Meet the Speakers

Alberta Di Pasquale, is an MD with a post-doctoral degree in Internal Medicine from the University of Chieti (Italy), and a PhD in Vaccinology from the University of Genoa (Italy), she is visiting professor of Vaccinology at the University of Antwerp (Belgium), since 2019.

Alberta has over 20 years of experience in vaccines, she has supported new vaccine introductions with scientific and educational activities across many infectious disease and target age groups. She has contributed to awareness and action efforts on modern vaccines, new technologies, vaccine confidence and the life-course immunization.

She has authored or contributed to publications on many of the topics covered in her activities and to a book on “Understanding Modern Vaccines” published by Elsevier in 2011.

She joined Takeda in June 2021 to support the introduction of the dengue candidate vaccine TAK-003 with the aim to contribute to address dengue burden of disease and improving public health in the GEM region

Dr. Moriuchi is presently a Professor of Pediatrics at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and a Vice-Director at the National Research Center for the Control and Prevention of Infectious Diseases, Nagasaki University, Japan. He is a President of the Japanese Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases and serves as a Councilor of several academic societies including the Japanese Society for Virology and the Japanese Society for Clinical Virology. He was the President of the 9th Asian Congress of Pediatric Infectious Diseases in 2018. 

He dedicated himself to the basic research and clinical practice of herpesviruses and HIV-1 at NIH, USA between 1990 and 1999. He received Young Investigator Award from the American Society for Microbiology in 1996, and several awards from NIAID in 1999. 

He contributed to the establishment of nationwide measures to prevent mother-to-child infection of human T-cell leukemia virus-I in Japan as a principal investigator. He has been a member of the study groups for congenital toxoplasmosis and cytomegalovirus infection in Japan and has engaged in birth-cohort studies for congenital infections, including rubella and Zika, in Vietnam. 

He has engaged in vaccine awareness activities for years, concerning HPV vaccines in particular. 

Dr. H.T. Wickramasinghe is a Senior Consultant Pediatrician. His main interest is Pediatric infectious diseases. He is a founder member of Asian Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and served as the President of the Asian Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases 2013-2014. He is also a member of Immunization partners of Asia pacific and a standing committee member of the Asian Vaccine Conference. He had been the President of the Sri Lanka College of Pediatricians in 2008-2009 and President of Epilepsy Association of Sri Lanka for nearly 7 years. He served as a Board member of the World Society of Pediatrics Infectious Diseases from 2015 to 2019. He is the immediate past President of Vaccine and Infectious disease form of Sri Lanka and the president of ASVAC 2022 conference 

He has delivered many lectures in both regional and international conferences worldwide in the field of Pediatric infectious diseases and published many research papers in international indexed medical journals. 

Apart from being passionate about Pediatrics, Dr. Wickramasinghe is also a wildlife enthusiast and a wildlife photographer. He is also interested in collecting scientific literature on herbal medicine.  

Dr. Judith Wong is a Director at the Environmental Health Institute, National Environment Agency, Singapore, where she oversees the Microbiology and Molecular Epidemiology Division.  She leads a multidisciplinary scientific team working on various One Health initiatives including risk assessment and surveillance of vector-borne diseases, biosurveillance of microbial threats, and wastewater surveillance, among others.  Judith and her team conducts diagnostics testing and serologic and molecular surveillance of dengue and other arboviruses in Singapore and is also involved in regional and global training programmes to strengthen arboviral diagnostics and surveillance capabilities.  

Judith is an ASEAN-Australian One Health Fellow with Murdoch University, Australia and she has prior professional experience in clinical diagnostics and surveillance of viral diseases, quality assurance and multi-disciplinary research with focus on microbiology. 

Associate Professor Katie Attwell is a political science and public policy scholar at the University of Western Australia, where she leads VaxPolLab. She is an Honorary Fellow of the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases at Telethon Kids Institute, Perth and is the Chair of the Collaboration on Social Science and Immunisation (COSSI), Australia’s national network of vaccination social science researchers. Associate Professor Attwell is a global expert in vaccine hesitancy and vaccination policies for childhood and COVID-19 vaccines. Her recent Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA 2019-2022) funded by the Australian Research Council explored mandatory childhood vaccination policies in Australia, Italy, France, and California. Katie recently led the interdisciplinary West Australian project “Coronavax: Preparing Community and Government”, which engaged in community and government research for the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out, funded by Wesfarmers and the Health Department of Western Australia. From 2023, Katie leads MandEval, a mixed methods and multi-country study of the implementation and impact of COVID-19 vaccine mandates in Australia, Italy, France and California, a $4.7 million dollar project funded by the Medical Research Future Fund of Australia. 

Kim Mulholland is an Australian paediatrician, trained at Melbourne University and the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne.  With post-graduate training in immunology, respiratory medicine and tropical medicine he joined the Medical Research Council Laboratories, Gambia in 1989, where he developed a program of research covering all aspects of the problem of childhood pneumonia.  This included studies of the aetiology, clinical signs, and treatment of pneumonia cases, with particular reference to very young infants and malnourished children. These studies helped to guide WHO policy in the field and contributed to the development of the strategy of Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI), as well as guiding oxygen and antibiotic management for hospitalized children.

In the Gambia he also worked on several projects relating indoor air pollution to pneumonia. His Hib vaccine trials were the first to demonstrate the capacity of a conjugate vaccine to prevent bacterial pneumonia, and paved the way for Hib vaccine introduction in Africa.  While in Gambia he chaired the MRC/Gambia Government Ethical Committee for 3 years. After six years in the Gambia he joined WHO HQ where he oversaw the development of standardized methods for the evaluation of pneumonia vaccines in developing countries. At WHO he was also the focal point for air pollution in the Child and Adolescent Health Department and helped design the RESPIRE study in Guatemala.  He also co-chaired a review of ethics at WHO HQ.

Since leaving WHO in 2000 he has continued to work in the pneumonia field with particular emphasis on vaccines.  He was one of the founders of the Global Action Plan for Pneumonia, and one of the leaders of the successful Hib Initiative project that saw the introduction of Hib vaccines into the poorest countries of the world.  During the same period he established leading pneumococcal microbiology and immunology laboratories at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute (MCRI), Melbourne, along with major pneumococcal field research programs in Vietnam, Fiji and Mongolia.  He established the Centre for International Child Health at MCRI in 2001 and remains involved in Global Health leadership at MCRI.  In Mongolia he works with NCCD on pneumonia control in children and adults.

He also leads HPV research programs in Mongolia, Vietnam and Ethiopia.  He has worked on RSV research projects for over 30 years and currently leads projects in Mongolia and Vietnam.  He has led the typhoid research project in Fiji since 2012.  He has been involved in the oversight of many vaccine trials, serving on steering committees or DSMBs for a range of vaccines including Pneumococcal, Dengue, RSV and Covid-19 vaccines.  He is currently a member of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization, and has served on Working Groups covering pneumococcal vaccines, measles & rubella, Covid-19 vaccines, Dengue vaccine and RSV.  He currently serves on the Boards of the INCLEN Trust, India and the International Society of Pneumonia and Pneumococcal Diseases (ISPPD). 

Professor Leo Yee Sin served as the Executive Director of Singapore’s National
Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) from 2017 to 2023. During her tenure, she
established NCID as an innovative institution integrating clinical care, public health,
research, training, and community outreach. She led teams through multiple
outbreaks in Singapore from 1999 to 2022, published over 400 peer-reviewed
scientific papers and received numerous national awards. A recognized authority
in her field, she serves as a member in numerous committees and advisory boards
including multiple World Health Organization workgroups. She has received
prestigious accolades and now contributes her expertise as Senior Consultant at
the Director-General Health’s Office in Ministry of Health, Singapore and Senior
Advisor, National Centre for Infectious Diseases and National Healthcare Group

Prof Liona Poon is the Chairperson and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and
an Academic Subspecialist in Maternal Fetal Medicine at the Chinese University of
Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR China, and Visiting Professor at Department Women and
Children’s Health, King’s College London, London, UK. She is devoted in improving
maternal and fetal health. She has had a prolific research output throughout her clinical
and research posts, including >200 peer-reviewed publications in high impact
international journals (H-index 60). In the last 18 years she has focused her research
on establishing a programme for effective early prediction and prevention of
preeclampsia, a major cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. With
her success in developing a first-trimester prediction model for preeclampsia using
maternal risk factors, ultrasound, blood pressure and biochemical markers, and on
Aspirin prophylaxis against preeclampsia, her goal in the next 10 years is to improve
obstetric care worldwide, through clinical research, education and advocacy. During
the COVID-19 pandemic, she has been instrumental in establishing a series of
guidelines, safety and consensus statements for the safe management of pregnant
women affected by COVID-19. Her latest work has evaluated the temporal changes in
amount and neutralizing activity of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in breast milk stimulated
by natural infection and vaccination

Lois Privor-Dumm is Director, Adult Vaccination and Senior Advisor, Policy, Advocacy & Communications at the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.  She is a global advocate for equitable vaccination and access across the life-course.  Her research focuses on determinants of vaccine policy, acceptance and uptake and the barriers or facilitators of program success.  Her current work builds on country archetype research of vaccination programs and strategy to advise on preparedness gaps and future investments to strengthen adult vaccination systems in the Asia Pacific region.  In Baltimore, she worked with the Baltimore City Health Department and partners to establish the VALUE peer ambassador program and led education efforts to build vaccine literacy, increase trust and enable access to COVID-19 vaccination in underserved communities.  She works with various coalitions to engage communities and promote vaccine literacy, and is a member of the Maryland Department of Health COVID-19 Vaccine Technical Advisory Group, the Vaccine Equity Task Force and advises global institutions and partners on strengthening systems to deliver vaccines to older adults.  She joined Hopkins in 2005 and has worked in more than 70 countries helping to accelerate vaccine access.  She holds a Masters of International Business Studies from University of South Carolina. 

Associate Professor Dr. Pham Quang Thai, Deputy Head of the Department of Communicable Disease Control at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) was appointed in 2011. A/Prof. Thai is an expert in vaccination and infectious disease surveillance with over 20 years of experience. 

A/Prof. Thai graduated as a medical doctor from Hanoi Medical University, obtained a master’s degree from the University of Bergen, Norway, with support from the NORAD fund, and completed a doctoral program at the Open University in the United Kingdom, in collaboration between the University of Oxford and NIHE. In addition to his work in vaccination and epidemic prevention, A/Prof. Thai also engages in research activities with domestic and international research groups, contributing to various stages of vaccine development and clinical trials. 

With over 20 years of service at NIHE, A/Prof. Thai has established close relationships with colleagues at Pasteur Institutes and Epidemiology Institutes in the region. He also collaborates effectively with Disease Control Centers/Provincial CDCs, which form the backbone of Vietnam’s disease control system. A/Prof. Thai’s work focuses on the infectious disease surveillance system and rapid epidemic response. Moreover, he serves as the head of the epidemiology team for projects such as the Oxford-NIHE Project (Infectious Disease Research and Development Program) and the surveillance project for anthrax and brucellosis in the mountainous provinces of northern Vietnam in cooperation with NIHE-UF (University of Florida – USA). 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, A/Prof. Thai has been actively involved in the Rapid Response Information Team under the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, serving as the deputy team leader. His responsibilities include managing the SARS-CoV-2 laboratory database and being a member of the National Contact Tracing Team. 

Simultaneously, A/Prof. Thai works as a visiting lecturer at Hanoi Medical University, bringing over 14 years of teaching experience in statistics, medical informatics, and medical research. In 2019, he was appointed as the Deputy Head of the Statistics and Medical Informatics Department. A/Prof. Thai has authored eight books, over 40 domestic articles, and 30 international publications. 

Pornthep Chanthavanich is an Associate Professor and the consultant of the Department of Tropical Pediatrics, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University. He graduated in medicine from Siriraj Medical School, Mahidol University. He holds postgraduate qualifications in DTM&H (Bangkok), MSc.MCH (London), DTCH (Liverpool), Dip. Thai Board of Pediatrics Infectious Diseases, Dip. Thai Board of Preventive Medicine (Travel Medicine), He was previously Head of the Department of Tropical Pediatrics, Deputy Director of Hospital for Tropical Diseases (Bangkok), and Deputy Dean of Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University. He is now the President of Thai Society of Travel Medicine, Immediate Past President of Asia Pacific Travel Health Society, Fellow of the International Society of Travel Medicine,  Secretary–General of Asian Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Treasurer of International Society of Tropical Pediatrics.  

Professor Dr Selim BADUR  joined GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines as Global Director, Scientific Affairs & Public Health, by the end of 2015, with responsibility for high level scientific exchange with external experts and health authorities worldwide about Influenza and other viral  vaccine, specially on countries from emerging economies. He joined GSK from the University of Istanbul-Faculty of Medicine where he was the director of Virology Department and coordinator of the National Reference Laboratory of Influenza-WHO.  

Dr. Badur obtained his PhD in Microbiology from the University of Istanbul and became a research fellow at the Pasteur Institute, Paris, between 1982-1984 and senior research specialist in the same Institute during 1993-1995.  He was a visiting Professor in Medical School – Paris Sud Hospital Kremlin Bicêtre, Department of Microbiology, Paris-France, during 1996-1998.  Dr. Badur also gave lectures in Galatasaray University between 2009-2017 and has served as a consultant for Nature series between 2013-2017.  

Dr. Badur was a member of French Academy of Science, advisory member of Viral Hepatitis Prevention Board (VHPB), member of Global Hepatitis Network-WHO and European Scientists Working on Influenza Group (ESWI). He was also a member of Vaccine Advisory Board, Pandemic Flu Emergency Response Program, and STD Advisory Board, Ministry of Health, Turkey. 

Dr. Badur has co-author of 146 articles in international scientific journals, over 400 articles in local journals and more than 200 articles in conference books; he gives more than hundreds talks and presentations at international and local conferences and meetings with particular focus on vaccines, pathogenesis of infectious diseases, viral hepatitis, influenza and HPV in developing country settings.  

After joining GSK Vaccines, Dr. Badur gives more than 300 presentations over the world, and from these, 170 during GSK scientific activities and more than 100 as an invited speaker, like ECMID Summer school or French Academy of Sciences; during this period, he published 6 textbooks as a co-editor. 

Dr. Somia Iqtadar  is an accomplished physician serving in the capacity of Associate Professor of Medicine at King Edward Medical University Lahore,Pakistan.Dr Iqtadar is a fellow of College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan and Royal College of Physicians London. She was also awarded Fellowship of Pakistan society of Internal Medicine. Dr Iqtadar is  also appointed as adjunct faculty in Institute of Public Health and University of Health Sciences Lahore, Pakistan. She has been actively engaged in the medical education, research and clinical leadership. Being an avid member of several health and medical education committees and having estimable membership of several national and international Medical Advisory Boards, she has contributed immensely, restricted not only to the medical community that included teaching, training, and conducting numerous workshops, but also routinely provides public healthcare awareness on several national and international written, digital and televised forums. 

She is the founder Secretary General of Pakistan Society of Internal Medicine the most dynamic medical organization of the country with twenty national and five international chapters under which she has organized numerous CME activities and six international conferences in Pakistan UK and UAE She has numerous publications in indexed national as well as international journals of high impact factor. She is reviewer of many national and international journals and also Associate editor of Journal of Pakistan Society of Internal Medicine and Frontiers of Tropical Medicine.  

Dr Iqtadar has contributed to Kumar and Clark Text Book of Medicine authoring three chapters on Dengue Ebola and Congo. She’s also the editor and International advisory board member of McMaster text book of Medicine. She has also a contributing author in books, Telemedicine A novel way to fight Pandemic, A success story from Pakistan and Hyperglycemia in Pregnancy. She is the primary author of Guidelines on Dengue, Congo ,Influenza, Ebola and COVID-19 in her country and author of two handbooks on Dengue in 2012 and2020. She has been trained in Sri Lanka, AIT Thailand and WHO Singapore on Dengue and worked incapacity of Secretary and then Chairperson Dengue Expert Advisory Group and has recently formulated first national Dengue guidelines in pregnancy. She is also member of international society of hypertension (ISH),Dengue advisory group(DAG) International Society of Neglected Tropical Diseases (ISNTD), member American Society of Tropical Medicine and hygiene (ASTMH)and is advisor to WHO on arboviral diseases where she also serves as master trainer on Clinical management of Dengue. She is also a Member Corona Technical Working Group and Corona Expert Advisory group Typhoid, Cholera and Monkeypox Pakistan. 

She has represented Pakistan in numerous international conferences, including prestigious forums like EASD,ISH,Asia Dengue Summit,Asia Vaccine Conference, McMaster  International Review Course in Internal Medicine and many more presenting her research and experiences. Her areas of interest include cardio metabolic medicine, women health and leadership, infectious diseases and tele-medicine. Dr Iqtadar is on advisory board of Women in global health Pakistan chapter and was part of Pakistan panel of WGH in gender Equality forum in Paris in year 202.She has recently launched the Women in healthcare leadership program in Pakistan, first in South Asian region in collaboration with Royal College of Physicians London. She is also Punjab lead for Women in leadership league in Medicine 

Her work on dengue was recognized by International society of Neglected Tropical Diseases where her contribution to Dengue tracking system in Pakistan won the best application award in ISNTD festival in UK March2020.She was also nominated for civil award Sitara e Imtiaz by department of Health Punjab in year2020.She was awarded Women health hero award in 2020 by Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry and honored by Governor’s award for her remarkable contribution in health sector in year 2021.She was awarded with Presidential award of Excellence in year 2022 for her contribution to diabetes care in the country. She has also been awarded Charles Wallace fellowship with attachment in Oxford University to work on antimicrobial resistance for year 2022-2023. 

Dr. Tan Maw Pin is a Professor of Geriatric Medicine at Universiti Malaya. After completing her undergraduate medical training at the University of Nottingham and her core medical training at Nottingham City Hospital, Prof Tan obtained a National Training Number in Geriatric Medicine at Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, where she also undertook two years of full-time research training at the Institute of Ageing and Health, Newcastle University. Prof Tan currently chairs the Senior flu subdivision of the Malaysian Influenza Working Group which is advocating for flu prevention among older Malaysians. An avid researcher, she is currently the Principal Investigator of the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia Long-Term Research Grant Scheme funded project, TrAnsforming CoGnitivE Frailty into Later-lifE Self-Sufficiency (AGELESS),  and is the current President of the Malaysian Society of Geriatric Medicine and the Honorary General Secretary of the College of Physicians of Malaysia.  

​Tony graduated from the University of Cape Town in 1978 and obtained his doctorate from the University of Otago in 1989. He joined The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1993 and moved to The Chinese University of Hong Kong Shenzhen in 2021. His research includes rotavirus and other vaccines, diarrhoeal and respiratory disease surveillance, obesity and child growth, breastfeeding promotion and the sudden infant death syndrome. He chairs the Steering Committee of Immunization Partners in Asia Pacific and is a member of the ROTA Council since 2012.