Associate Professor, Microbiology, Velammal Medical College Hospital and Research Institute, madurai.

Dr. Garcia-Prats is an Associate Professor with the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (Wisconsin, USA) and Stellenbosch University (Cape Town, South Africa). His primary interests are the management of tuberculosis (TB) and multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB in children, and the pharmacokinetics and safety of anti-tuberculosis drugs in children. He is leading multiple observational studies and trials of TB drugs and improved treatment and prevention strategies for TB and MDR-TB in children. He is the Principal Investigator of the Unitaid-funded BENEFIT Kids project that aims to improve access to better MDR-TB treatment and prevention for children.

My recent career has focused on the clinical aspect of Antimicrobial Stewardship. My path to research started in 2008, shortly after starting pediatric residency, with diagnostic stewardship prior to the common use of that term. But it was not until I started my fellowship training in pediatric ID at UT Southwestern Dallas that I recognized the need for formal training in clinical research. My goal was to understand and apply the main concepts of clinical research more specifically translational research in pediatrics (MSc). I was able to apply that acquired knowledge during my time at UAB in Alabama. There, my research endeavors were focused on diagnostic stewardship research before moving to my current academic position in Tampa Florida. I am an assistant professor at the pediatric infectious diseases division at the University of South Florida / Tampa General Hospital since July 2020. I am primarily a clinician and an educator. My current research interests are implementing antimicrobial / diagnostic stewardship programs in local pediatric hospitals and also vaccine hesitancy in pediatrics. There are several research projects and quality improvement projects that I am leading. I make part of the antimicrobial stewardship committee at Tampa General Hospital and my focus is on antibiotic and diagnostic stewardship in the pediatric floors. Also, I am co-chair of the telehealth working group and a member of the vaccine advocacy committee of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society (2018-22).

Dr Angela Gentile is a pediatric infectious diseases physician and epidemiologist, currently working as the Head of the Department of Epidemiology at Ricardo Gutiérrez Children's Hospital, Buenos Aires. She is a specialist in public health and is currently Secretary of Institutional Affairs at the University of Buenos Aires, a member of the National Commission for Vaccine Safety of Argentina and Chair of the Regional Committee of Pan-American Health Organization. Dr Gentile is also President of the Hospital Infections Committee and is an active member of several scientific societies including the Vaccine Committee of the Latin American Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. Dr Gentile exercises teaching functions as Chair of Epidemiology and Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases at the Austral University. She also holds positions at the University of Buenos Aires as Professor of the Higher Course of Infectious Diseases in the Faculty of Medicine and Associate Professor of Pediatrics.

Bradford Gessner is a pediatrician and medical epidemiologist who completed his undergraduate training at Dartmouth College, medical school at the University of Florida, pediatric residency at the University of Colorado, preventive medicine residency and Masters of Public Health at the University of Washington, and Epidemic Intelligence Service fellowship with the US CDC. He started a maternal-child health epidemiology unit at the Alaska Division of Public Health that grew from one person to 15 and eventually won the National MCH Epidemiology Award. For 20 years, he served as the Scientific Director and Chief Scientific Officer with Agence de Medicine Preventive, based in Paris, France and Abidjan, Cote d’lvoire. In this role he initiated field studies primarily in impoverished settings and for most vaccine-preventable etiologies; study types included large RCTs, immunogenicity, surveillance, carriage, vaccine effectiveness, anthropology, logistics, economics, and implementation research. During this time, he served on numerous WHO expert working groups, several SAGE working groups, WHO’s IVIR-AC and IPAC committees, and the Gavi Board of Directors as the Research and Technical Health Institutions representative. From 2016 to 2019 he worked with Pfizer as the Global Medical Director for Pneumococcal Vaccines, adding Lyme Vaccine in 2020. Since 2021 has served as the Global Medical Lead for Respiratory Vaccines overseeing all post-licensure scientific work and medical affairs for Pfizer’s pneumococcal, RSV, and GBS vaccines. He is the author of approximately 280 peer-reviewed manuscripts from 40 countries, primarily in the field of vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases with a focus on study design and assessing the public health value of vaccines.

Principal, G&B Analytics, LLC (2021 – present); Emeritus Professor, Department of Geography, University of Florida (2021 – present)

David Goldblatt is Professor of Vaccinology and Immunology at the Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London (UCL) and a Paediatric Immunologist at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children where he is Director of Research and Development. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and a PhD in Immunology from the University of London, UK. He has a long-standing interest in the immune response to vaccines, infectious diseases and correlates of protection. His major focus on the Pneumococcus has recently expanded to evaluating immunity to bacterial candidate vaccines including Group A and Group B Streptococcus and Klebsiella Pneumoniae. He recently established a platform for evaluating humoral immunity to SARS-CoV-2 with focus on developing correlates of protection to accelerate COVID19 vaccine licensure. He is a regular advisor to the World Health Organisation (WHO) on vaccines and is Director of the WHO Reference Laboratory for Pneumococcal Serology based at UCL. He serves on subcommittees of the United Kingdom Department of Health Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised the US FDA, EMA and MHRA on vaccine evaluation and the currently sits on COVID vaccine committees for MHRA and WHO.

Keith Grimwood is Deputy Head (Research) of the School of Medicine and Dentistry and Professor of Infectious Diseases at Griffith University and Gold Coast Health. Previously, he was a Senior Lecturer in Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne, Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Otago-Wellington, Conjoint Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Queensland and Inaugural Director of the Queensland Children’s Medical Research Institute. As a clinical researcher he has published >350 papers, book chapters and reports covering respiratory viral and gastrointestinal infections, pneumonia, cystic fibrosis lung disease, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, bronchiectasis, meningitis, urinary tract infections and vaccine-preventable diseases.

A. Working as Additional Professor in Dept. of Neonatology at AIIMS, Jodhpur, India B. Salient contribution: 1. WHO guidelines titled “Managing possible serious bacterial infection in young infants when referral is not feasible”. 2. More than 50 publications 3. Cochrane Systematic Review 4. Extramural research projects 5. RCPCH Visiting Fellowship & travel grants C. Areas of interest: Perinatal practices and neonatal sepsis