Author: admin_icpic

World Health Organization

Professor Hanan Balkhy graduated from King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1991. She completed her paediatric residency training at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston USA 1993-1996; followed by a paediatric infectious diseases fellowship from 1996-1999 from the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Prior to her appointment with WHO, she was the Executive Director, Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) at the Ministry of National Guard for 10 years and prior to that, the hospital epidemiologist for 10 years. She also led the establishment of the infectious diseases research department at King Abdulla International Research Centre at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Professor Balkhy has over 200 publications in peer-reviewed journals. Professor Balkhy has served on many WHO committees including: the Advisory Group on Integrated Surveillance and Antimicrobial Resistance (AGISAR), the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (STAG-AMR), the International Health Regulations review committee (IHR-RC) and the most recent Interagency Coordination Group committee for AMR. She has received two research awards from her institution acknowledging her leading role in her field including the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) Fellows honorary title.

Doctors 2.0 Event Consultancy

Denise Silber, emcee, speaker, digital opinion leader, and communicator is the founder of Doctors 2.0 event consultancy in Paris, providing innovative programs, speakers, and start-up challenges to medical audiences. An international eHealth pioneer for the past 20+ years, Denise applies her communication and event expertise to the support of digital innovation, patient engagement, and the 21st century physician-patient relationship., A Smith College graduate in political science and Harvard MBA, Denise was awarded France’s Legion of Honor in 2011 and in 2018 was named one of the 50 most inspiring women in tech in France. As Vice-president of the Harvard Club of France, she organizes events on social justice, science, history, and culture.

University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, NL

Prof. Dr. Alex W. Friedrich (48) is head of the department and Chair of Medical Microbiology and Infection Prevention at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) in the Netherlands. He coordinates large international and cross border research networks for the prevention of infections due to antimicrobial resistant microorganisms (http://www.eurhealth-1health.eu; http://mrsa-net.org; http://www.health-i-care.eu). Furthermore, he implemented a vivid full-area regional network for the prevention of infections caused by MDRO (www.remis-plus.net).
His research focus lies in the Genomics for Infection Prevention. His trans disciplinary research, a co-operation of academic, veterinary and public health institutions under a One-health-aspect, is done within the Aletta Jacobs School of Public Health. His main focus is the prevention of Healthcare associated Infections (HCAI) and antimicrobial resistant microorganisms. He fosters meta-competent approaches in infection prevention and control and building up European competence through the European training program EUCIC. He is member of the Executive Committee of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID), Clinical Director of the European Committee on Infection Control (EUCIC) of the ESCMID and Chair of the non-profit EurSafety-Fund.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Dr. Rachel Smith is a physician and epidemiologist at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She leads the Surveillance Team within the International Infection Control Program which focuses on implementing sustainable surveillance for healthcare-associated infections and antibiotic resistance in resource-limited settings. Dr. Smith received her MD and completed her residency in internal medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. She received a Masters in Public Health from the University of California at Berkeley.

Fondation Marisa Sophie

Francesca Stingele holds a University Degree in Microbiology and a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Munich. She spent the first eight years of her career in research partly in academia and in industry and subsequently shifted to drug development in the biotech industry. Her last position was Managing Director of Neurim Pharmaceuticals, an Israeli-Swiss biotech Company, active in developing novel central nervous system products. She was going to change position to become the CEO of a venture capital funded CNS Start-up Company, when the tragedy hit her family. The youngest family member, Marisa at the time 11 months old, was hit by a streptococcal meningitis, which was not treated in time, and within one week Marisa passed away. After seven years in court the two doctors treating Marisa were charged for homicide by negligence. This trauma would change the course of Francesca’s and her family’s life. She left her biotech career to create a Foundation for Critically Ill children (www.marisasophie.com) and became an advocate for patient safety, lecturing at universities, nursing schools and conferences.