moved to the UK Medical Research Council Laboratories in The Gambia which he directed for the next 15 years. In The Gambia, he helped to establish a multi-disciplinary research programme which focused on some of the most important infectious diseases prevalent in The Gambia and neighbouring countries such as malaria, pneumonia, measles, meningitis, hepatitis and HIV2. Work undertaken during this period included demonstration of the efficacy of insecticide treated bed-nets in preventing death from malaria in African children and demonstration of the impact of Haemophilus influenzae type b and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines when deployed in sub-Saharan Africa.
From 2001 -2008 he directed the Gates Malaria Partnership, which supported a programme of research and capacity development in many countries in Africa, directed at improving treatment and prevention of malaria. In 2008, he became director of a new malaria research capacity development initiative, supported by the Wellcome Trust and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Malaria Capacity Development Consortium, which supports a post-graduate malaria training programme in five universities in sub-Saharan Africa. He is also director of a new consortium (MenAfriCar), which is studying the epidemiology of meningococcal infection in Africa prior to the introduction of a new conjugate vaccine.
Brian Greenwood has published over 600 papers on a variety of infectious diseases but particularly malaria. He has acted as an advisor to WHO, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a number of public private partnerships and pharmaceutical companies engaged in the development of drugs or vaccines for use in the developing world.
Nicolas Havelange
Nicolas is in charge of the pharmaceutical development and subsequent production of vaccines - for use in clinical trials - directly funded by the European Vaccine Initiative (EVI), and European projects funded from other sources coordinated by EVI. Nicolas was engaged as a consultant in 2009.
Nicolas’ early career took him to the Al Ain University, United Arab Emirates as a researcher for a short period before becoming a research engineer for Solvay and l’Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). His work led to a world patent for the former. 1997/1998 saw him as Management Trainee at SmithKline Beecham Biologicals (now GSK Biologicals) in Belgium where he gained knowledge in cell culture processes, Good Manufacturing Practices and vaccinology. Short periods with other companies in Belgium augmented his experience with urban and industrial wastewater treatment processes, fermentation processes, shift production planning and integrated Supply Chain, after which he worked for Henogen, Belgium from 2000 - 2006, where, as Head of Process Development, Business Development Director and Site Director, he further enhanced his skills and knowledge. In 2006, Nicolas established a management and consulting company Zythum S.P.R.L., offering services to biotech and pharmaceutical companies in process development, cGMP manufacturing, CMOs management, project management, business development and general management.
In 1994 and 1999, Nicolas obtained a Masters in Chemical Engineering, and a Masters in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology respectively from ULB.
Joachim Hombach
Dr Joachim Hombach is Senior Adviser in the Department of Immunisation, Vaccines and Biologicals. In his former managerial positions at WHO, he was interim Head of the Initiative for Vaccine Research, and Coordinator in charge of policy & strategy and implementation research. He also served as focal point for the flavivirus vaccine portfolio, with particular emphasis on dengue and Japanese encephalitis vaccines.
Before joining WHO, Joachim Hombach’s career focused on vaccine research and implementation policy, with emphasis on vaccines for the developing world. In this context, he had assignments as Director of vaccine policy at GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals S.A., and as Scientific Officer with the European Commission. In the latter function, he was seminal in setting up the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership.
Joachim Hombach’s career started as a researcher in molecular and cellular immunology at the University of Zürich, Switzerland and the Max-Planck Institute for Immunology in Freiburg, Germany. He holds a PhD from the University of Cologne, Germany, as well as a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA. Multiple peer-reviewed publications have emerged from his work.
Joachim Hombach’s areas of expertise can be summarised as follows: Immunology, vaccine development and evaluation; vaccination and public health.
Sophie Houard
Sophie joined EVI in January 2010, and is responsible for overseeing pharmaceutical and subsequent production of vaccine candidates, as well as ad hoc clinical development.
Until 2001, Sophie worked as a Scientific Researcher in the Molecular Parasitology Laboratory and Applied Genetics Laboratory of l’Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), before joining Henogen, Belgium as Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Henogen’s Proprietary Products Platform. During the 2000s, Sophie was in charge of the development of several biotech derived human drugs and vaccines.
Sophie graduated in 1984 with a Master’s degree in Molecular Zoology from ULB, followed by a PhD in Sciences, which she obtained in 2001. She underwent extensive training in the field of Good Manufacturing Practice and Good Clinical Practice. Sophie has submitted several successful patent applications and has authored and co-authored numerous scientific articles in peer reviewed journals.
Nathalie Imbault
Nathalie joined the European Malaria Vaccine Initiative (EMVI, now EVI) in 2007 as Clinical Operations Manager, with responsibility for implementing pharmaceutical and clinical development contracts and projects approved by the EVI Board, while actively participating in EVI product and clinical development, initiating and monitoring clinical trials, and assisting in the development and management of documentation for regulatory authorities. Nathalie has since been promoted to Quality Assurance and External Relations with all stakeholders, web site etc.
In 1996, Nathalie joined SmithKline Beecham France to work on paediatric combo, pneumococcal vaccine, HSV, and Flu prophylactic vaccines, and moved to the Meningitis Vaccine Project as Clinical Operations Manager for PATH in 2003, with duties which included setting up a multicultural project team with remote partners in India, the US and Europe, and initiating a phase I vaccine trial in India. In 2005, Nathalie led clinical operations for the development of a pneumococcal vaccine in ID Biomedical, Laval, Canada.
Nathalie graduated from the University of Orléans with a Master of Science in Chemistry, after which she specialised in the research and development of drugs at the University of Caen.
Egeruan Babatunde Imoukhuede
Babatunde joined the European Malaria Vaccine Initiative (now European Vaccine Initiative) in 2005. As Director of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs Babatunde’s main areas of responsibility are the supervision of clinical trials and the European and Developing Countries’ Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) funded project: Integrating Capacity Building and Networking in the Design and Conduct of Phase I and II Clinical Trials of Viral Vectored Candidate Malaria Vaccines in East and West African Children and Infants (Malaria Vectored Vaccines Consortium - MVVC), and the drafting of project applications to a.o. the European Commission.
Babatunde started focusing on malaria when working as a Clinical Research Fellow/Malaria Vaccine Trial Director for the Gates Malaria Partnership at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). He gained extensive hands on experience while working at military hospitals in Nigeria and The Gambia, complemented by field experience as clinical epidemiologist and principal investigator between 2001 – 2004 at the Medical Research Council, The Gambia. Babatunde has several scientific publications in peer reviewed journals to his credit.
Babatunde graduated in 1984, with Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees from the University of Benin, Nigeria augmented by a degree in Health Systems Management at the LSHTM in 2003.
Jill Iversen
Jill is the only member of staff who has been with the European Vaccine Initiative (EVI) from its inception in 1998. Jill was the personal assistant of the Executive Director until the end of 2009, when EVI relocated to Germany. From 2010, Jill was responsible for staff travel arrangements, the annual report and the was editor of the website. However, Jill retired in October, 2011, but she remains available on an ad hoc basis for web site and other tasks.
Jill is also an authorised tourist guide in Denmark.
Suresh Jadhav
Dr.Suresh Jadhav, M.Pharm. Ph.D. is currently Executive Director of Serum Institute of India Ltd., one of the largest vaccine manufacturers from the developing countries, supplying vaccines at affordable prices. Dr. Jadhav is associated with Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers’ Network (DCVMN) since its inception in 2000 and was the President of DCVMN from 2003 till 2008. He is currently a member of GAVI Board, EVI Board of STakeholders, FastVac, besides a member of the Program & Policy Committee of GAVI. He is also associated with various advisory committees/Task Force of Sabin Vaccine Institute, WHO IVR and Decades of Vaccines – Protection & Synergies Group etc. Dr.Jadhav is also affiliated with several Indian universities, AICTE, UGC, State Directorate of Technical Education etc. He has participated in several collaborative studies for making revisions in international reference standards for WHO, NIBSC, NVI etc. and has published more than 60 technical papers in the national & international journals.
Ingileif Jónsdóttir
Ingileif Jónsdóttir graduated as a B.Sc in Biology from the University of Iceland in 1975, studied immunology at St.Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London in 1975 and University of Stockholm 1976-1984 where she obtained a Ph.D in 1991. Ingileif has an impressive career with several honors and awards for academic achievement. She was appointed Senior Scientist in 1984, Associate Professor in 1994, and Professor of immunology in 2006 at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Iceland. Concurrently she is Head of Vaccine Research Unit, Department of Immunology at the University Hospital and Head of Division of Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases, deCODE genetics, Reykjavik. She has vast teaching experience, primarily in the field of immunology, and she supervises several Ph.D and M.Sc students at the University of Iceland. Ingileif’s current research projects are mainly focused on neonatal immunology, vaccination strategies and genetics of infectious diseases and vaccine responses, and she has been Principal Investigator on numerous clinical trials. She also has an impressive record of serving on various Boards, Committees and Working Groups dealing with scientific and ethical issues in both national and international context, as well as having authored several papers/reports in a Nordic context. Ingileif has had over 60 articles published in peer reviewed scientific journals, and is author/co-author of five books.
Ingileif’s areas of expertise can be summarised as follows: immunology, vacciniology, genetics of infectious diseases and vaccine responses, ethics.
Stefan Jungbluth
Stefan joined the European Vaccine Initiative (EVI) in June 2012 as Business Manager to head and manage the business development activities of EVI. Prior to this he was Managing Director and co-founder of a biotechnology company in Spain which focused on the discovery and development of drugs against rare cancers. Previously, he occupied different management positions related to business development in Spain´s three most renowned biomedical research centres, the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas, Centro de Regulación Genómica, and Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares. His professional experience also includes a secondment at the Directorate General for Research, Directorate F - Health, at the European Commission in Brussels. Before that he worked for more than ten years as researcher at King´s College London, at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, and at the Max-Planck Institute for Psychiatry in Munich.
Stefan obtained a PhD in sciences from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich and holds an executive Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Instituto de Empresa (IE, Madrid).
Dr Marie-Paule Kieny
Dr Marie-Paule Kieny was appointed WHO Assistant Director-General for Innovation, Information, Evidence and Research in October 2010, for which reason she resigned from EVI SAC. Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny was Director of the WHO Initiative for Vaccine Research (IVR) from 2001 - 2010. Dr Marie-Paule Kieny has had a distinguished career in vaccine research and development. She was assistant scientific director of Transgene S.A., France, where she managed several human or veterinary vaccine projects, and notably the development of a recombinant rabies vaccine this is widely used for the eradication of this disease in wild animals. She has published over 250 articles and reviews, mainly in the areas of Infectious diseases, Immunology and Vaccinology.
Roland Kleine
Roland Kleine joined the European Vaccine Initiative as Administrative Assistant in January 2012. Roland is primarily responsible for travel arrangements, but also deals with issues of general administration.
Roland has gained experience in several positions in the field of Medicine, Administration and Brand Management, he speaks German and English fluently, and has a good knowledge of French and basic knowledge of Spanish and Arabic.
Clemens Kocken
Clemens Kocken is Chairman of the Department of Parasitology at the Biomedical Primate Research Centre (BPRC), Rijswijk. After graduation from Groningen Universtity, The Netherlands in 1984 Biochemistry/Molecular Biology), Clemens Kocken obtained a PhD at the same university in 1989 with a thesis entitled “Recombinant Fusion Proteins of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Glycoprotein D- expression in Escherichia coli, purification and immunological properties”.
He then held a postdoctoral position for five years at Nijmegen University, where he worked on malaria transmission-blocking vaccine development. In 1994 he joined BPRC to work in Alan Thomas’ Parasitology Department. Here he worked on the development of AMA1 as a malaria vaccine candidate, on developing non-human primate malaria drug models, and on transfection systems for non-human primate malarias.
The research of the Department of Parasitology is focused on developing vaccines and drugs against malaria and TB, using non-human primate models. Current topics include vaccine efficacy testing and immune correlates of TB, AMA1 as a malaria blood stage vaccine candidate in clinical development and development of new drugs active against malaria hypnozoites.
Thorsten Kohaut
Thorsten joined EVI in January 2011 as Accounting Assistant to the Financial Director Sten Larsen, and was promoted to Fiancial Manager in 2013.
Until August 2010 Thorsten was with the international division of the German Railways (Deutsche Bahn).
In 2005, Thorsten took an MSc degree in Economics at Heidelberg University and he is currently studying to become a Certified Accountant at Collegium Academiae, Darmstadt. Thorsten also has a M.A. degree in Sinology from Heidelberg University, and has studied Mandarin Chinese at the University in Shanghai. Apart from his native tongue German, Thorsten is fluent in English and Mandarin Chinese and has a basic knowledge of French and Italian.
Joanna Korejwo
Joanna Korejwo joined EVI in February 2012 as Project Manager to work on the TRANSVAC Roadmap for European Vaccine R&D.
Before joining EVI Joanna worked at Sanofi Pasteur headquarters, Lyon, as Global Product Manager for rabies vaccines and immunoglobulins, where she was involved in the management of product range lifecycle, and coordination of development and pre-launch activities of novel immunobiologicals.
Joanna is a Medical Doctor, with a Master's degree in Regulatory Affaires and Development of Medicines (Claude Bernard University, Lyon). Additionaly, she holds an MBA from joint programme between Polytechnic University in Lodz and Jean Moulin University in Lyon.
Sten Larsen
Sten officially joined EVI in 2009, and is the Finance Director. He oversees all internal and external financial and economic matters, via various international collaborations. Sten is also responsible for the Human Resources of EVI.
Prior to that, he was seconded to European Malaria Vaccine Initiative (EMVI, now EVI) by the hosting institution Statens Serum Institut (SSI), Copenhagen, where he held the position of Financial Manager.
Before joining SSI in 2007, Sten lived and worked in both Iceland and Denmark employed in various positions from General Management to Sales and Marketing, in both the public and private sector, where he gained broad experience in both segments.
In 2004, Sten obtained a diploma as Marketing Economist from Lyngby Business Academy, Denmark with a dissertation of excellence in Hydrogen Economy, followed in 2005, by a BA (arts of honours) in Economics from Ruskin University. Since then Sten has supplemented his BA with various courses in International Financial Reporting Standards and Business Economics & EC Management.
Shabir Madhi
Shabir Madhi is Executive Director of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, National Health Laboratory Service, Professor of Vaccinology; School of Pathology; University of Witwatersrand, and Co-director, University of Witwatersrand/MRC Respiratory and Meningeal Pathogens Research Unit.
After obtaining a PhD (Health Sciences) from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2003, Shabir embarked on a career at the university, specialising in infectious diseases. He is a member and or chairs several important national and international bodies, associations, societies and organisations, and is currently President of the World Society for Infectious Diseases and World Society of Paediatric Infectious Diseases. Shabir has also undertaken international consultancy and advisory work on numerous occasions, and has received several awards and grants, as well as performing as Principal Investigator on several studies.
Shabir is regularly invited to speak at international conferences, and has contributed to several books and authored/co-authored over 130 articles in peer reviewed journals.
Shabir’s areas of expertise are Pneumo and HIV.
Samuel McConkey
Samuel McConkey graduated from the University of Dublin, Trinity College in 1989, quickly followed by membership of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and diplomas in Child Health and Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and augmented in 2000 with a Master of Arts in Mathematics and Statistics from Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri and a Doctor of Medicine in 2002 from Trinity College. During the 1990s and early 2000s, Samuel McConkey underwent extensive hands-on postgraduate training, followed by fellowships at a.o. Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, Oxford from where he was seconded to the Medical Research Council Laboratories in The Gambia. Samuel McConkey is Associate Professor and has held the position of Head of Department of International Health and Tropical Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland since 2006. He has over 40 publications in peer reviewed publications to his credit.
Samuel McConkey’s areas of expertise can be summarised as follows: HIV, Hepatitis B, HTLV1, Malaria and Tuberculosis, Clinical trials, social sciences.
Dr. Terry McWade
Dr. Terry McWade is Deputy Chief Executive at RCSI. He joined the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 2002 as Director of the Office of Research and Technology Transfer, to lead and manage the development of the research strategy; direct research support and administration, industry liaison, management of intellectual policy and relationship with funding agencies and manage the development and submission of institutional grant applications. Terry held the post of Chief Executive Officer of a number of technology companies including IntuMed, the company which launched the world’s first online surgical training programme “BeST”; Exceptis Technologies, a software company which developed, marketed and sold solutions for dispute management in the card payment industry.
Prior to this he worked internationally with the Boston Consulting Group Ltd., arranging the companies health care practice group in London. Terry also worked in Copenhagen and Paris with Servier Laboratories.Dr Terry McWade graduated from Trinity College, Dublin University, in 1986 with a MB BCh BAO; BA; has a DCH from NUI, and holds an MBA (Insead, Fontainbleau).
Diarmuid O'Donovan
Diarmuid O’Donovan is the representative of Irish Aid on the EVI Board of Stakeholders where he is Vice Chair. Diarmuid O’Donovan is Director of Public Health with the Irish Health Service Executive (West) and Senior Lecturer in Social and Preventive Medicine at the National University of Ireland Galway where he coordinates teaching on public health and on global health and development. He is involved in research in Ireland and several African countries. Research interests include equity, information systems, reproductive and child health, communicable disease control, STIs, HIV, and environmental health and sustainable development.
Ines Petersen
Ines Petersen started working as Project Manager for the European Vaccine Initiative in June 2012. After studies in biology at the University of Bayreuth and the University of Tübingen in Germany, and also at the University of Léon in Spain, Ines obtained her PhD from Columbia University, New York working on drug resistance in malaria. She continued her work on malaria as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Heidelberg. Ines has authored and co-authored articles published in international journals.
David Salisbury
Professor David Salisbury is the representative of the Jenner Vaccine Foundation on the EVI/EEIG Board. He currently leads a large multidisciplinary team at the Department of Health, UK, responsible for implementation of the national immunisation programme, as well as teaching nationally and internationally on many aspects of immunisation, focusing on the challenges of introducing new vaccines. Professor Salisbury also works extensively for the World Health Organization (WHO) on the Global Programme for Vaccines
Professor Salisbury graduated from London University in 1969, and trained as a paediatrician at the Hospital for Sick Children, Oxford and Great Ormond Street, London.
He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health, as well as being an honorary Chair at Imperial College London. He is Chairman of the European Region Certification Commission for Poliomyelitis eradication, and is a member of the Eastern Mediterranean Polio Elimination Certification Commission and the South East Asian Polio Elimination Certification Commission. Between 2005 – 2010 he served as the Chairman of WGO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on vaccines, and as a member of WHO’s Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety. He is the Co-chairman of the influenza Pandemic Preparedness Group for the Global Health Security Action Group of G7 countries, and is a Liaison Member of the US Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), and the US National Vaccine Advisory Committee, as well as Chairing the European Vaccine Advisory Group for the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) and is a member of the Policy and Practice Committee for the GAVI Alliance.
Professor Salisbury has authored around 80 publications on immunisation and paediatric topics , and was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the Queen’s 2001 Birthday Honours.
Sodiomon Bienvenu Sirima
Sodiomon Sirima is Head of Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, Ouagadougou. He graduated in 1993 with a Doctorate in Medicine and Surgery (MD) from the University of Ouagadougou, followed by a Master of Socio-anthropology (BA) in 1997. His PhD in epidemiology was obtained at “La Sapienza” in 2002.
Between 1993 – 1995 Sodiomon Sirima worked as MD at a medical centre in Burkina Faso. He has also been Principal Investigator on more than twenty epidemiological and community based studies, more than ten drug and malaria vaccines clinical trials.
From 1997 Sodiomon Sirima has been/is a member of several national and international scientific committees and boards in Africa Europe or international Organization.
Sodiomon Sirima has had over 50 articles published in peer reviewed international journals since 1993.
Mahamadou Aly Thera
Mahamadou Thera graduated in 1986 as a Medical Doctor (MD) from the Institute of Medicine and Pharmacy, Jassy, Romania. In the decade that followed, Mahamadou held several positions in his country of birth, Mali. He served as a military doctor, was chief of the pediatric ward in the Regional Hospital of Gao, was physician in the orthopedics and trauma surgery service, National Hospital Gabriel Touré, fellow in the Department of Public Health, at the Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry in Bamako, and was coordinator of the Regional Malaria Control Programme for the region of Mopti. In 1996 and 1998 respectively, Mahamadou obtained a Master of Public Health degree and a degree in malariology from the Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry, in Bamako. In the years that followed he obtained degrees (MSc) in Medical Parasitology, Biostatistics and Conduct of Clinical Trials, and Medical Entomology & Parasitology from Universities in Senegal, France and Mali. Mahamadou has gained wide experience in positions such as Assistant Professor of Parasitology, Department of Epidemiology of Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry, Bamako, and Associate Professor of Parasitology-Mycology at the same university, where he currently holds two positions: Professor of Parasitology-Mycology, and he is Head of the Mali Malaria Vaccine Development Unit, Malaria Research and Training Center. Throughout Mahamadou’s academic career, he has served as investigator, monitor or DSMB member in numerous drugs and malaria vaccine trials, primarily in Mali, and he has over 40 articles published in peer reviewed journals.
Mahamadou’s areas of expertise can be summarised as follows: malaria epidemiology, clinical trials, ethics, parasitic diseases.
Regitze Louise Thøgersen
Regitze joined the European Malaria Vaccine Initiative (EMVI, now EVI) in 2007 and is the Programme Manager of the European Commission FP6 funded EMVDA project, and the FP7 funded projects TRANSVAC and PHARVAT, as well as the EVI funded CSVAC project.
Regitze holds a Master of Science degree in Engineering, Biotechnology, with specialisation in Medical Molecular Microbiology from the Technical University of Denmark and has completed several courses in Project Management.
Regitze also holds a Graduate Certificate in Business Administration from Copenhagen Business School.
Aissatou Toure
Aissatou Toure graduated from the University of Dakar in 1985 with a degree in pharmacy, and added a degree (M.Sc) in Immunology from the University of Lille to her achievements two years later. This was followed by diplomas from Institut Pasteur, Paris in general and advanced immunology in 1987, and clinical trials and infectious diseases in 2003. Between 1988 – 2006, Aissatou served as Research Assistant with increasing levels of competency at Institut Pasteur, Dakar, and since 1998, has served as Head of Laboratory of Parasite Immunology where she is a senior researcher. Aissatou has and continues to serve on several international committees such as UNESCO and EDCTP, covering areas including Malaria, ethics, quality assurance, health education for women, health research and development, and meningitis. Aissatou has had over 15 articles published in scientific journals.
Aissatou’s areas of expertise can be summarised as follows: Malaria, Epidemiology, Immunology, and Ethics,
Marita Troye-Blomberg
Marita Troye-Blomberg is Head of the Department of Immunology at the Wenner-Gren Institute (WGI), Stockholm University. The department of Immunology has a long tradition in studies of innate, mucosal, and placental, as well as classical acquired immune responses, in both human and experimental mouse models. A large proportion of its activities is devoted to malaria research with special emphasis on immune-regulation, immune evasion mechanisms, and genetics. The unit started in 1979, and currently involves 25 persons, including scientists, post.docs, post-graduate students, and technical staff. It also accepts long- and short term fellows from developing countries. The unit has extensive collaborations with Mali, Benin, Tanzani, Sudan, Burkina Faso and Cameroon. The unit works in close collaboration with the group of I. Faye in the Department of Genetics, which has been devoted to research on the A. gambie mosquito and P. berghei for the past five years. The unit has state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, including a BSL3 for working with the A.gambie mosquito. The department has access to several core facilities such as cytofluorimetry, QC-PCR machines, confocalmicroscopy, mass spectrometer, mouse breeding facilities etc.
Marita has a long standing experience with international projects and has been involved in several European Commission FP5, FP6 and FP7 funded projects and Networks of Excellence. Marita served as a valued member of the independent EVI Scientific Advisory Committee for six years.
Harry van Schooten
Harry supports the European Vaccine Initiative (EVI) by helping to identify possible donors and international opportunities for EVI to strengthen and develop its network and heighten visibility in the public sector and the scientific community at large.
Harry has worked on several occasions for Médecins sans Frontières in Amsterdam, Peru and Belize 1986 - 1990, before joining the German Technical Agency for Development Cooperation as Senior Public Health Advisor for and Director of projects in Nicaragua and Colombia 1992 - 1998. In 1998, Harry joined the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ International Development Co-operation (DGIS) as Senior Health Advisor before establishing EUVADIS in 2008, a small independent consultancy firm, which provides institutional support in Europe to public-private partnerships for product development in the area of vaccine Research & Development for neglected and poverty related diseases. Until the summer of 2010 he continued to work for DGIS two days a week.
Harry graduated as a Medical Doctor in 1985 at the Medical Faculty of the Erasmus University, Rotterdam, and obtained a Master of Public Health degree in 1991from the Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam. This was followed by a certificate from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and a MSc in Business Administration in 2005 from the Erasmus University, Rotterdam.
Nicola Viebig
Nicola, joined European Vaccine Initiative (EVI) on 2 May 2011 as Project Manager.
Nicola’s most recent post was as an Application Specialist at Roche Applied Science EMEA Customer Support Center, but she has used her language skills (fluent in English and French) in several projects as Project Leader, Coordinator, Laboratory Assistant, and in many teaching activities at home and abroad in recent years. Nicola has authored/co-authored over 12 articles on infectious diseases, mainly on malaria published in peer reviewed international journals.
In 2003 Nicola obtained a “magna cum laude” for her Ph.D. thesis at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität, Heidelberg, followed by post doc studies at Institut Pasteur, Paris. She is skilled in various laboratory techniques and methods, and has attended numerous and varied courses in recent years.
Charles Stephen Mgone
Charles Mgone is the Executive Director of the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP). Prof. Mgone is a paediatrician by training and holds a PhD in Medical and Molecular Genetics. He has worked in Africa, Europe and the Pacific where he has served as advisor at international and national levels. He has considerable experience in research, health research ethics, research administration, capacity development and training, particularly in sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS, malaria and other tropical diseases. Before joining EDCTP, Prof. Mgone was the Network Director of the African Malaria Network Trust (AMANET) responsible for coordinating capacity development and networking in accelerating the development and assessment of malaria vaccines and other interventions. Prior to that he was a Research Fellow at the Duncan Guthrie Institute of Medical Genetics, University of Glasgow, the Deputy Director of the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research and adjunct professor of Health Research of University of Papua New Guinea, and professor of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.