Committees
Meet the committees and working groups supporting the event.
Conference Steering Committee
Marietjie Venter
President
Conference Chair, WSV-President, Infectious disease and oncology research institute, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
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Maria Söderlund-Venermo
Past President
President of the World Society for Virology - Conference Co-Chair, Faculty of Medicine Helsinki University, Finland
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Luis Menéndez-Arias
President - Elect
Luis Menéndez-Arias is a Research Professor of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spanish National Research Council) and Group Leader at the Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa in Madrid, where he has been working since 1994.
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Ahmed S. Abdel-Moneim
Founder of the World Society for Virology
Founder of the World Society for Virology - Head of the Conference Scientific Committee
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Michael Nevels
Secretary – Elect
Dr Michael M Nevels worked as WSV secretary from 2020-2022, and WSV Treasurer – Elect [Europe] from 2022-2024.
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Felicity Burt
Head of Membership Review Committee
Professor Felicity Burt (PhD, Medical Virology, WITS) is jointly appointed as a Principal Medical Scientist in the Division of Virology, NHLS and Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS), South Africa.
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Christopher Logue
Head of Training and Career Developing Committee
As head of the International Training at the Novel and Dangerous Pathogens team at the UK Health Security Agency, Dr Logue leads a team of dedicated scientists and educators in the development and delivery of microbiology laboratory training for UKHSA and global partners.
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Colin R. Parrish
Vice President - North America
Colin R. Parrish, Ph.D. is the John M. Olin Professor of Virology in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University.
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Richard J. Kuhn
Conference Co-Chair
WSV-Last President, Conference Co-Chair, Krenicki Family Director, Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease at Purdue University, USA
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Alessand Scagliarini
Vice President - Europe
Alessandra Scagliarini graduated in Veterinary Medicine, PhD in Epidemiology and Control of Zoonotic Diseases and Full Professor at the Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences at the University of Bologna.
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Khatijah Yusoff
Vice President – Asia
Professor Emeritus Datin Paduka Dr. Khatijah Yusoff is one of Malaysia’s most distinguished scientists, renowned for her pioneering research on the Newcastle disease virus (NDV), transformative national service, and lifelong commitment to mentoring and scientific leadership.
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Emma Poole
Deputy of Training and Career Development Committee
Emma Poole is a Senior Research Associate and a bye-fellow at the University of Cambridge.
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Georgina Odaibo
Vice President – Africa
Georgina Odaibo is a Professor of Virology and a 3-term Head of the Department of Virology, University of Ibadan (UI), Nigeria, with over 30 years of teaching/research experience.
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Allison Imrie
Vice President - Australia/New Zealand
Dr Allison Imrie obtained her PhD at the University of New South Wales, Australia.
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Francisco Murilo Zerbini
President of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses(ICTV)
WSV-Council Member, President of the ICTV, Professor of Virology, Federal University of Viçosa (UFV) Brazil
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Zhengli Shi
WSV-Council Member
WSV-Council Member, a senior scientist at the Guangzhou Laboratory, China
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Michael Kann
President of the European Society for Virology.
WSV-Council Member, President of the European Society for Virology, Professor of Virology at the Institute of Biomedicine, Göteborg, Sweden
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Ali Mirazimi
President of the Swedish Society for Virology
WSV-Council Member, President of the Swedish Society for Virology, Adjunct Professor Department of Clinical Microbiology, the Karolinska Institute, Sweden
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Janusz Tadeusz Paweska
WSV-Council Member
Profesor of Virology, the Centre for Emerging Zoonotic and Parasitic Diseases at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases-NHLS, the head of the WHO Regional Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers and Arboviruses
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Flor H. Pujol
WSV-Council Member
Professor of Virology at the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC), President of the IVIC Researchers’ Association; Member of the Venezuelan Academy of Physical, Mathematical and Natural Sciences, Member of the Latin American Academy of Sciences.
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Anupam Varma
WSV-Council Member
WSV-Council Member, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, India
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William C. Wilson
WSV-Head of Membership Review Committee
WSV-Head of Membership Review Committee, USDA, ARS, ABADRU, Manhattan, USA
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Burtram Fielding
WSV-Member
Dean of College of Science, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
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Vikram N. Vakharia
WSV-Council Member
WSV-Council Member, Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA
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Sayed Abdelwahab
WSV-Secretary
WSV-Secretary, College of Pharmacy, Taif University, Saudi Arabia
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Matthew D. Moore
WSV-Treasurer
WSV-Treasurer, College of Natural Sciences, University of Massachesseute, Amherst, USA
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Yashpal Malik
WSV-Secretary Elect
WSV-Secretary Elect, Dean, College of Biotechnology, GADVASU Ludhiana, Punjab, India
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Shailendra K Saxena
WSV-Deputy of Membership Review Committee
WSV-Deputy of Membership Review Committee, King George\’s Medical University, Lucknow, India
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Stephan Winter
WSV-Vice President-Europe
WSV-Vice President-Europe, The Head of the Plant Virus Department and Chief Plant Virologist at the Leibniz Institute-DSMZ, German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures.
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El-Sayed M. Abdelwhab
WSV-Head of Training and Career Development Committee
WSV-Head of Training and Career Development Committee, Head of Avian Influenza Virus Laboratory, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Germany
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Prof. Kyoko Tsukiyama-Kohara
WSV-Council Member
The director of Transboundary Animal Diseases Center, Joint Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kagoshima University
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Susana López
WSV-Vice President- Latin America
WSV-Vice President- Latin America, Institute of Biotechnology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico
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Abdellouaheb Benani
WSV-Vice President-Africa
WSV-Vice President-Africa, Molecular Biology Laboratory at the Pasteur Institute of Morocco
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Mariana Baz
WSV-Vice President - North America
WSV-Vice President - North America, Canada Research Chair in Pre-Pandemic and Pandemic Viruses and Therapeutic Strategies, Laval University, Canada
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