Highlights and Keynotes

Susan Huang, MD MPH is Chancellor’s Professor in Infectious Diseases at the University of California Irvine (UCI) School of Medicine, and Medical Director of Epidemiology and Infection Prevention at UCI Health. For over 20 years, Dr. Huang has been studying healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) with a focus on multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs). Her research seeks to identify risk factors for acquisition and disease, and preventative strategies for containment. Dr. Huang has led several large randomized clinical trials involving decolonization to prevent MRSA disease and other HAIs across hospitals and nursing homes. Dr. Huang has over 200 publications and has received two Top 10 U.S. Clinical Research Achievement Awards from the Clinical Research Forum. 

Nick Day is Director of the MORU Tropical Health Network, a Wellcome Major International Programme, and a Professor of Tropical Medicine at the University of Oxford. He has over 30 years of experience conducting infectious disease research in low-resource settings. His interest in rickettsioses began after seeing the unexpectedly high incidence of scrub typhus and other rickettsial infections in multiple studies of acute febrile illness across Southeast Asia. Despite their global prevalence, efforts to tackle these neglected but often serious infections are hindered by a limited understanding of their epidemiology and public health burden, low awareness among healthcare workers and affected communities, a lack of available and standardised diagnostics, and a paucity of clinical evidence to guide treatment. 

Abdoulaye Djimdé is CAMES Professor of Parasitology and Mycology at the Malaria Research and Training Centre University of Science, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako, Mali and a Calestous Juma Research Leadership Fellow. His primary research focus is to understand how variations in the genomes of the malaria parasite, the human host, and the mosquito vector relate to disease outcomes like the spread of drug resistance.

As founding President of the Pathogens genomic Diversity Network Africa, he leads efforts in bringing knowledge derived from pathogens genetics and genomics to help solve public health problems with the communities, and health policy decision makers. Currently he serves as coordinator of the West African Network for Clinical Trials of Antimalarial Drugs, and President of the African Association for research and control of AntiMicrobial Resistance.

Dimitrios P. Kontoyiannis, is the Robert C Hickey Chair in Clinical Care and Deputy Head for Research in the Division of Internal Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston (MDACC). He received his medical degree from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Kontoyiannis was then trained in Internal Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, where he served as a Chief Medical Resident and subsequently trained as a clinical fellow in infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital and obtained a master’s in clinical sciences from Harvard Medical School. Kontoyiannis is the leader of the ECMM Diamond Excellence in Mycology Center at MDACC, the only US centre to receive such designation by ECMM. Currently he serves as president of the Mycoses Study Group Education Consortium and cofounder of the International Society for Fungal Immunotherapy.

Hans H. Hirsch studied medicine at Albert-Ludwigs-University in Freiburg, Germany and biochemistry at Oregon State University. After 2 years as postgraduate in molecular biology, he specialised in internal medicine, infectious diseases and medical microbiology at the University of Basel and the University Hospital Basel. In 2004, the University of Basel appointed him as Professor of the Medical Faculty. Dr Hirsch has (co-)authored more than 200 peer-reviewed papers including international conferences and guidelines in virology, infectious diseases, and transplantation. Dr. Hirsch is a long-time member of the ESCV, Fellow of ESCMID and the American Society of Transplantation, and 22nd President of the International Immunocompromised Host Society. 

Eddie Holmes is an NHMRC Leadership Fellow and Professor of Virology in the School of Medical Sciences, University of Sydney, Australia, which he joined in 2012. Holmes received his undergraduate degree from the University of London (1986) and his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge (1990). Between 1993-2004 he held various positions at the University of Oxford, including University Lecturer in Evolutionary Biology and Fellow of New College. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA) in 2015 and of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2017. In 2021 he received the Australian Prime Minister’s Prize for Science, and in 2023 he was awarded the 2024 Croonian Medal and Lecture by The Royal Society. 

Prof. Dr. Filomeen Haerynck is associate professor in the Faculty of Medicine at Ghent University and clinical head of Paediatric Pulmonology, Infectiology and Immunology at Ghent University Hospital. Following training in paediatric pulmonology and immunology, she established and now coordinates the Centre for Primary Immunodeficiency in Ghent, an internationally recognised facility treating over 2,000 patients. She leads the PID Research Laboratory at Ghent University investigating novel genes in immune disorders, with groundbreaking discoveries including GTF3A mutations in viral susceptibility and RC3H1 mutations in hyperinflammatory syndrome reflected in over 135 publications and more than 12,000 citations. Prof. Haerynck bridges cutting-edge research with improved clinical outcomes for rare immune disorders. 

Dr. Senjuti Saha is the Deputy Executive Director of the Child Health Research Foundation (CHRF), Bangladesh, where she leads research on paediatric infectious diseases. She earned her PhD in Molecular Genetics from the University of Toronto, Canada, and completed postdoctoral fellowships at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), Canada, and Stanford University, USA. She also holds a Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University, USA. Dr. Saha joined CHRF in 2016 to establish a state-of-the-art genomics centre. Her team conducts genomic surveillance, maps antimicrobial resistance, and tracks endemic and emerging viruses. She serves on several World Health Organization advisory committees, publishes widely, and sits on editorial boards. Dr. Saha has received multiple national and international honours. She is a strong advocate for equitable science through the “Building Scientists for Bangladesh” initiative and believes that everyone should have equal access to both the practice and the benefits of science.