IMRP speakers

Join us as we bring together leading experts, researchers, and industry pioneers from around the world for the 8th ISIRV-AVG Meeting & 3rd IMRP 2025. This year’s distinguished lineup features some of the most influential voices in the field of respiratory virus research, antiviral strategies, and pandemic preparedness.

The below speakers will be partaking in the 3rd IMRP Meeting.

IMRP Speakers

John Arputhan Abisheganaden

Professor John Abisheganaden is Chief and Senior Consultant at Health Services and Outcomes Research (HSOR), National Healthcare Group (NHG). He holds a Fellowship from the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh UK; a MMED (Internal Medicine) from NUS Singapore, as well as a FAMS (Respiratory Med) from the Academy of Medicine Singapore. He is also a Senior Consultant Respiratory & Critical Care Physician at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. He leads the HSOR team in population decision analytics and operations research, implementation and outcomes evaluation, as well as health system performance and sustainability. He is also chair of the NHG Respiratory Health Steering Committee, and also a lead clinician for NHG’s Value-Based Care work.

Tristan Clark

Tristan Clark is a Professor and Honorary Consultant in Infectious Diseases at the University of Southampton and University Hospitals Southampton NHS trust. His research involves the assessment of diagnostic accuracy, usability, and clinical impact of novel rapid diagnostic tests for infections. He has been awarded grant funding from NIHR, Research Councils, EU, and Industry and has published results of his trials in The New England Journal of Medicine and Lancet series journals. During the COVID-19 pandemic he has acted as an advisor to the UK Department of Health and Social Care. The aim of his research is to improve patient care and experience through the evidence-based use of rapid diagnostic tests for infection.

Benjamin Cowling

Prof Cowling is currently a Professor in the WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control at the School of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong, and a member of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at Harvard School of Public Health. He is a consultant for the World Health Organisation and serves on the editorial boards of Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, PLoS ONE and PLoS Currents: Outbreaks. In 2015 he was awarded a Croucher Senior Research Fellowship for his work on influenza virus epidemiology. Prof Cowling conducts research into the epidemiology of influenza and other respiratory viruses. His research team has characterized how easily seasonal and pandemic influenza viruses can spread in households, and the measures which can reduce transmission such as face masks and improved hand hygiene. His recent research has focused on the effectiveness of influenza vaccines and the complex transmission dynamics of respiratory viruses. He has authored more than 270 peer-reviewed publications.

Stephanie Goya

Dr. Stephanie Goya is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington, where she leads genomic studies on respiratory viruses including RSV, metapneumovirus, rhinoviruses, and seasonal coronaviruses. With a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires, her expertise spans viral genomics, molecular diagnostics, and public health surveillance. Dr. Goya has contributed to global efforts in genomic data standardization as a Data Scientist for GISAID and served as an external expert for the WHO on RSV surveillance. She also leads the International RSV Genotyping Consortium and is actively involved in teaching and mentoring in the fields of bioinformatics and molecular virology.

Shamez Ladhani

Prof Shamez Ladhani PhD MRCPCH(UK) MSc(distinction) MBBS(hons) BSc(hons) is a paediatric infectious diseases consultant at St. George's Hospital, professor of paediatric infectious diseases and vaccinology at St. George's University of London and consultant epidemiologist at UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), where he is the clinical lead for a number of national vaccine preventable infections, including Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Neisseria meningitidis, which are all major causes of childhood bacterial meningitis. He completed his medical training at Guy's and St. Thomas's Hospitals, London, and then worked in a children's hospital in rural Kenya. Upon returning to London, he obtained his PhD in genetic epidemiology and vaccine failure in children and completed his specialist paediatric infectious diseases training at St. George's and Great Ormond Street Hospitals, London. In the current pandemic, he is the clinical lead for of SARS-CoV-2 in Children at UKHSA. His work has focused on national surveillance of SARS-CoV-2, PIMS-TS and long COVID, immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 in children compared to adults as well as infection, transmission and outbreaks in educational settings and COVID-19 vaccines for children. He has published extensively in the field of paediatric infectious diseases and vaccine-preventable infections.

Vernon Lee

Prof Vernon Lee, a preventive medicine physician, has a distinguished record in globalhealth, focusing on pandemic preparedness, infectious disease epidemiology, andhealth policy. His pivotal role in Singapore's COVID-19 strategy and his response to theSARS, influenza, and Zika outbreaks highlight his contributions.Prof Lee's previous positions as Advisor to the WHO's Assistant Director-General,Medical Epidemiologist in WHO Country OƯice in Indonesia, and Head of the SingaporeArmed Forces' Biodefence Centre, demonstrate his global health security expertise. Hecontinues to serve on expert committees at the international level.A proponent of evidence-based health policy, Prof Lee has authored around 200scientific papers featured in NEJM, JAMA, and Lancet. He maintains an adjunctprofessorship at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health in Singapore.His academic achievements include an MBBS from the National University ofSingapore, a PhD in epidemiology from the Australian National University, and MPH andMBA degrees from Johns Hopkins University.

Javier Martin

Javier is a Principal Scientist at MHRA South Mimms where he leads the Polio Laboratory Group. He completed his Ph.D. studies at the Universidad Autonoma, Madrid, Spain, successfully developing a novel technique to generate genetically modified synthetic influenza viruses used to develop prospective synthetic vaccines. Javier then spent four years as a postdoctoral scientist at the National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, London UK, where he continued his work on influenza virus. He moved to the NIBSC, now MHRA, in 1998 where he is the Head of the WHO Polio Global Specialized Laboratory supporting the WHO Global Polio Eradication Initiative both on disease surveillance and vaccine control, standardization and development.