Christopher Fairley
Christopher Fairley is Director of the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre and Professor of Public Health at Monash University. He holds three specialist medical fellowships from the College of Physicians (Infectious Diseases), Faculty of Public Health and Chapter of Sexual Health Medicine. He is an editor of the Journal ‘Sexual Health’. His principle research interests are the public health control of sexually transmitted diseases and the effectiveness of clinical services. He has been on the scientific organising committee for many international meetings and given plenaries, debates and symposia. He is president elect for the Chapter of Sexual Health Medicine,
In 2018 he was awarded an AO, the FRACP Eric Susman prize and elected to the Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences in recognition for his work.
Lisa Manhart
Lisa Manhart, PhD is a Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Washington (UW) and Associate Dean for Research at the UW School of Public Health. Her principle research interests include the clinical epidemiology of Mycoplasma genitalium, the etiology of male urethritis, and the sociobehavioral epidemiology of sexually transmitted infections. In 2017 she was received the Achievement Award from the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association, and in 2018 she received the Peter Hannan Award for outstanding research in clinical Mycoplasmology. She also serves on the editorial board for Sexually Transmitted Disease and for Clinical Infectious Diseases. In addition to her research, she is actively involved in teaching and mentoring at the University of Washington.
TRACK CHAIRS
Helen Fifer
Dr Helen Fifer is a Consultant Microbiologist in Public Health England, where she is the clinical lead for GRASP and the Mycoplasma genitalium Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Programme. She is the lead author of the 2019 UK Gonorrhoea management guideline as well as the editor for the 2018 UK Mycoplasma genitalium management guideline.
Patricia J Garcia
Dr. Patty J. García, is a Professor at the School of Public Health at Cayetano Heredia University (UPCH) in Lima-Peru and member of the US National Academy of Medicine. She is the former Minister of Health of Peru, former Dean of the School of Public Health at UPCH, and former Chief of the Peruvian National Institute of Health (INS). She is recognized as a leader in Global Health. She is affiliate Professor of the Department of Global Health, at University of Washington and of the School of Public Health at Tulane University. She is actively involved in research and training in Global health, Reproductive health, STI/HIV, HPV and medical informatics. Dr. Garcia is also a member of the United States National Academy of Medicine, the first Peruvian professional with such a distinction.
Jeffrey Klausner
Jeffrey D. Klausner, MD, MPH, is a Professor of Preventive Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. Dr. Klausner currently directs a clinical research lab and serves as the Principal Investigator on several NIH-funded clinical research studies on STI testing and prevention globally. Dr. Klausner earned his Medical Degree from Cornell University Medical College and his Master’s in Public Health with a focus on International Health and Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Klausner’s research interests are in applied epidemiology and the prevention and control of infectious diseases of public health importance like HIV, STDs, SARS-CoV-2, TB, and cryptococcus.
Mirjam Kretzschmar
Mirjam Kretzschmar is a professor for Dynamics of Infectious Diseases at the University Medical Center of Utrecht University, in Utrecht, The Netherlands. She uses mathematical modelling to understand the dynamics of infectious diseases in populations. Her research interest is in dynamic networks and how they shape the epidemiology of STI and HIV. She has published on modelling impact of interventions for HIV, chlamydia, and more recently for COVID-19.
Jonathan Ross
Jonathan Ross is Professor of Sexual Health and HIV in Birmingham, UK. His research interests relate to gonorrhoea, Mycoplasma genitalium, pelvic inflammatory disease, bacterial vaginosis and the delivery of sexual health services. He is a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) journal library editor and treasurer of the International Union against Sexually Transmitted Infections. He is an associate editor of the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections, a member of the editorial board for the European Sexually Transmitted Diseases Guidelines, and on the NIHR Funding Committee for commissioned research calls. Professor Ross is the author of UK and European Guidelines on Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, and he has written a number of chapters on pelvic infection for medical textbooks. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Cochrane Collaboration Sexually Transmitted Diseases Collaborative Review Group, and the International Journal of STD and AIDS journal.
Joe Tucker
Joe Tucker, MD, PhD, AM is an infectious diseases physician interested in syphilis, crowdsourcing, open innovation, China, and public engagement in research. He has a special interest in mentorship and has academic appointments at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Track Members
BASIC SCIENCE TRACK MEMBERS (CHAIR: HELEN FIFER)
Jorgen Jensen Consultant Microbiologist at Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen. >25 years working with STIs, in particular Mycoplasma genitalium. He has been part of the European STI Guidelines Project Editorial Board since 2006 and was the lead author on the M. genitalium guideline.
Emma Harding-Esch Associate Professor and Chief Scientist for Tropical Data at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Previously Senior Trials Coordinator for the eSTI2 Consortium (St George’s, University of London) and Programme Manager and Epidemiology Lead for the Applied Diagnostic Research and Evaluation Unit, conducting diagnostic evaluations to assess the performance, clinical and public health impacts of novel diagnostic technologies for STIs.
Kate Templeton Consultant Clinical Scientist, University of Edinburgh and Director of the Scottish Bacterial Sexually Transmitted Infections Reference Laboratory. Main research focus is on clinically useful molecular diagnostics and molecular epidemiology. In 2006 she was awarded the Abbott Diagnostic prize from European Society for Virology (ESCV) for her original contributions in the area of viral diagnosis.
Irene Martin Head of the STI Reference Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada. She runs the Canadian Programme for Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance in gonorrhoea, and developed the global database NG-STAR (Neisseria gonorrhoeae sequence typing of antimicrobial resistance), and has authored over 70 publications.
Dr. David Fredricks studies the human microbiome — which includes the trillions of tiny organisms that live in and on us — to determine how changes in these microbial communities affect our health. His research has focused on organisms associated with bacterial vaginosis, a common but little-understood condition that increases the risk of preterm birth, pelvic inflammatory disease, HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Dr. Fredricks’ team also studies the impact of microbial communities on the outcomes of patients who receive blood stem cell transplants. His research shows that the makeup of gut bacterial populations can vary significantly among patients after antibiotic treatment, and analysis of these patterns might help predict the risk of graft-vs.-host disease, a potentially deadly transplant complication. He leads the Microbiome Research Initiative, a cross-disciplinary effort at Fred Hutch to deepen understanding of the effects of microbial communities on human health.or
Prof. Servaas Morré graduated in 1994 at the VU University in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. His PhD was on human urogenital Chlamydia trachomatis infections (VU, Amsterdam). His research is for the major part focused on the immunogenetics and public health genomics aspects of infectious diseases. He is currently working as head of the Laboratory of Immunogenetics (VUmc) and as head of the Institute for Public Health Genomics (PHG). He is working on epidemiology, diagnostics, immunogenetics and valorization of chlamydia trachomatis for more than eightteen years and he has over 150 publications. He worked on different genetic topics including plant genetics, ribosomal RNAs genetics (saccharomyces cerevisiae), Drosophila (Erasmus Fellow, Portugal) and chlamydia in the Netherlands and the USA (van Coeverden Adriani Foundation).
T.C. Yang Syphilis basic scientist: Centre of Clinical Laboratory, Zhongshan Hospital, and Institute of Infectious Disease, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
BEHAVIORAL TRACK MEMBERS (CHAIR: JOE TUCKER)
Abigail Norris Turner Associate Professor, Ohio State, recommended by local committee – More info click here
Jason Ong Sexual health physician at Monash, special interest in behavioral economics. – More info click here
Sevgi Aral CDC senior scientist, extensive research experience in behavior. – More info click here
Katherine Li MGH internal medicine resident, special interest in behavior and STDs. – More info click here
Nathalie Bajos INSERM sociologist, interest in gender and social context. – More info click here
Weiming Tang Southern Medical University epidemiologist, special interest in HIV self-testing and behavioral issues related to HIV prevention. – More info click here
Phyllis Dako-Gyeke University of Ghana senior lecturer, interested in discrimination and IPV in LMICs. – More info click here
Clinical Science Track Members: (Chair: Jonathan Ross)
Ina Park is an associate professor at UCSF who won the ASTDA Young Investigator of the Year award in 2012. She will provide clinical academic input with research interests which include HPV vaccination, guideline development and clinical service delivery. – More info click here
Catriona Bradshaw is associate professor at Monash University. She has a particular interest in M genitalium and bacterial vaginosis with over 200 publications and multiple international collaborations. – More info click here
Matt Golden directs the Seattle & King County HIV/STD Program and is a professor of medicine at the University of Washington. His research includes work related to sexual health service delivery, HIV epidemiology, sexual risk behaviour, HIV partner notification and HIV treatment as prevention. More info click here
Claudia Estcourt is professor of sexual health & HIV at Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland. She has a particular research interest in eHealth and self-managed sexual health care. – More info click here
Lindley Barbee Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Washington and Medical Director, Public Health, Seattle & King County HIV/STD Program. Her current research explores STD self-testing, the natural history of gonorrhoea and chlamydia at the pharynx and the rectum, and new treatments for antimicrobial resistant gonorrhoea.
Khalil Ghanem M.D., is board-certified in internal medicine and adult infectious diseases. His research interests include sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS and the impact of hormonal contraception on the body’s immune responses to these infections. – More info click here
Epidemiology & Monitoring Track Members (Chair: Mirjam Kretzschmar)
Jane Hocking head of the Sexual Health Unit, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Australia. Epidemiology and control of STI, chlamydia screening and prevalence
Kimberley Powers assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Use of epidemiological, statistical and mathematical modeling methods to study HIV transmission, with the overarching goal of informing HIV prevention strategies.
Susan Cassels Assistant Professor, Global Health, Department of Geography, Santa Barbara, California, USA. Migration and sexual health, demography, epidemic modeling, HIV/AIDS, and sexual networks.
Laith Abu-Raddad Associate Professor of Public Health at Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar, Cornell University. Epidemiology, mathematical modeling and biostatistics; HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, hepatitis C virus, tuberculosis. Impact of different interventions against infectious diseases such as vaccines, male circumcision, diagnostics, and drug regimens
Cath Mercer Professor of Sexual Health Science, Infection & Population Health, Institute for Global Health, Faculty of Pop Health Sciences, University College London. Measuring sexual behavior, mixed methods, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV, reproductive health and contraception, and sexual function, as well as health services research questions that seek to improve access to healthcare.
Janneke Heijne Epidemiologist in the STI Epidemiology of the Dutch National Public Health Institute. Expertise in gonorrhea and chlamydia. Focuses on psychological determinants of testing and implications for screening interventions.
Kyle Bernstein Branch Chief, Epidemiology and Statistics Division of STD Prevention, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He is a recognized expert and leader in the field of STI/HIV prevention epidemiologic research and has extensive experience conducting innovative epidemiologic research in both academic and public health practice settings. He leads the epidemiology and statistics branch at the US CDC, and also holds an adjunct faculty appointment at the Emory Rollins School of Public Health.
Policy & Community Engagement (Chair: Patty Garcia)
Sten Vermund is a pediatrician and infectious disease epidemiologist focused on diseases of low and middle income countries. – More info click here
Rosanna Peeling is currently Professor and Chair of Diagnostics Research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Director of the International Diagnostics Centre (IDC). – More info click here
Mark Gilbert research interests include: Development, implementation, evaluation and scale-up of innovative sexual health programs, such as online services including GetCheckedOnline.com. Gay men’s sexual health, including sexual health literacy. Using integrated data sources to better describe the synergistic an integrated dynamics of infectious diseases, mental illness and other conditions. – More info click here
Ruanne Barnabas is an Associate Professor in Global Health and Medicine at the University of Washington and affiliate at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. She is a South African Physician-Epidemiologist. – More info click here
Xiang-Sheng Chen National Center for STD Control, China Center for Disease Control, Nanjing, China. – More info click here
Adelle Benzaken Director of the HIV STI program in Brazil for more than 8 years. – More info click here
Implementation Science Track (Chair: Jeffrey Klausner)
Chris Kenyon MBChB, PhD, Institute of Tropical Medicine STI/HIV Unit, Antwerp Infectious Diseases epidemiologist.
Rebecca Guy PhD, Professor and Program Head, Sexual Health Program, Surveillance Evaluation and Research Program, Kirby Institute, Sydney, Australia Infectious Diseases epidemiologist.
Pingyu Zhou MD PhD, Head Department of STD Institute, Shanghai Skin Disease and STD Hospital Infectious Diseases clinician and epidemiologist.
Remco Peters MD PhD, Co-Director, STI/HIV Research Unit, Foundation for Professional Development, South Africa and Associate Professor University of Witswatersrand Infectious Diseases clinician and epidemiologist.
Nicole Dukers-Muijrers PhD Associate Professor Maastricht University, Faculty of Health Medicine and Life Sciences. Infectious Diseases epidemiologist.
Maria Prins PhD Professor of Public Health and Epidemiology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam Head of Research Department on Infectious Diseases at Public Health Service of Amsterdam.
Jean-Michel Molina is Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Paris Diderot – Paris 7, France, and Head of the Infectious Diseases Department at the Saint-Louis Hospital in Paris. – More info click here