VCM 2020

Thorbald van Hall received his PhD in 2000 from Leiden University on tumor immunology under supervision of Kees Melief and was visiting scientist at the Karolinska Institute in 2005. His main research interest centers around immune escape mechanisms of cancers and his group identified a new category of cancer antigens: TEIPP. These CD8 T-cell antigens are of non-mutated self-origin and emerge on tumors with deficiencies in their antigen processing machinery. A second research theme is the HLA-E/NKG2A axis in escape of cancers.

David A. Reardon, MD, is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and currently serves as Clinical Director of the Center for Neuro-Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He previously served as the Associate Deputy Director of the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University Medical Center for eleven years. He completed his residency at John Hopkins Hospital in Maryland, USA and was awarded a fellowship at the University of Michigan. Dr. Reardon is an active researcher with special interests in the design and implementation of clinical trials for neuro-oncology and the preclinical evaluation of promising therapeutics for central nervous system tumors. His work includes using innovative clinical therapeutic agents to improve outcome for patients with brain and spinal tumors, with particular focus on immunotherapeutics. He has also led investigations of molecular-targeting agents, anti-angiogenic reagents, cytotoxins and other biologically-based therapies. Dr. Reardon has published over 300 peer-reviewed manuscripts. He received the R. Wayne Rundles Award for Excellence in Cancer Research as well as the Award for Excellence in Adult Clinical Research by the Society for Neuro-Oncology in 2015 and 2016. He also served as the tenth president of the Society for Neuro- Oncology from 2013-2015.

Benoit Callendret is a Doctor in Veterinary Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy in Molecular Virology who is currently working as a Compound Development Team Leader (CDTL) at Janssen Vaccines in Leiden, the Netherlands. He completed his D.V.M. at the Toulouse Veterinary School, France and obtained is veterinary thesis in 2002 focusing experimental infection of calves with bovine RSV. He then obtained his PhD in 2007 from the University of Paris 7 and Institut Pasteur de Paris, working on the evaluation of multiple vaccine strategies against the coronavirus associated with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). From 2007 to 2012, he worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Nationwide Children's Hospital and Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, USA, studying immunology and therapeutic vaccination approaches against chronic Hepatitis C Virus. He has extensive experience in virology, immunology and research methodology.
Dr Callendret joined Janssen Vaccines in March 2012, first in charge of the preclinical development of multivalent filovirus vaccines. From August 2014, Benoit was appointed CDTL for the Janssen monovalent Ebola vaccine development in response to the global crisis. With his cross-functional team, he was responsible for the design and implementation of the cross-functional development strategy for this vaccine and managed to clear the licensure regulatory pathway and secure funding for late stage development for this program. His responsibilities expanded to interactions with international stakeholders such as WHO, GAVI, BARDA and NIH. Since December 2016, Benoit is the CDTL for the two Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccine programs, in charge of the global development of RSV vaccines for older adults and pediatric population.

Geraldine Taylor (BSc, PhD) is an Honorary Fellow at The Pirbright Institute and is a Jenner Investigator (https://www.jenner.ac.uk/home). Previously, as Head of the Vaccinology group, her research interests included the study of mechanisms of immunity to and pathogenesis of a number of economically important virus infections of livestock, with the ultimate aim of developing novel vaccines. The main focus of her research is bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV), which is an important cause of pneumonia in young calves and which is closely related to human RSV, a major cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in young children.
These studies have included characterisation of the protective antigens of RSV, the role of antibodies and T cells in RSV infection, and the molecular determinants of virulence of BRSV in calves. Recent studies have exploited the calf model of BRSV infection for the development of an adenovirus-vectored for the development of human RSV vaccines; and have demonstrated that a vaccine composed of a stabilised prefusion form of the BRSV F protein is safe and induces significant protection against BRSV in calves.

Emilie Karafillakis is a research fellow with the Vaccine Confidence Project, leading the group’s research on vaccine confidence in Europe. She has a background in public health, infectious disease control, and health systems and policies and holds a Masters degree in the Control of Infectious Diseases from LSHTM. Her research focuses on understanding reasons behind low confidence in vaccination in different populations, including healthcare workers, the growing role of social media, and strategies to effectively address concerns about vaccination.