2024 SPEAKERS

Demonstrating an unwavering commitment to the field of infection prevention, Dr. Alexander, Director of Infection Prevention and Control and CEO of MICRO Consulting Corporation since 2019, has charted a professional trajectory highlighted by groundbreaking initiatives, notably at Mount Sinai...

Dr Alombah, Fozo is a physician with over 16 years’ experience providing technical assistance to international health programs, in addition to 13 years of hands-on clinical and public health practical experience gained in Cameroon, his home country. He currently serves as Principal Technical...

Dr Afreenish Amir (MBBS, M.Phil, PhD (Microbiology), MPH, CHPE, DHM, PhD Public Health) has over sixteen years of experience in clinical microbiology and infectious diseases. She is working on implementation of National Action Plan on One Health Antimicrobial Resistance, Laboratory systems, AMR and ...

Akhil is a clinical doctor and global health researcher based in London. He  runs the AMR Funding Circle, a grant making coalition of philanthropic funders interested in AMR. He is also working with the University of Chicago Market Shaping Accelerator on developing a new advance market commitment...

Julia Barnes-Weise is the founder and Executive Director of the Global Healthcare Innovation Alliance Accelerator (GHIAA), a non-profit organization that develops, promotes and consults on the use of tools and best practices to achieve equitable access through global health alliance formation. In...

Physician, scientist, innovator, entrepreneur and academic teacher at the Medical University of Warsaw, accomplished specialization in hematology at the Department of Hematology, Transplantation and Internal Medicine University Clinical Center of the Medical University of Warsaw. Founder and CEO of ...

I have over 16 years of experience as an infectious disease specialist with most of my career spent caring for a diverse population of patients in community and academic settings. I previously served as Infectious Disease Department Chair of a large health system and Director of one of the busiest...

Moussa Cisse has a First Professional Degree in Medicine from Gamal Abdel Nasser University of Guinea (West Africa) and a Master's in Public Administration (MPA) focusing on Community Health from Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts (USA). Moussa is the Health Manager for the Child...

I taught English in Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland for nine years before launching a career as a freelance journalist in 2001. I wrote for The Washington Post, Woman's Day, Costco Connection, and other local and national health, lifestyle, and travel publications. My work also...

Rahul is responsible for developing and executing strategies to enable access for life-saving antibiotics in LMICs. Overall responsibility for GARDP's portfolio of antibiotics targeted at saving patients suffering from life threatening sepsis caused by CR bacterial infections.

Mark Everard is Emeritus Professor of Pediatric Pulmonology at the University of Western Australia.  Prior to moving to Australia, he had been a Clinical Professor in Sheffield, UK.  His clinical practice and research have focused on airways disease with a particular interest in chronic bacterial...

Dr. Cara Fiore is a Senior Regulatory Reviewer and Microbiologist at the Food and Drug Administration/Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research/Office of Vaccines Research and Review (FDA/CBER/OVRR) since 2007. Vaccines and related products intended for human use that are used for infectious...

Dr. Heather Fowler completed her Veterinary Medical degree at the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Veterinary Medicine in 2010. After veterinary school, she received a Master of Public Health in Applied Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. In 2011, Dr. Fowler...

Mr Graham is the Chief Executive Officer of Recce Pharmaceuticals. He was formerly Executive Director and has extensive experience in marketing, business development, and commercialisation of early-stage technologies with global potential. Mr Graham has served on Recce’s Board of Directors for six...

Dr. Harnett has been a "boots on the ground" clinician for over 20 years, spending 10 years as an emergency physician before establishing himself as a nationally respected physician and key opinion leader in urgent care medicine. In addition, he has been an active author and researcher -...

Tom has been part of Sepsis Alliance since 2007, serving as President and CEO since 2013. He has led Sepsis Alliance, the nation’s first and leading sepsis patient advocacy organization, to consecutive years of growth. Under Tom’s leadership, Sepsis Alliance’s main website Sepsis.org has grown to...

Teri holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing, is board certified in infection prevention and control, and has earned the designation of Fellow in the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (FAPIC). She has been in nursing for 43 years. Her experience includes 27 years as a ...

Lauren Hunt is an infectious diseases pharmacist who has dedicated her career to antimicrobial and diagnostic stewardship. She serves as a Medical Science Liaison on bioMérieux’s US Medical Affairs Team. Her primary role focuses on continuously improving the value of diagnostics through medical...

Katelyn Jetelina, MPH PhD is an epidemiologist and scientific communicator. Dr. Jetelina is the co-founder of the Health Trust Initiative, Senior Scientific Advisor to several government and non-profit agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Resolve to Save Lives, and ...

Amanda Jezek is the Senior Vice President for Public Policy and Government Relations at the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), which represents over 12,000 ID physicians and scientists.  Amanda oversees IDSA’s public policy and government relations department, with responsibility for...

Riko Kimoto joined ASEF, an inter-governmental not-for-profit organization located in Singapore, in April 2016. She currently leads ASEF's thematic area of Public Health, known as ASEF Public Health Network (ASEF PHN). Prior to joining ASEF, she gained extensive experience working with NGOs in...

Dr. Kosaraju is the CEO and President of Phare Bio, a social venture using AI and deep learning to develop novel classes of antibiotics in partnership with Jim Collins’ lab at MIT. Phare is a recipient of TED’s Audacious Project to develop big and potentially powerful solutions to the world’s most...

Elaine Larson is Professor Emerita, School of Nursing and Mailman School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University, and Senior Scholar in Residence, New York Academy of Medicine.  She is former Dean, Georgetown University School of Nursing and a Fellow in the National...

Maria has worked in Responsible Investment for almost 20 years, specialising in environmental, social and governance (ESG) research. She joined Legal & General Investment Management Ltd (LGIM) in January 2019 where she is a Senior Global ESG Manager leading the Stewardship team’s efforts on...

Chris has a passion for optimising antimicrobial use and blends extensive academic, healthcare, government, industry and international AMS and AMR experience. He has been a UK registered pharmacist for over 30 years, with over 10 years as a specialist antimicrobial/Infectious diseases pharmacist in ...

Vicky Maskell is a Communications and Engagement Strategist at Wellcome, with over 15 years experience using communications and engagement as a strategic lever for organisational success. This includes supporting Wellcome to effectively communicate about its work, to ensure it is bringing in the...

Dr Clive Mason joined LifeArc in August 2023 to take on the role of Programme Director, AMR in the Global Health Team. Clive is also the LifeArc lead within the recently announced AMR-focused initiative called ‘PACE’ (Pathways to Antimicrobial Clinical Efficacy, https://paceamr.org.uk/ ). PACE was...

Team Lead of Global Initiatives and Instruments, Department of Global Coordination and Partnership of AMR, AMR division, World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva, Switzerland. He is a Chemistry Biologist from the University of San Carlos of Guatemala, Master's Degree in Public Health by Rafael...

Justine Michel is microbiology advisor at Medecins Sans Frontieres, currently based in New York. She completed technical biological analysis university degree in France. Justine first worked in the marine biology research field before to work as microbiology laboratory technician in Necker children ...

Tim Miles is the head AMR and NTDs research at GSK´s Global Health Unit in Spain. Tim obtained a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Oxford, UK and joined GSK as a medicinal chemist in 2003. Tim spent the first 8 years working on antibacterials, leading to the discovery of Gepotidacin...

Zoe Molyneux is a Policy Lead at the Wellcome Trust, focused on the delivery of policy, research and advocacy activities to support Wellcome’s infectious disease strategic programme. This includes work to support global-level action on antimicrobial resistance and reforming the R&D ecosystem...

Dr. Mushtaq is a board-certified physician in internal medicine and infectious diseases. As the lead Principal Investigator and Medical Director at Brooklyn Clinical Research, she conducts research in therapeutic areas of internal medicine, infectious diseases, HIV, and vaccines. Dr. Mushtaq and...

Biography of Dr. Mona Nemer, C.M., C.Q., FRSC Dr. Mona Nemer was first appointed Canada’s Chief Science Advisor in 2017, reappointed in 2020, and again in 2022. Prior to this role, Dr. Nemer was Professor and Vice-President of Research at the University of Ottawa and Director of the school’s...

Stephen Obaro MBBS, FWACP, MRCP(UK), FRCPCH, FAAP, PhD is Professor of Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases, Helen and Robert Whitley Endowed Chair of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Associate Director, Mary Heersink Institute of Global Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL. USA.  He is a...

Latifat is the Principal for Health Policy and Insights for the Americas at Economist Impact. Working with a diverse team, she directs and executes top-tier, data-driven research and health policy analysis projects that encompass the public and private sectors of the global health...

Dr. Olans is a nationally recognized leader on nurses’ contributions to antimicrobial stewardship.  She has numerous publications in the nursing and medical literature, is a contributor to the National Quality Partners (NQP) Playbook for Antimicrobial Stewardship in Acute Care, and the NQP...

Innovate UK has a One Health approach to AMR, funding SMEs and industry to develop new vaccines, antimicrobials and therapies for infectious disease in both man and animals.  In addition, solutions.  In addition, capabilities and technologies are supported in Infection, Prevention and Control to...

Julie Paoline, MA, CPHA, CIC, FAPIC is a Public Health Specialist Supervisor in the Bureau of Epidemiology at the Pennsylvania Department of Health, for the Division of Healthcare Associated Infection Prevention. Her work includes coordinating outbreak investigation and response for high-concern...

Krupa Parmar, MSResearch Technologist/ FellowInfectious Diseases Research LaboratoryMayo Clinic, Rocheste MN Krupa Parmar is a Phage Researcher at Mayo Clinic's Infectious DiseasesResearch Laboratory in Rochester, MN. She is a qualified microbiologist and hasexperience in bacteriophage...

Dr. Pogorzelska-Maziarz is an Epidemiologist and Health Services Researcher. She is as an Associate Professor at the Jefferson College of Nursing where she is the Assistant Director of the Center for Infection Prevention and Antibiotic Stewardship. Dr. Pogorzelska-Maziarz has authored over 90...

Dr. Prendergast, based in the US, is a renowned executive in the pharmaceutical industry. Currently serving as the Chairman and Co-founder of Palatin Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: PTN) and the Lead Director of Nighthawk Biosciences (NYSE: HHWK), he brings over three decades of expertise in the...

Kavi Ramjeet, Head of Business Intelligence, FIND Kavi joined FIND in 2019 to serve as the Technology Scouting Lead and now leads the Business Intelligence Unit since 2021. Kavi supports FIND’s activities related to technology scouting,  landscaping, market research, industry partner selection and ...

David Richards is a life sciences executive with expertise in corporate development, team building, operations, capital structuring, research and development, program management, and intellectual property development. Mr. Richards has served as Chief Executive Officer of Clarametyx Biosiences since ...

Dr. David Ripin leads efforts at CHAI to improve access to medicines and diagnostics for diseases like HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis, through sustainable market interventions. Under his leadership, CHAI has implemented agreements with pharmaceutical companies reducing prices of key drugs and...

Ruben Rizzi, physician by training, SVP of Global Regulatory Affairs at BioNTech. I joined the company in December 2019 just before the pandemic, and I have been the global regulatory lead for BioNTech for our COVID-19 development. Currently, I am still supporting the lifecycle of our COVID-19...

Nikki Romanik is the currently the Special Assistant to the President, Deputy Director and Chief of Staff for the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy (OPPR) in the Executive Office of the President at the White House. Prior to this role, Nikki was the Senior Policy Advisor for the...

Dr. Ronholm obtained her BSc in Microbiology from the University of Waterloo in 2007 and her Doctoral degree in microbiology and immunology from the University of Ottawa in 2013. She completed post-doctoral training at McGill University and at Health Canada. She was hired as an Assistant Professor...

Dr. Quaid Saeed is a public health specialist based in Islamabad, Pakistan.  He has vast technical, managerial, research and implementation experience in several areas of public health including communicable disease management and control, dealing with emergencies and humanitarian crisis situations ...

Steven J. Schweon RN, MPH, MSN, CIC, LTC-CIP, CPHQ, FSHEA, FAPIC is a seasoned, board-certifiedinfection preventionist. He first became interested with infectious diseases while serving as a United States Army medic in South Korea, where he supervised a microbiology department that specialized in...

Dr. Cecilia Mundaca Shah is the Senior Director for Global Health at the UN Foundation. In this role, Cecilia serves as the Foundation’s primary policy and technical lead on global health security, including pandemic prevention, preparedness, response, and antimicrobial resistance. She is...

Dr Mike Strange joined LifeArc as consultant in May 2022 and took on the role of Head of Global Health in April 2023. Mike oversees our three Global Health Translational Challenges in: Antimicrobial Resistance, Neglected Tropical Diseases and Emerging Viral Threats. These challenges aim to reduce...

Edie Stringfellow brings two decades of experience in public policy, global health equity, ecosystem development, and clinical research to her role as SVP Global Health Strategy and Biomedical Commercialization at Precia Group. She is committed to establishing Precia Group as a front-runner in...

Bala is a microbiologist and a drug hunter who received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and post-doctoral training at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY. Subsequently he gained leadership and management experience over two decades in the pharmaceutical industry. Among...

Amy Sylvis is a beacon of resilience, advocacy, and entrepreneurial spirit. As a 42-year-old woman living with cystic fibrosis and antimicrobial resistance, Amy embodies the spirit of overcoming obstacles.Her life story is one of overcoming significant health challenges to achieve remarkable...

Julia E. Szymczak, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Division of Epidemiology at the University of Utah School of Medicine, where she Co-Directs the Utah Quality Advancement Laboratory (UQuAL). Dr. Szymczak is a medical sociologist who leads research that integrates social science theory and...

Emily is a Manager in the Health Policy and Insights team at Economist Impact, based in New York City. In this role she works with global clients, managing the conceptualization, delivery, and execution of evidence-based health policy projects. Her responsibilities involve engaging with diverse...

Thomas Tillett – Cofounder and CEO of MBF Therapeutics, an immunotherapeutics company that has developed and patented an innovative, proprietary T-Max Precision™ DNA vaccine platform to deliver commercial protective vaccines that provide safe, durable, heterologous protection against...

Martijn van Gerven is a Research Lead of the AMR Programme at the Access to Medicine Foundation. At the Access to Medicine Foundation, we work every day to change how essential healthcare companies bring their medicines to people in low- and middle-income countries. The AMR programme includes the...

Dr. Jessica Vernon founded Maisha Meds while a medical student at Stanford. She was on the founding team of IPA/Evidence Action’s Dispensers for Safe Water program—which raised $10M, supported over a million people in East Africa, and was awarded a GiveWell top charity distinction in 2022. She was...

Nikunj Vyas is a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist/Infectious Diseases and Antimicrobial Stewardship at Jefferson Health – East Region. He received his PharmD from St. John’s University. He completed a PGY-1 Pharmacy Residency at Atlantic Health System in Morristown, NJ and then went on to complete a...

Emily Wheeler is Director of Infectious Disease Policy at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). Ms. Wheeler is responsible for working with member companies engaged in antimicrobial research, development, and commercialization, and leads BIO’s antimicrobial resistance (AMR) legislative...

J. Kenneth Wickiser worked for the US government in education and research for over 20 years before joining the Global Alliance for Preventing Pandemics (GAPP) team, a center at Columbia University dedicated to public health technical workforce development and retention, democratization of...

Adam Williams is currently Director, mRNA Commercial Strategy & Innovation at Pfizer, leading strategic efforts in global pandemic security, planning for a broad array of defenses, and driving Pfizer’s thought leadership in preparedness. Adam previously led strategy and market intelligence at...

Mark Williams is an associate director at FasterCures, a center of the Milken Institute. He manages a number of projects aimed at creating a high-functioning biomedical system, including countering antimicrobial resistance, engaging patients within health systems, and fostering innovation and...

Doug Witt is the CEO and cofounder of Unison Medicines, a discovery-stage pharmaceutical company focused on solving the Anti-Microbial Resistance crisis.  Unison discovers novel small molecules which block bacterial DNA damage repair and associated stress responses.  Previously Doug worked at...

As compared to the gold standard nasopharyngeal swab, Wyllie’s work has identified saliva as a reliable sample type for the sensitive detection of Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) in healthy individuals and more recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic response, for the detection of...

In-Kyu Yoon is the Acting Executive Director of Vaccine Research and Development at CEPI, and has worked at CEPI since 2020. He leads the R&D division which encompasses product development programs and enabling science activities. In-Kyu is a physician who has overseen multiple vaccine...

Jennifer Young is Vice President and Head, Global Business Policy and Public Affairs at Pfizer. Jennifer leads a diverse global team overseeing development and execution of public policy and government affairs strategies to shape the operating environment for Primary Care, Specialty Care, and...