Dr Joanne Byrne
Dr. Joanne Byrne graduated in medicine from Trinity College Dublin and is undertaking higher specialist training in infectious diseases. Currently, she is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Experimental Pathogen Host Research at University College Dublin exploring the immune response to mpox infection and vaccination.
Valentin de Masson d’Autume
Valentin de Masson d’Autume is a PhD student specializing in immunology, focusing on reprogramming CD4+ T cell metabolism to support HIV gene expression. From 2020 to 2024, he pursued his doctoral studies, making significant contributions to the understanding of HIV and immune cell metabolism.Valentin completed his undergraduate and master’s degrees in molecular and Cellular Biology with a specialty in Infectiology at University Claude Bernard Lyon 1. He has extensive research experience with various viruses, including the Gypsy virus and Measles virus at CIRI in Lyon, and the Hepatitis E virus at the Pasteur Institute in Lille. Valentin’s work is marked by his dedication to advancing virology and immunology.
Dana Alalwan
Dana Alalwan is a research scientist at the UCD Centre for Experimental Pathogen Host Research (CEPHR), and the lab lead for The National Irish COVID Biobank (NICB). She holds a bachelor’s inbiomedical health and life sciences and a master’s in clinical and diagnostics biochemistry from UCD and is currently researching inflammatory and immune responses in People with HIV for her PhD under the supervision of Prof Paddy Mallon.
Giovanni Villa
Giovanni Villa is a Consultant Physician in Genitourinary Medicine at the GUIDe Clinic, St. James’s Hospital, Dublin, where he runs HIV, STI and PrEP clinics. He has a strong academic background in HIV Medicine. He studied antiretroviral treatment outcomes in programmatic settings in low- and middle-income countries. He is an active member of the British HIV Association and the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV, for which he is part of the writing groups of several clinical guidelines.
Hilary Reno
Hilary Reno, MD, PhD, FIDSA is Professor of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, Division of Infectious Disease. She focuses on the care of people with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV prevention. Her research examines the use of healthcare system data to improve evaluation of sexual health care, center communities most affected by STIs, and affect change on a regional level. Dr. Reno has been the medical director of the St. Louis County Sexual Health clinic for 17 years. She is PI of the St. Louis STI/ HIV Prevention Training Center; co-director of the Public Health Data and Training Center at the Institute for Public Health; a medical consultant with the CDC, Division of STD Prevention; and a co- author of the CDC STI Treatment Guidelines and CDC Doxy-PEP Guidelines. In her spare time, she crochets and sews, spoils her dogs and two sons, and practices yoga.
Dr Liem Binh Luong Nguyen
Dr Liem Binh Luong Nguyen (MD, PhD) is assistant professor in infectious diseases at Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris, Université de Paris Cité. His research focuses on vaccines and cost- effectiveness.
Padraig McGettrick
Dr Padraig McGettrick is a consultant in Infectious Diseases and General Internal Medicine in the Mater Misericordaie University Hospital, Dublin. He was awarded a PhD in HIV medicine by UCD having worked in CEPHR examining inflammatory phenotypes in treated HIV infection and their relationship with co-morbidities, specifically cardiovascular disease. In addition to his work in HIV medicine, he has an interest in Infections in Immunocompromise and the interplay between infections and the hosts immune system.
Annetta Zintl
Annetta Zintl BSc PhD is a zoology graduate of Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, where she also completed her PhD at the Departments of Zoology and Biochemistry. Following this, she worked for several years as a post-doctoral and Newman fellow in the Veterinary Sciences Centre, University College Dublin. Since 2012 she has been teaching immunology and parasitology to veterinary medicine and veterinary nursing students at the UCD School of Veterinary Medicine. Annetta’s research has focused on the epidemiology, detection, transmission and control of various parasites with the chief aim of investigating their importance for animal and/or human health in Ireland. More recently she has become more interested in exploring their impact in conversations with students, vets and farmers.
Dr Marta Diaz
Dr Marta Diaz MD, PhD, specialist in internal medicine, infectious diseases and tropical diseases. I have worked in several African countries and am currently the Head of the National Referral Centre for tropical and travel medicine at Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid (Spain).
Assoc Prof Martin Hoenigl
Martin Hoenigl, M.D., Ass. Prof is an Associate Professor of Translational Mycology at the Division of Infectious Diseases, Medical University of Graz, Austria. He has obtained his venia docendi in internal medicine in 2012, and is author to over 300 pub med listed publications in the field of infectious diseases, the majority in leading authorships. Dr. Hoenigl has particular expertise in conducting research on clinical mycology, including fungal diagnostics and pharmacology of antifungal drugs and correlation with clinical findings. He is the current president of the European Confederation of Medical Mycology (ECMM), and the delegate of the Austrian Society for Medical Mycology (OEGMM). Dr Hoenigl is also the founder of the ECMM Academy (together with Prof Cornely) and serves as an associate editor for the journal Mycoses and deputy editor of Mycopathologia.
