Professor Michelle Giles is an internationally recognized infectious diseases physician-scientist with expertise in infections during pregnancy and maternal immunization. She holds appointments at the University of Melbourne and Monash University and maintains a clinical practice focused on women's health. Her research spans maternal vaccination, prevention of infectious diseases in pregnancy, and strategies to improve outcomes for mothers and infants. She serves in leadership roles within the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation and has contributed to multiple World Health Organization initiatives. Her work bridges clinical care, translational science, epidemiology, and vaccine policy, helping strengthen evidence-based recommendations for maternal and adult immunization.

Professor Helen Marshall is an internationally recognized vaccinologist, pediatrician, and public health researcher whose work has advanced the prevention of infectious diseases through immunization. She serves as Professor in Vaccinology at the University of Adelaide and Medical Director of the Vaccinology and Immunology Research Trials Unit (VIRTU). Her research encompasses vaccine clinical trials, implementation science, infectious disease epidemiology, and community attitudes toward vaccination. She has led more than 100 clinical and epidemiological studies and contributed substantially to the prevention of meningococcal disease, HPV infection, influenza, and pertussis. Her work has influenced vaccine policy, program implementation, and public health practice in Australia and internationally.

Paul Heath is a Professor in Paediatric Infectious Diseases at City St George's, University of London, where he is the Director of the Vaccine Institute. His training in paediatrics and infectious diseases was at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford; and St George's Hospital, London. His research interests are in the epidemiology of vaccine preventable diseases, in clinical vaccine trials, particularly in at-risk groups and in perinatal infections. He coordinates a European neonatal infection surveillance network (neonIN) and the UK Paediatric Vaccine Group (UKPVG), is a member of the UK Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), chairs the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Vaccine Innovation Pathway (VIP): Vaccine Research in Pregnant Participants Working Group, is co-Chair of the UK VIP Infectious Diseases Vaccine Research Forum and is a member of the WHO GBS and Klebsiella Working Groups.

Dr. Flor M. Muñoz-Rivas is an internationally recognized pediatric infectious diseases specialist and vaccine researcher whose work has significantly advanced maternal and infant immunization. Her research focuses on vaccine safety and effectiveness during pregnancy, maternal antibody transfer, and prevention of respiratory infections in mothers and infants. She has led multicenter clinical trials evaluating vaccines against influenza, pertussis, RSV, and COVID-19. Through scientific leadership and policy contributions, she has strengthened the evidence supporting maternal immunization as a strategy to protect both pregnant women and newborns. She is widely regarded as a leading expert in vaccination during pregnancy and maternal–infant protection.

Dr. Manish Sadarangani is Director of the Vaccine Evaluation Center at the BC Children's Hospital Research Institute, a Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases, UBC Department of Pediatrics, and a Member of the Royal Society of Canada. He is an international expert in translational vaccinology, whose work uniquely encompasses laboratory, clinical and epidemiologic research. His research improves understanding of immune responses to vaccination, identifies high-risk groups to target immunization programs, and evaluates vaccine effectiveness to inform evidence-based policy.

Dr. Suraj Bhattarai is a physician-scientist from Nepal, with research interest in maternal-child health and tropical infections. Currently, he serves as a Director and Chief Investigator at Global Health Research and Medical Interventions Institute (GlohMED), mostly based in Kathmandu. As an established infectious disease researcher, he leads clinical, epidemiological and lab-based studies on group B Streptococcus, RSV and non-RSV respiratory infections in children, and Burkholderia across multiple sites, with successful international collaborations. Known for research and advocacy in immunization and antimicrobial stewardship, Dr. Bhattarai recently co-founded the Asia-UK maternal-neonatal infection & iMMunity network (AMMuNet). He is also a committee member of ESPID, INMIS, and several other high-level professional committees and funding bodies in global health. Dr. Bhattarai obtained medical training in Nepal and postgraduate education from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK.

Dr. Nevio Sarmento is a microbiologist and Honorary Fellow at the Menzies School of Health Research, based in Dili, Timor-Leste. He earned his PhD from Charles Darwin University, Australia, where his pneumococcal carriage research supported the introduction of Pneumosil, making Timor-Leste the first country globally to adopt the vaccine. He also holds a master's in medical technology (Microbiology) from Mahidol University, Thailand. Dr. Sarmento chairs the Timor-Leste National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group (NITAG-TL) and, since January 2026, serves as President of the Board of Directors of the National Institute of Public Health (INSP-TL). He has led and co-led major research initiatives with local and international partners, spanning infectious disease diagnostics, surveillance, COVID-19 seroprevalence, leprosy, and rotavirus vaccine evaluation. Since 2015 he has authored over 20 peer-reviewed publications and provides technical leadership in laboratory systems and public health surveillance.