Maria Cristina de Cunto Brandileone is the Director of the Laboratory of Meningitis, Pneumonia, and Pneumococcal Infections at the Adolfo Lutz Institute in São Paulo, Brazil. She has years of experience in laboratory-based surveillance for invasive diseases caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitis, and Haemophilus influenzae. Dr Brandileone has also provided assistance to the Brazilian Ministry of Health, public health laboratories throughout Latin America by the Pan American Health Organization. Streptococcus pneumoniae and Pneumococcal Vaccines have been her main focus of investigation for many years.