Dr. Angela Ikeme holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree with an emphasis in Executive Leadership and a master’s in nursing education. She holds a California Registered Nurse License and has spent over 33 years in clinical and administrative nursing. She is an Adjunct Faculty at the University of San Francisco, California, a Clinical Nurse Leader, aco-founder and the Executive Provost of Merit College of Nursing Sciences in Nigeria. She is an advocate for high-quality education for nurses, ensuring that nurses learn and provide evidence-based, quality, and safe patient care, an advocate for equity and social justice, a mentor, an inspirational speaker, and a published author. She is committed to building community through partnership and collaboration. She is an enthusiastic and authentic leader with a strong passion and respect for others. She is a co-author of “Voices of Triumph: Stories of African Women Immigrants in America. Dr. Ikeme belongs to several professional and community organizations, such as the American Nurses Association, the National Association of Nigerian Nurses in North America, Registered Nurses Professional Association, Nigerian Igbo Catholic Community of San Jose, and the Sigma Theta Tau International Honors Society, etc.

Prof. Rouse is a native of England where he completed his education through a BVSc honors degree. Graduate education in Canada with MSc in Virology and PhD in immunology Postdoctoral fellowship at Walter and Eliza Hall of Medical Research in Melbourne Australia in Cellular Immunology 1970-72.Established research Program at University of Saskatchewan on Viral immunology supported by Medical Research Council of Canada. Moved to College of Veterinary Medicine University of Tennessee in 1977 where he remains as the Lindsay Young Distinguished Professor. Took several mainly sabbaticals, including one with Peter Doherty (another veterinarian) in Canberra and Hermann Wagner for one year in Mainz, Germany Worked on the immunology of herpes virus infections supported continuously by multiple NIH grants until the lad was closed in Dec 2022.Published >470 research articles and reviews with and h index 91 and won several Research Achievement awards. Trained 80 PhD and postdoctoral fellows most of whom he stays in contact and occasionally writes reviews on topics in Viral Immunology.

Prof. Dr. Ljudmila Stojanovich, MD, PhD, FRCP, is a prominent specialist in autoimmune rheumatic diseases, focusing on Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS), and vaccination in autoimmune patients. She earned her Ph.D. in 1999 with a thesis on neuropsychiatric manifestations in SLE. Prof. Stojanovich has published over 250 scientific papers and three monographs, contributing extensively to autoimmune disease research. She serves on the editorial boards of leading journals, including Lupus (London) and The Journal of Rheumatology, and is Associate Editor for Frontiers in Medicine and Frontiers in Immunology. She is involved in international research collaborations, such as EULAR initiatives on vaccination and APS management. Prof. Stojanovich has been a speaker, chair, and organizer at numerous international conferences, including the 12th European Forum on Antiphospholipid Antibodies. Her work has earned her an h-index of 36 and over 5,000 citations, reflecting her global impact in rheumatology.

Dr. De-chu Chris Tang is the Founder CEO of VaxDome Inc. He and his associates were the first to have developed DNA vaccines, skin-patch vaccines, antiviral/vaccine hybrids and in vivo cytotoxicity assay, etc. Dr. Tang obtained his PhD degree from Indiana University. He founded Vaxin Inc. when he was an assistant professor at University of Alabama at Birmingham. VaxDome Inc. is located on University of North Texas Health Science Center campus, with a focus on the development of an antiviral vaccine/vaccine potentiator package without constraints imposed by viral mutations; as well as a tissue resident cellular immunity assay with missing-in-action T cells excluded.

Naoki Ikegami is Professor Emeritus at Keio University, Tokyo. He was Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Keio School of Medicine, from which he received his MD and PhD. He also received a Master of Arts with Distinction in health services studies from Leeds University (United Kingdom). He has been a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and Medical School, and President of the Japan Society of Healthcare Administration and the Japan Health Economics Association.

Dr. Monika Derecque-Pois has over 35 years of experience in the healthcare sector. After earning her Master’s degree from the University of Economics in Vienna, she began her career at IQVIA Austria as a client account and marketing manager. She later moved to Brussels, where she worked in healthcare policy and European affairs consulting. Monika served for 22 years as Director General of GIRP, the European Healthcare Distribution Association, before returning to consultancy, advising various boards in the healthcare industry. In autumn 2024, she co-founded the Healthcare Chain Institute (HCI) alongside three colleagues, serving as a key driver of this international non-profit organization dedicated to transforming the healthcare value chain through digitalization, sustainability, and stakeholder collaboration.

Senior Health Policy Advisor with over 40 years of experience in health and medicine policy across developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. My work spans access to health technologies, infectious diseases (including COVID-19, HIV/AIDS, mpox, Ebola), UHC and MCH, health financing and delivery, non-communicable diseases, and gender equity. I currently serve as Policy Lead at the People’s Medicine Alliance, key advisor to NGO board members of UNITAID, board member at Health Action International, and a member of WHO’s COVID-19 Ethics & Governance Expert Group. From 2021 to early 2025, I was a senior consultant for UNAIDS. I have collaborated with WHO, UNAIDS, Global Fund, UNITAID, MPP, World Bank, governments, and pharmaceutical companies. I have authored publications on equitable access to medicines, vaccines, and healthcare, and produced Arabic podcasts to counter COVID-19 misinformation. My work integrates human rights, civil society engagement, and global health governance, including on the Pandemic Accord.

Dr. Karin Kanewske Turner (Birnie), MBA, MPH, is a distinguished global health expert currently serving as Board Advisor and Senior Consultant for HALO Research, the Unitaid Board NGO Delegation, and multiple global health organizations. She provides strategic leadership on governance, innovation, digital health, and pandemic preparedness. Previously, she was Chief Growth Officer at The Aurum Institute in South Africa, where she led growth strategies and expanded global operations. She also directed Aurum’s International Division, managing multi-country programs across Africa, Asia, and the United States. Earlier, Karin served as Global Business Development Director at BroadReach Corporation and spent over 12 years with USAID in Washington DC, Southern Africa, and Mozambique, leading major initiatives in HIV, TB, and health systems strengthening. She has collaborated extensively with Ministries of Health, civil society, and global donors, and has also worked with the World Bank and the United Nations. Karin holds an Executive MBA, an MPH, and a BA in Molecular Biology/Biochemistry.

Dr. Daphne E Holt joined the world of charity management in 1999 after 30 years in medical research and education. After working for 10 years on international development for the Meningitis Trust (UK) Daphné joined the Confederation of Meningitis Organisations (CoMO) in 2009 as executive director. Daphné subsequently became a member of the Governing Council of CoMO in 2011 and it’s Vice President for Europe and Africa, posts that she held until December 2017 when she retired to help found the Coalition for Life-course Immunisation (CLCI) and become its Chair. Daphne is a member of the editorial board of Vaccines Today and is generally active in the world of vaccines advocacy.

Dr. Palmy Jesudhasan is a leading Research Microbiologist at the USDA ARS Poultry Production and Product Safety Research Unit, dedicated to groundbreaking solutions for controlling human foodborne and poultry pathogens. He is recognized as the first to apply electron beam (eBeam) technology for vaccine development, pioneering a transformative approach to disease control in poultry. His innovative eBeam-inactivated vaccine platform has yielded a patented Salmonella vaccine and a provisional patent for an eBeam-inactivated Staphylococcus vaccine, specifically designed to combat bacterial-induced lameness in broiler chickens. Further extending this cutting-edge approach, he has also developed eBeam-inactivated vaccines against Clostridium perfringens, Mycoplasma, and avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC). Dr. Jesudhasan's research further integrates genomic innovations, including CRISPR/Cas9, to enhance these novel vaccine strategies and explore DNA and protein vaccines for both bacterial and viral pathogens impacting poultry and fish health. With a prolific publication record in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters, Dr. Jesudhasan's research bridges advanced molecular biology with practical, impactful disease prevention, continually pushing the boundaries of food safety and animal health through the power of eBeam technology.

Dr. Idress Hamad Attitalla is a Libyan professor of molecular evolution and microbiology with over three decades of academic, administrative, and research experience. Born in Tripoli, Libya, in 1969, he earned his BSc in Biology from Omar Al-Mukhtar University (Libya), MSc and Licentiate in Plant Biology from Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet (Sweden), and a PhD in Molecular Evolution from Uppsala University. Dr. Attitalla is a specialist in plant biology, mycology, bacteriology, and microbial defense mechanisms in plants. He has held multiple leadership roles including Head of the Department of Plant Sciences and Dean at various faculties at Omar Al-Mukhtar University. He has published over 60 peer-reviewed articles indexed in Scopus, ISI, and PubMed, and served as an editor or reviewer for numerous international scientific journals. His teaching portfolio spans molecular biology, genomics, microbiology, and biotechnology at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Dr. Attitalla has supervised and examined multiple MSc and PhD theses globally, and actively participates in international conferences and scientific committees.

Dr. Bernd Blobel studied Mathematics, Technical Cybernetics and Electronics, Bio-Cybernetics, Physics, Medicine and Informatics at the University of Magdeburg and other universities in the former GDR. He received his PhD in Physics with a neurophysiological study. Furthermore, he performed the Habilitation (qualification as university professor) in Medicine and Informatics. He was Head of the Institute for Biometrics and Medical Informatics at the University of Magdeburg, and thereafter Head of the Health Telematics Project Group at the Fraunhofer IIS in Erlangen. Thereafter, he acted until his retirement as Head of the German National eHealth Competence Center at the University of Regensburg as well as Head of the globally unique International Interdisciplinary PhD and PostDoc College. He was and is still leadingly involved in many countries health digitalization as well as electronic health record strategy. He published more than 600 papers, published/edited many books and supervised a big number of PhD students from all around the world. He was German Representative to many SDOs such as HL7, ISO, CEN, OMG, IEEE, ASTM, SNOMED, etc., also chairing the national mirror groups. Furthermore, he still engaged in international higher education.