Sally Roberts, New Zealand

President

Dr. Sally Roberts is a graduate of the University of Auckland, School of Medicine. She is a clinical microbiologist and infectious diseases physician at Auckland City Hospital and is the Clinical Head of Microbiology at LabPlus, Auckland District Health Board. Since August 2011, she has been the National Clinical Lead for the New Zealand Health Quality & Safety Commission Infection Prevention and Control Program. She has been on a number of New Zealand’s Ministry of Health working groups. Her main interests include the diagnosis of infectious diseases; prevention of healthcare-associated infections; and antimicrobial resistance.

Dr. Roberts is the chair of the Finance Committee and serves on the Nomination and Remuneration Committee.

Neelika Malavige, Sri Lanka

President-Elect

Neelika Malavige is a Professor at the Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine, University of Sri Jayewardenepura and an academic visitor at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford. She is a medical graduate from the University of Colombo and carried out her doctoral studies at the University of Oxford, funded by a Commonwealth scholarship. She was elected as the Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in London in 2015, the Royal College of Pathologists in 2015 and the National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka in 2022.

Her research focus has been on immunopathogenesis of dengue, biomarkers and immune correlates of protection and translating these findings into clinical trials. She sits on or chairs numerous national and international scientific advisory boards, funding panels and editorial boards. Neelika has carried out many mentoring and public engagement activities and won numerous local and international awards, including the outstanding role model award and the most inspiring woman award.

Professor Malavige serves on the Publications and Education Committee, and on the External Affairs, Policy and Advocacy Committee.

Paul Ananth Tambyah, Singapore

Past-President

Paul Anantharajah Tambyah is currently Professor of Medicine at the National University of Singapore and Senior Consultant Infectious Diseases Physician at the National University Hospital. He is also Research Director in the Division of Infectious Diseases of the National University Health System. After graduating from the National University of Singapore, he did his postgraduate training at the University of Wisconsin under Dr. Dennis Maki and since returning to Singapore in 1999 he has held a number of academic, professional and advisory appointments including Assistant Dean of the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. He is immediate past president of the Society of Infectious Diseases (Singapore) and Secretary-General of the Asia Pacific Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infection.

Professor Tambyah is the chair of the Publications and Education Committee and serves on the Finance Committee.

Patricio Acosta, Argentina

Dr. Patricio Acosta is a biologist and a physician, deeply passionate about respiratory diseases. He obtained a Master’s degree in Biology (with a concentration in genetics) from Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. He also earned his MD and PhD degrees with honors from the School of Medicine at Universidad de Buenos Aires. Currently, he is an associate professor at the Ricardo Gutiérrez Children's Hospital, a renowned pediatric public hospital in Argentina and one of the biggest public hospitals in Latin America. Over the years, he has specialized in the pathogenesis of respiratory diseases, conducting research in both animal models and human populations. His work addresses research questions that bridge the gap between basic and clinical science, with a primary focus on respiratory diseases affecting pediatric populations in low-income settings.

Jaffar Al-Tawfiq, Saudi Arabia

Dr. Jaffar Al-Tawfiq is the Director of Accreditation & Infection Control at Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare Dhahran, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. He is an Associate Professor Jaffar Al-Tawfiq is a Consultant of Internal Medicine & Infectious Diseases and the Director of Accreditation and Infection Control at JHAH. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases. Dr. Al-Tawfiq has received several accomplishment awards locally and internationally. He is recognized as a world leader in coronaviruses and is a top global expert in infection control. As a scientist and researcher, his current interests include hospital epidemiology, healthcare-associated infections, antimicrobial resistance, antibiotic stewardship, and emerging respiratory pathogens including MERS-CoV and COVID-19.

Gonzalo Bearman, United States

Gonzalo Bearman is Chair of the Division of Infectious Diseases, Richard P. Wenzel Professor of Internal Medicine (Tenure) with a focus on clinical infectious diseases, public health and healthcare epidemiology at the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System. He is a graduate of Colgate University (BA), SUNY at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (MD) and Columbia University (MPH). He completed a residency in Internal Medicine and was Chief Resident, both at SUNY at Buffalo. He then completed a fellowship in Infectious Diseases and a residency in Preventive Medicine/Public Health, both at Cornell University. Dr. Bearman is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases, and General Preventive Medicine and Public Health. Since 2003, Dr. Bearman is an attending physician/consultant in Infectious Diseases Service at VCU Medical Center.

Robert Heyderman, United Kingdom

Rob Heyderman is a clinician scientist with skills and experience that bridge clinical practice, disease prevention and the fundamental understanding of the mechanisms of infectious disease. He directed the highly successful Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Programme for over 8 years, transforming the Programme into a centre of excellence led by Malawian & international scientists, pursuing internationally-leading science, research training & improving the health of people in sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr. Heyderman is the chair of the Emerging Leaders Program and serves on the Finance Committee.

Helena Maltezou, Greece

Dr. Maltezou is the Director of the Directorate for Research, Studies, and Documentation at the National Public Health Organization in Athens, Greece. Dr. Maltezou has a solid background in paediatrics, infectious diseases, and public health, including the supervision and development of policy-relevant research in the field of vaccine-preventable diseases, health-care associated infections, infection control and emerging infectious diseases among others. Dr Maltezou received her medical diploma at University of Crete, Greece, her post-doctoral fellowship at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, her training in pediatrics at P. and A. Kyriakou Children Hospital, Athens, Greece, and her training in infectious diseases at University of Aix-Marseille in Marseille, France. Milestones of her research career include the study of Q fever in children, occupational vaccinations of healthcare personnel, and influenza vaccination of pregnant women.

Connie Walyaro, Kenya

Constance Georgina Walyaro is a Global Public Health Specialist with considerable experience in Antimicrobial/Antibiotic Resistance (AMR/ABR), Primary Health Care (PHC) and Universal Health Coverage (UHC). She’s the Executive Director of Talk AB[M]R - Talking Resistance and a Thematic Expert for SDGs Goals 1, 3, 5 and 13 for the UN Global Partnership for SDGs - Legal-and-Economic-Empowerment-Network. She’s been involved in the development and domestication of the WHO Global Action Plan on AMR, and helped push for greater emphasis of AMR/ABR in SDG3. She’s provided technical support to FAO/WHO Codex Coordinating Committee Africa; and the Regional Meeting on Global Health Diplomacy in East and Southern Africa (ESA), for the East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community, and the Regional Network for Equity in Health ESA, in preparation for World Health Assembly. She’s also supported the Governments of Ghana, Thailand, UK, Wellcome Trust/Fleming Fund, WHO, OIE, FAO, others, in the development and implementation of the Ghana Declaration Call to Action on AMR. Additionally, Connie also helped establish ReAct Africa, served as its Communication Coordinator for Africa; championed AMR/ABR action and awareness as Co-Chair of the Advocacy and Awareness subcommittee of the National Antimicrobial Stewardship Advisory Committee (NASAC) - Ministry of Health KE; and further in collaborations with CDDEP-GARP (Global Antibiotic Resistance Partnership) ‘State of the Worlds Antibiotics’ and others.