Speakers Day One

Norman is a comedian, and is well known for his part in the comedy duo Hale and Pace. Originally trained as a teacher, Norman had a string of successful TV shows with his partner Gareth Hale, winning a Golden Rose of Montreux TV comedy award in 1989.

Norman also works as an actor, and has appeared in Chicago at the Adelphi in London’s West End as well as in TV roles in Dr Who, Extras and Dalziel and Pascoe. He is a keen poker player who won the Showbiz Poker Grand Final and he regularly presents on Sky TV’s poker channel The Open.

Norman is a Patron of Meningitis Research Foundation. His wife Beverley is the Chair of Trustees of the charity. Their daughter Holly suffered from streptococcal A meningitis at the age of four weeks in 1989 and survived with disabilities. They have been involved with the charity since then and Beverley has been Chair of Trustees since November 2005.

Norman will speak about his family's experience of meningitis and living with the after-effects.

Simon Nadel has been a Consultant in Paediatric Intensive Care since 1994. Prior to this he trained in paediatric infectious diseases. He has been involved in coordinating and running therapeutic trials in children with meningococcal and other septic shock, and has taken part in research studies into the pathophysiology, treatment and outcome of meningococcal disease in children. He has been involved in writing clinical guidelines for the management of children with septicaemia and meningitis.

Dr Nadel will be presenting Socio/psychological/cognitive sequelae and follow up care, read the abstract here.

Mr Fergal Monsell has been a Consultant Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Royal Hospital for Children, Bristol since 2005.

He worked as in the same capacity at The Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street and The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore between 1997 and 2005.

He completed his higher surgical training at the University of Manchester and fellowship training at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, Sydney, Australia.

He has a broad based surgical practice including limb reconstruction surgery. He has a special interest in the management of patients with the consequences of meningococcal septicemia and contributes to a multi-disciplinary clinic specifically for this patient group.

He is involved with the immediate management in collaboration with colleagues in paediatric intensive care, the initial management of limbs in collaboration with colleagues in Plastic Surgery and long-term reconstruction, including patients who have required amputation.

Mr Fergal Monsell will be presenting Orthopaedic sequelae of meningococcal disease and their management, read his abstract here.

Professor Gerard O’Donoghue graduated from University College, Cork in Ireland and undertook his training in Otolaryngology in London and Oxford. He was a Clinical Fellow at University Hospital, Boston, USA and was a TWJ post-doctoral research Fellow at the auditory research laboratories of the University of California, San Francisco.

He is currently Professor of Otology and Neurotology at the University of Nottingham and an honorary consultant at Queen's Medical Centre NHS Trust in Nottingham. He has a particular interest in the treatment of inner ear disorders, especially cochlear implantation and skull-base surgery. He established the Nottingham Cochlear Implant programme, one of the largest research-active services of its kind in Europe. He works closely with the MRC’s Institute of Hearing Research, and is co-director of the National Biomedical Research Unit in Hearing. He is the founder and Vice-President of the Ear Foundation, a major educational charity in the UK concerned with childhood deafness.

Professor O’Donoghue is a Council member of the British Society for Otology. He is also a founding member and head of education and training for the European Academy of Otology and Neurotology. He serves on the editorial board of several international journals. He has lectured and published extensively on inner ear disease and has had visiting Professorships at a number of institutions worldwide.

Prof O'Donoghue will be presenting Hearing loss after meningitis: assessment and management, read the abstract here.

Professor David Salisbury is Director of Immunisation at the Department of Health, London, responsible for the national immunisation programme.

Professor Salisbury graduated from London University in 1969. He trained as a paediatrician at Oxford and at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health. He has an honorary Chair at Imperial College, London. Professor Salisbury was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the Queen’s 2001 Birthday Honours.

In addition to his UK responsibilities, Professor Salisbury works extensively for the WHO on the Global Programme for Vaccines. He is the Chairman of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Vaccines, Chairman of the European Region Certification Commission for Poliomyelitis Eradication, and is a member of the Eastern Mediterranean Polio Elimination Certification Commission, and the South East Asian Polio Elimination Certification Commission. He is an adjunct member of the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety and is a Liaison Member of the US Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices and the US National Vaccine Advisory Committee. He is Co-chairman of the Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Group for the Global Health Security Action Group of G7 countries. He also chairs the European Vaccine Advisory Group for the European Centre for Disease Control and is a member of the Policy and Practice Committee of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization.

Professor Salisbury has written around 80 publications on immunisation and paediatric topics, he will be presenting Setting international immunisation policy and the role of SAGE. Read his abstract here.

Dr Caroline Trotter is an epidemiologist with a particular interest in infectious diseases, mathematical modelling and vaccines. After a first degree in Human Sciences at the University of Oxford, Caroline gained an MSc and a PhD in infectious disease epidemiology in London (LSHTM). She currently works in the Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol and is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Immunisation Department at the HPA Centre for Infection. Her research focuses on assessing the population impact of vaccination against meningococcal and pneumococcal disease, and she is involved in research projects and collaborations in the UK and Africa.

Dr Trotter will be presenting Best use of conjugate vaccines: waning of infant protection from accelerated schedules; herd immunity; implications for developing countries using EPI schedules?, read the abstract here.

Professor Christoph Tang is currently Professor of Infectious Diseases at Imperial College London at the Centre for Molecular Microbiology and Infection. His group studies the pathogenesis and prevention of disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis and Shigella flexneri, particularly during interactions the host innate immune system. He was previously an MRC Clinician Scientist at the University of Oxford, and completed his PhD at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School on the identification of virulence factors in the fungal pathogen, Aspergillus fumigatus. Christoph originally trained in medicine at the University of Liverpool and spent two years working in The Gambia, West Africa.

Prof Tang will be presenting Recruitment of Factor H by Neisseria meningitidis and Streptococcus pneumoniae: immune evasion and vaccines, read the abstract here.

Dr Robert George qualified MB BS at the London Hospital Medical College in 1976. After ‘House’ jobs he was appointed Senior House Officer in Bacteriology at the London Hospital and in 1979 went to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for a year where he gained the MSc in Medical Microbiology. After this he joined the Public Health Laboratory Service and was a PHLS Trainee and Honorary Senior Registrar at Central Middlesex Hospital from 1980 (obtaining the MRCPath in 1983) to 1985 when he was appointed Consultant Medical Microbiologist to the Antibiotic Reference Unit at the PHLS Central Public Health Laboratory. In 1992 he was appointed as the first Director of the newly formed PHLS (subsequently Health Protection Agency) Respiratory and Systemic Infection Laboratory at the HPA Centre for Infections, Colindale. His interests include community-acquired pneumonia, particularly pneumococcal pneumonia, other streptococcal infections and vaccine preventable diseases.

Dr George will be presenting Changes in pneumococcal serotypes in the UK before and after introduction of PCV7, read the abstract here.

Prof John Edmunds has a PhD in modelling infectious diseases from Imperial College, London and an MSc in Health Economics from the University of York. His work concentrates on the design of cost-effective intervention programmes against infectious diseases, taking account of the direct and indirect (sometimes called herd-immunity) effects of such programmes. He has recently accepted a Chair in Modelling Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Before that he was the head of the Modelling and Economics Unit at the Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections in London.

He has co-authored over 100 peer-review articles, and acted as an advisor on national and international committees on many occasions on topics ranging from HPV vaccination to pandemic influenza. He has been a member of the WHO HPV Expert Advisory Group, and is now a member of the committee that advises WHO on modelling and economic evaluation for vaccination programmes (QUIVER).

Prof Edmunds will be presenting Applying modelling to understanding pneumococcal disease patterns in the UK: replacement and emergent serotypes, read the abstract here.

Bernard Fritzell, MD is Vice President, International Scientific & Clinical Affairs for Wyeth Vaccines Research, based in Paris, France. Dr Fritzell received his medical degree from the University of Bordeaux with additional diploma in Tropical Diseases, Health and Development, and Statistics applied to Epidemiology and Clinical Research at the University of Bordeaux and the University Pierre & Marie Curie, Paris.

Dr Fritzell has extensive experience in the direction of vaccine clinical trial programmes and medical affairs activities surrounding marketed vaccines. Before joining Wyeth in June 1999, Dr Fritzell held the position of Vice President, Clinical Research and Medical Affairs for Chiron Vaccines in Sienna, Italy. During August 1993 to September 1996, he was Head of Clinical Research for Vaccines at the Pasteur-Mérieux Sérums et Vaccins, Marne-la-Coquette, France.

Dr Fritzell has directed all phases of vaccine development working extensively in both Europe and the USA. Programs have been designed and set-up across Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East and have included research into new adjuvants, paediatric and adult combination vaccines, Pneumococcal conjugate, Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate, Meningococcal A & C conjugate, Typhoid fever, Hepatitis A, Varicella and Zoster, Measles, Rabies, Dengue and Japanese Encephalitis.

Since June 1996, he has been chairman of the clinical working group of the European Vaccines Manufacturers (EVM). EVM was formed in 1991 as a specialised group within the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), and is dedicated to the improvement of public health through immunisation and the promotion of research and development into innovative vaccines. EVM represents major European vaccine producers accounting for the majority of the vaccines used worldwide.

In addition, Dr. Fritzell has also held governmental positions working within the Ministry of Health in Somalia where his responsibilities included the management of a case detection programme for most predominant infectious diseases among state employees and relatives, and Medical Attaché to the French Embassy in Beijing, China.

Dr Fritzell will be presenting Prospects for preventing invasive pneumococcal disease with conjugate vaccines beyond PCV7, including evidence for use in a 2 +1 immunisation schedule, read the abstract here.

Lode Schuerman is Director Clinical Development Pneumococcal Vaccines, at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Biologicals in Rixensart, Belgium, where he is responsible for the worldwide clinical development program of the paediatric pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

Dr Schuerman studied medicine at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, and tropical medicine at the Antwerp Institute for Tropical Medicine. From 1985 to 1989, he worked as a physician at the paediatric department of the Dabou hospital in Ivory Coast, West Africa. Being responsible for the public health projects in the Dabou region and the malnutrition prevention unit at the Dabou hospital, he was confronted with the problem of AIDS in children and was also involved in epidemiological studies on paediatric AIDS in collaboration with the Pasteur Institute of Abidjan and Paris.

Following his return to Europe, he obtained a degree in informatics at the Free University of Brussels, Belgium and was involved in Medical Computing and Information Technology until 1993. Prior to joining GSK Biologicals in 1998, Dr Schuerman was a project leader in international clinical research at the Servier Laboratories, Brussels-Paris.

Since he joined GSK Biologicals in 1998, Dr Schuerman has taken increasing responsibilities in the clinical development of acellular pertussis combination vaccines for children (Infanrix™ combination vaccines) and adults (Boostrix™) and whole-cell pertussis combination vaccines (Tritanrix™), including Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate vaccines. Since 2004 he has been in charge of the clinical development program for the 10-valent Pneumococcal non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae protein D conjugate vaccine (Synflorix™). He has (co-)authored over 50 peer reviewed publications and book chapters on different aspects of paediatric vaccines.

Dr Schuerman will be presenting Prospects for preventing invasive pneumococcal disease with conjugate vaccines beyond PCV7, including evidence for use in a 2 +1 immunisation schedule, read the abstract here.

Dr. Alderson is Director of PATH’s Pneumococcal Vaccine Project (PVP), which seeks to accelerate the development of promising pneumococcal vaccines and ensure their availability and use in developing countries. Dr. Alderson has more than 20 years of experience in medical research, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and vaccine development. He joined PVP in August, 2006, serving initially as Scientific Director until his appointment as PVP Director in July, 2007.

Prior to joining PATH, Dr. Alderson was Director of Immunology at GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, Seattle, and was responsible for directing preclinical work on synthetic adjuvants for a variety of vaccine targets. Prior to GSK, he was Senior Director of Immunology at Corixa Corporation where he was responsible for the preclinical discovery and evaluation of adjuvants and vaccines for tuberculosis, Chlamydia and HSV. Dr. Alderson has extensive experience in vaccine development and has published over 50 manuscripts in peer reviewed journals. He served as an Affiliate Associate Professor, Department of Pathobiology at the University of Washington from 2002 until 2006. Dr. Alderson earned his PhD in immunology at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia and his MBA at Seattle University.

Dr Alderson will be presenting Progress on pneumococcal protein vaccines, read the abstract here.

Dr Orin Levine is the Executive Director of Pneumococcal Accelerated Development and Introduction Plan (PneumoADIP), an effort to assure access to pneumococcal conjugate vaccines for the world’s poorest children at the earliest possible time. The PneumoADIP is based at the Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and supported by $30m from the GAVI Alliance. Before coming to Johns Hopkins, Dr Levine spent five years in Atlanta at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an EIS officer and then as a staff epidemiologist, and then three years with the NIH in Bethesda. He is also an adjunct assistant professor of epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.

Dr Levine received his bachelor’s degree from Gettysburg College and his PhD degree in Epidemiology from Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. In 2000, he was awarded the CDC’s Iain Hardy Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Control of Vaccine Preventable Diseases.

Dr Levine has authored/coauthored more than 75 original research papers and book chapters, including more than 40 on the subject of meningitis and pneumonia and their prevention by vaccination. He serves frequently as a consultant to the World Health Organization and to individual countries on the control of Hib and pneumococcal disease by vaccination.

Dr Levine will be presenting Impact of PneumoADIP: progress on uptake of pneumococcal vaccines in developing countries, read the abstract here.

Kim Mulholland is an Australian paediatrician with considerable experience in the developing world. During the 1980s he managed two refugee health projects in the Sudan while undergoing paediatric and immunology training at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. His doctoral thesis was on the clinical and immunological aspects of RSV bronchiolitis in young children. In 1989 he briefly joined the WHO Programme for Control of Acute Respiratory Infections, before joining MRC Gambia.

In Gambia, between 1989 and 1995, he established a program of research into acute respiratory infections that included clinical studies of pneumonia in malnourished children and neonatal infections, treatment trials of antibiotic therapy and oxygen therapy, pharmacokinetic studies and a program of vaccine research focused on Hib vaccine. In 1995 Kim joined WHO Geneva, initially responsible for research to support Integrated Management of Childhood Illness, and later responsible for research into Hib, pneumococcal, and meningococcal vaccines, under the leadership of Professor P-H Lambert. After leaving WHO in 2000, Kim established the Centre for International Child Health at the University of Melbourne. During the same period Kim chaired the Meningitis Management Team for the Government of New Zealand as they employed a novel, vaccine based strategy to deal with a devastating meningococcal B epidemic.

Since 2005 he has been employed by London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where he has lead the LSHTM component of GAVI’s Hib Initiative project, as well as establishing research activities in Ethiopia and Gambia. He is currently jointly employed by LSHTM and the Menzies Institute of Health Research in Darwin, Australia. He is a member of Australia’s Indigenous Immunization Reference Group, and the Australian Government’s Pneumococcal Vaccine Advisory Group. He is Senior Advisor to AusAID on child health. In addition, he is a regular advisor to WHO’s Child and Adolescent Health Department and a member of WHO SAGE’s subcommittee on alternative vaccination strategies.

Prof Mulholland will be speaking on the Impact and challenges of the Hib initiative - understanding and communicating the burden of disease. Click here for the abstract