Organising Committee
Prof Paddy Mallon, Chair
Professor Paddy Mallon is Professor of Microbial Diseases in University College Dublin (UCD) and an Infectious Diseases Specialist at St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin. He is the director of the newly formed UCD Centre for Experimental Pathogen Host Research (CEPHR), one of the few academic research centres in Europe that integrates host and pathogen research comprising clinical, translational, statistical and biomedical researchers. CEPHR research focuses on chronic viral infections.
CEPHR research highlights include the establishment of the All Ireland ID Cohort, a multi-centre, prospective cohort study focused on subjects with COVID-19 infection, with 12 sites recruiting across Ireland and over 1,100 subjects recruited and biobanked since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Prof Mallon is centrally involved in European clinical, research and policy activities. He chairs the European AIDS Clinical Society Comorbidities Guidelines Panel and is Director of the Wellcome Trust / HRB Irish Clinical Academic Training Programme.
He is the National Coordinator for Ireland in the Vaccelerate Project.
Prof Jane O’Halloran
Prof O’Halloran is a Clinician Scientist, UCD Professor of Infectious Diseases and a consultant in Infectious Diseases at St Vincent’s University Hospital.
In her position as Principal Investigator at UCD Centre for Experimental Pathogen Host Research (CEPHR), Prof O’Halloran specializes in clinical and translational research in infectious diseases including HIV, SARS-CoV-2 and other viral infections, with a special focus on adaptive clinical trials. She is also Chair of the Communication Committee of CEPHR.
She is the UCD coordinator of the Infectious Diseases Clinical Trial Network (ID-CTNI) and the co-director of the All-Ireland Infectious Diseases Cohort which is nested within the ID-CTNI. Furthermore she is co-lead of The Global Viral Ecosystem Research and Preparedness Initiative (VERPI, HORIZON-MSCA-2024-SE-01) that addresses infectious diseases through a One Health framework, facilitating staff exchanges to promote interdisciplinary collaboration and a dynamic, translational approach to research on emerging viral epidemics.
Prof Eoin Feeney
Professor Eoin Feeney is a Consultant Physician in Infectious Diseases at St Vincent University Hospital (SVUH), adjunct Clinical Professor in the UCD School of Medicine and Principal Investigator at UCD Centre for Experimental Pathogen Host Research (CEPHR).
As PI at CEPHR he is Chief Investigator for the MPOX-VAX Ireland study, alongside being a MpoxVax AFRIVAC partner and WP lead, acting as scientific co-lead for the clinical trial that expands the aforementioned Irish MpoxVax trial to Africa. He is also the Clinical Research Lead for CEPHR at SVUH and is site PI for a number of observational studies and clinical trials including SWIFT, MpoxVax, and POPPY. In addition, he is a co-investigator on the All Ireland ID Cohort Study, site PI and work package leader for the HRB-funded National Irish COVID-19 Biobank and site lead for the HRB-funded Infectious Diseases Clinical Trials Network Ireland (ID-CTNI).
Prof Feeney is also co-National Specialty Director in Infectious Diseases Training at the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland.
Prof Stephen Gordon
Prof Stephen Gordon is Professor of Infection Biology at the School of Veterinary Medicine in UCD.
Prof Gordon’s research explores the molecular basis for host-pathogen interaction in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, with a particular focus on the animal-adapted tubercle bacillus Mycobacterium bovis. He is a principal investigator at UCD Centre for Experimental Pathogen Host Research (CEPHR).
Prof Gordon is the director of the UCD Thematic PhD program in Infection Biology since 2008.
Dr Carlos Mejia-Chew
Dr Carlos Mejia-Chew, MD, is an Infectious Disease Specialist at the St. Vincent’s University Hospital (SVUH) in Dublin, where he leads the hospital’s Virtual Ward and OPAT program. Furthermore, he is a Principal Investigator at the Centre for Experimental Pathogen Host Research (CEPHR) and Volunteer Research Assistant Professor at the Washington University in St. Louis.
His research interests focus on Mycobacterial infections, both nontuberculous mycobacteria and tuberculosis. In addition to his clinical work in mycobacterial infections, other areas of interest include OPAT, bone and joint infections, HIV, and clinical trials. He is an associate Deputy Editor at Open Forum Infectious Diseases, the open access journal from the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).
Dr Padraig McGettrick
Dr. Padraig McGettrick is a consultant in Infectious Diseases and General Internal Medicine in the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital. He was awarded a PhD by University College Dublin for his work on inflammatory phenotypes in treated HIV infection and their relationship with co-morbidities, specifically cardiovascular disease. He completed a fellowship in Clinical Immunology in Cambridge University Hospitals, UK and established the Infection in Immunocompromise clinic in MMUH which he runs with his Consultant Immunologist colleague. His research interests include T cell immunity, Inflammatory Phenotyping and comorbidity development in HIV.
Assoc. Prof Aoife Cotter
In post at MMUH since 2016, Associate Professor / Dr. Aoife Cotter is a Consultant in Infectious Diseases with a focus on viral infections and TB and is the Clinical Lead for Blood Borne Viruses at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital.
Areas of research interest include: ageing and comorbidities associated with HIV, implementation science relating to HIV and health associated quality of life, global health and the development of educational tools for vulnerable populations.