Dr Clare Cutland is the Scientific Coordinator of the African Leadership in Vaccinology Expertise (Alive) consortium, which is led by co-directors Professors Helen Rees (Wits RHI) and Shabir Madhi (Wits-VIDA). Previously, she spent 18 years as a clinical researcher in vaccinology at the Respiratory and Meningeal Pathogens Research Unit (RMPRU, now Wits-VIDA), based at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (CHBAH), Soweto, South Africa.

She was an investigator on numerous phase I, II and III paediatric, maternal and COVID-19 clinical vaccine trials, and was the clinical lead for several large grant-funded neonatal sepsis prevention studies, maternal-neonatal sepsis surveillance studies and maternal immunization trials (Influenza, GBS, RSV). She was involved in the GAIA Brighton collaboration definition working groups (2014-2020), and was elected as a member of the scientific board of the Brighton collaboration in 2018 (to present). She is a member of the Wits Institutional biosafety committee and working group for maternal COVID-19 vaccines.

She coordinates a biennial 9-day short course in vaccinology (Afro-ADVAC) and a Masters of Science (Med) in the field of vaccinology at The University of the Witwatersrand.
She is author or co-author on over 120 peer-reviewed journal articles.

Dr. Naveen Thacker is the Director of Deep Children Hospital & Research Centre at Gandhidham-Kutch, Gujarat, India and an Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at Pramukhswami Medical College, Karamsad Anand, Gujarat, India.

He is the President-Elect of the International Pediatric Association (IPA) for the year 2021-2023 and Secretary of Child Health Foundation. He is a former President of Asia Pacific Pediatric Association (APPA) for the year 2016-18 and the National President of Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) for the year 2007.

He is currently a member of the Advance Course of Vaccinology (ADVAC) Scientific Committee, France and the Steering Committee of the International Collaboration on Advanced Vaccinology training (ICAVT). Also, he is a member of the Covid-19 Vaccine Immunization Task Force of Gujarat Government and India Expert Advisory Group on Measles and Rubella (IEAG- MR) of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

He completed ADVAC Training in Annecy, France in Pasteur Meriaux Institute in 2007.

He served as a course director for CHF INCLEN ADVAC 2011, 2016, EVAC 2017. He was faculty at CHF-INCLEN ADVAC, CMC Vellore INDVAC, IVI Korea.

His current interest is in the area of Vaccine Hesitancy and is leading the IPA Vaccine Trust Project. He has over 50 publications on vaccines and immunization in peer indexed journals.

His social media reach includes 78k+ followers on Twitter.

He is listed amongst the top influencer for the fight against Polio released by UNICEF on World Polio Day 2017 and has been awarded some prestigious awards i.e., Outstanding Asian Pediatrician Award 2012, Rotary International Regional Award for Polio-free World 2010.

Ombeva Malande is a Vaccinologist & a Paediatric infectious Diseases specialist. A certified fellow of the College of Paediatricians of South Africa, he is a Lecturer at Egerton University, an Honorary Lecturer at Makerere University, and a research associate at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, South Africa. 

He has consulted for WHO, UNICEF, MSD, Pfizer, GSK, Medscape, Sanofi Pasteur, Facebook, Merc, GIZ, Old Mutual, Minet, AON, Jubilee, Liberty Blue, Equity Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of Africa, USAID, Britam among others.

He has participated as a technical advisor and consultant on several National and International Taskforces and technical working groups and developed guidelines and SOPs on Ebola, HIV, Malaria, Rota Virus Diarrhoea, influenza, Pneumonia, TB, and COVID-19.

He is the Director of East Africa Centre for Vaccines and Immunization (ECAVI) and a convener of the widely acclaimed ECAVI vaccinology course for health professionals, and ECAVI Resource Mobilization Courses.

He has authored two books, has over 30 peer-reviewed scientific papers, over 70 presentations in local and international scientific meetings, and is an editorial board member and reviewer for various scientific journals. He is a respected poet, who for over 20 years has written award-winning poems for drama and music festivals for primary and high school children in Kenya. He is a weekly Columnist and Advocate on Child Health with the Standard Media Group in Kenya.

Denise Naniche is Scientific Director at ISGlobal, Research professor and coordinator of the annual accredited Masters course “Development and Applications of Vaccines in Global Health” given as an independent course or in the Masters of Global Health. She earned her PhD in Immunology at the University of Lyon I, France and a Master in Public Health at San Diego State University in California.

She is an internationally recognized researcher in clinical immunology and epidemiology of viral infections, particularly in Measles and HIV. Over the past 20 years, her broad background in applied immunology and clinical epidemiology have led her to conduct multidisciplinary research focused on improving access to HIV diagnosis, treatment and control in Sub-Saharan Africa. She developed the Vaccinology course at ISGlobal in 2014 and has coordinated it ever since. She has mentored PhD and master’s students and her team has worked closely with the Mozambican National HIV program to foster translation of results into policy Since 2020, she has been an active member of the Lancet Commission for Covid-19 in the Vaccines and Therapeutics task force.

Rodolfo Villena is a Pediatric Infectious Diseases Specialist and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Chile. Dr Villena’s research focus includes pediatric vaccines, epidemiology and invasive diseases. He has participated as Principal Investigator and/or Sub-Investigator in various phase I, II, III and IV studies. He has also published in indexed journals and book chapters on topics including pediatric vaccines, epidemiology, invasive diseases, and antimicrobial PK/PD in pediatric.

Dr Villena is an active member of the Chilean Society of Infectious Diseases and the Latinoamerican Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. He is also a Director of the International Advanced Course of Vaccines in the University of Chile. In addition, he has actively served as part of the Advisory Committee of Immunization for the Chilean Society of Infectious Diseases and the Advisory Committee of Pharmacovigilance of Vaccines in the Public Health Institute for the Chilean Ministry of Health.

Kamel Senouci is the Director of the ADVAC course at the University of Geneva. He has more than 20 years of work in public health, with a strong experience in vaccines and infectious diseases in low and middle-income countries.

Most recently Kamel was a Deputy Director at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in the Polio Program, the Regional Immunization Advisor at UNICEF for the Middle East and North Africa and the coordinator of the Decade of Vaccines secretariat at the WHO. He was also the director of the SIVAC Initiative at AMP which provided direct technical assistance to strengthen and establish NITAGs in countries. He also worked at PAHO as a medical officer for IHR and outbreak response and as a medical officer at the French MoH.

Kamel is a Medical Doctor with a Public Health Specialty from Paris University. He also earned a Master of Science in Epidemiology from Paris University and a Master of Science, Health policy, planning and financing from London School of Economics and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.