Conference Speakers
Get to know the speakers for this conference.
Marc Bonten
CEO of Ecraid (European Research Alliance on Infectious Diseases)
Marc Bonten (born 16-10-1964) got his MD (1991) and PhD (“the role of colonization of the upper intestinal tract in the pathogenesis of ventilator-associated pneumonia, 1994) at the Maastricht University Medical School, the Netherlands. He registered as internist in 2000, as infectious disease specialist in 2002 and as clinical microbiologist in 2008, all at the University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands. From 2008 till April 2021 he was head of the department Medical Microbiology. Since 2003 he is professor of molecular epidemiology of infectious diseases and leading the research group of infectious Disease Epidemiology of the Julius Center of Health Sciences and Primary Care at UMC Utrecht.
He is coordinator of the HORIZON2020 project ECRAID-Base, scientific coordinator of the IMI-funded consortiums COMBACTE-NET, COMBACTE-CARE and COMBACTE-MAGNET, and since January 2022 CEO of Ecraid (European Research Alliance on Infectious Diseases). In the EU-funded PREPARE project he was involved in the design and initiation of the REMAP-CAP study and has served since its initiation in the International Trial Steering Committee.
John H. Rex
Chief Medical Officer at F2G & Editor-In-Chief at AMR.Solutions
Dr. Rex is physician and drug developer with more than 40 years of development and policy experience focused on antimicrobial agents. His experience includes moving antifungal and antibacterial agents from preclinical development through all development phases in the context of (a) academic positions (NIAID, University of Texas-Houston), (b) VP-level roles at a pharmaceutical multinational (AstraZeneca), (c) board-level roles in in biotech companies (F2G, Ltd.; Adenium Biotech ApS), (d) serving as Expert-in-Residence at Wellcome Trust, (e) Chief Strategy Officer for CARB-X, (f) an Operating Partner role with Advent Life Sciences, and Chair of the Scientific Advisory board of the $1b AMR Action Fund. The first 15 years of his career were as an academic physician focused on medical mycology and his work spanned susceptibility testing methods, in vitro-in vivo translational studies, and clinical trials. After moving to Industry in 2003, his work broadened to include advancing novel regulatory and reimbursement paradigms for antimicrobial agents, founding of the New Drugs for Bad Bugs (ND4BB) program of Europe’s Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), and support of cross-Industry initiatives to encourage development of novel antimicrobials. He currently works primarily as the Chief Medical Officer for F2G, Limited, a privately owned biotech company working on development of new antifungal agents, and as a freelancer editor-in-chief of the AMR.Solutions newsletter.
Katinka de Balogh
One Health Focal Point at the FAO Investment Center in Rome and former FAO/WOAH/WHO One Health Regional Group Coordinator for Asia/Pacific
Dr. Katinka de Balogh studied veterinary medicine and obtained her doctorate in Germany (1984), with specialities in tropical animal production (France) and in Veterinary Public Health (VPH) (Netherlands). After working for 9 years in Africa she became lecturer in VPH at the Veterinary Faculty in Utrecht, Netherlands. Between 2002-2016, she worked at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy and led the global VPH activities of the organization, establishing close linkages with the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH/OIE) and the World Health Organization (WHO) contributing directly to the shaping of One Health. As Senior Animal Health and Production Officer (2016-2021) at FAO Regional Office for Asia/Pacific she was the FAO/WOAH/WHO One Health regional group coordinator for Asia/Pacific and as of 2021, the One Health focal point at the FAO Investment Centre in Rome contributing to One Health World Bank projects and Pandemic Fund project proposals. She has provided numerous key-note presentations at Conferences and lecturers at international One Health MSc programmes and events (the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain Australia, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, etc.). Katinka has widely travelled and provides presentations in English, Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Portuguese and most recently Italian.
Eva Krockow
Assistant Professor in Psychology at the University of Leicester, UK, and Research Lead for the Health and Wellbeing (with Ageing) Research Group
Eva Krockow is an Assistant Professor in Psychology at the University of Leicester, UK, and Research Lead for the Health and Wellbeing (with Ageing) Research Group. Eva uses a range of social science methods to investigate antibiotic decision making of doctors and patients and to improve public health risk communication about antimicrobial resistance. Current projects include an international study on metaphor use to communicate the risks of antibiotic overuse and a project investigating hospital staff’s decision making about blood sampling to manage acute infections and promote antibiotic stewardship.
Alex van Belkum
Former Chief Scientific Officer at BaseClear and R&D director at BioMerieux
Alex van Belkum, a distinguished microbiologist, embarked on his academic journey as a Student Assistant at the University of Leiden from 1979 to 1983. Progressing through various roles, including Research Scientist and Head of Infectious Diseases, he solidified his expertise. From 1994 to 2010, Alex contributed significantly as a Staff Member at the Institute of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobial Therapy, Erasmus University Rotterdam, where he defended his PhD thesis on using PCR for molecular epidemiology in 1996. Later on, he served as Editor in Chief for the European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases from 2007 to 2017.
Transitioning to industry, Alex held pivotal positions at bioMérieux, directing R&D and later contributing to Open Innovation & Partnerships. In 2021, he became Chief Scientific Officer at BaseClear, holding this role until his retirement in 2023. Despite retiring, Alex remains active, consulting for companies developing rapid bacterial detection methods. Throughout his career, he authored over 600 PubMed-included scientific manuscripts, amassing 55,000 citations, and maintains an impressive H-factor of 113 as of February 2024 according to Google Scholar. His enduring impact on microbiology is evident in his ongoing contributions and collaborations with industry leaders.
Betsy Wonderly Trainor
Alliance Director at CARB-X
Betsy Wonderly Trainor leads the diagnostics program at CARB-X, a global non-profit dedicated to addressing the health threat of drug-resistant bacteria. Throughout her career, Betsy has focused on the development and commercialization of In-Vitro Diagnostics for viral and bacterial detection, globally. Prior to managing the CARB-X diagnostic portfolio, Betsy led the clinical studies for multiple IVDs throughout Africa, the commercialization of a variety of IVD product lines, globally, and strategic partnerships on behalf of both private and public entities. She has supported the development of target product profiles and global guidelines and negotiated deals with large donor organizations and industry. She has supported development efforts at multiple innovative companies, including Daktari Diagnostics, Aldatu Biosciences, SystemOne, and Dimagi, in addition to leading product validation and implementation efforts at the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
With a range of experience in the areas of pandemic response, diagnostic development, and data management, her research and commentary have been published in academic journals, including BMJ Global Health, Journal of Clinical Microbiology, The Lancet, and PLoS One. Betsy currently serves on the Advisory Panel for the Longitude Prize focused on AMR and she represents CARB-X in the ValueDx Consortium. She served as co-chair of the National Academy of Sciences Workshop — Accelerating the Development and Uptake of Rapid Diagnostics to Address Antibiotic Resistance — and is deeply interested in policy changes that may enable a healthier market for AMR-focused diagnostics. Betsy has an interdisciplinary background in behavioral and clinical research and business. She holds a BS in Human Development form Cornell University and has completed executive education training at the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business.
Oliver Cornely
Director & Chair of Translational Research at the CECAD Institute of the University of Cologne, and Scientific Director of the Center for Clinical Trials.
Originating from an HIV/AIDS clinical research group, Dr Cornely’s research interest centres on infections in immunocompromised hosts, including invasive fungal diseases, antimicrobial resistance, Clostridium difficile infection, and vaccine preventable infections.
Oliver Cornely is immediate-past President of the European Confederation of Medical Mycology (ECMM), the roof organization of 28 national mycology societies, and did set up the ECMM Global Guideline Program, ECMM Academy (Fellows program), and ECMM Excellence Center Initiative, designating clinical and microbiological excellence centres after an international audit procedure. He is founder and chair of the Infectious Diseases Scientific Working Group of the European Hematology Association (EHA). Oliver Cornely is a member of the Council of the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM) and serves as Chair of the Infectious Diseases Working Party (AGIHO), a working group of the German Society for Haematology and Oncology (DGHO). He was recently elected as site spokesman for Bonn/Cologne for the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF).
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Oliver Cornely coordinates guidelines on invasive fungal infections and currently collaborates with mycologists from in 87 countries on tailoring management guidelines to health care settings throughout the world. He intends to intensify global networking, which he regards as paramount to improve management and care of these mostly rare diseases. In September 2022, he was awarded the Johann-Lucas-Schönlein Medal by the German-speaking Mycological Society (Deutschsprachige Mykologische Gesellschaft e.V.).
In January 2021, he founded the VACCELERATE platform, which currently includes 23 countries and 29 partner institutions for the European Commission to accelerate vaccine development against COVID-19 and future pandemic pathogens.
He published over 600 peer-reviewed articles, books, book chapters, and electronic media; runs the YouTube® channel ID in MotionTM, and ranks among the Top 1% most cited researchers. He is a reviewer for numerous medical scientific journals, editorial board member for Haematologica and Infectious Disease, and Editor-in-Chief of Mycoses.
Jonas Oldgren
Professor of Coagulation Research and Senior consultant in Cardiology at Uppsala University Hospital. Former Executive director of Uppsala Clinical Research center, and current Secretary General of Clinical research at the Swedish Research Council.
Jonas Oldgren is a professor of Coagulation Research and Senior consultant in Cardiology at Uppsala University Hospital. He was 2014-2022 the Executive director of Uppsala Clinical Research center, an academic research organization, and was thereafter appointed Secretary General of Clinical research at the Swedish Research Council. He is dedicated to the development of more pragmatic clinical trial designs to reduce burden and resource requirements, with the aim of allowing more patients to participate, while ensuring high quality scientific evidence
Professor Oldgren is an experienced clinical trialist and has the last 20 years been coordinating investigator or steering committee member in several large-scale clinical studies and randomized trials in cardiovascular medicine, either sponsored by pharma/medtech industry or by grant support from the Swedish Research Council, Swedish Foundation for Strategic research, Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation, and the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute/National Institute of Health (US).
Annemarie Wensing
Clinical Virologist at the University Medical Center Utrecht and Honorary Professor at Ezintsha, the department of Health at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg
She attained her MSc and MD at the University of Utrecht. During her post graduate rotations she became involved in clinical HIV research and care. She worked at the HIV outpatient clinic of the University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht and was subsequently trained as a clinical virologist. She obtained her PhD on Transmission of drug resistant HIV. She is the clinical supervisor of the HIV laboratory in the UMC Utrecht which serves as a reference laboratory for HIV resistance testing and performs resistance testing on dried blood spots send in from areas all over the world. As consultant she advises infectious disease specialists from multiple HIV-centers in the Netherlands. Her research focuses on HIV cure and on transmission and mechanisms of HIV drug-resistance. She is a principal investigator of several international projects such as ITREMA and IciStem. She is a founding member of the European Society of Antiviral Research, a former member of the EACS governing board, a member of the WHO HIV Drug Resistance ResNet and chair of the IAS-USA resistance mutations panel.
Marc Gitzinger
Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of BioVersys
Dr. Gitzinger has over 10 years of experience in the biotech industry, having launched a university spin-off in the field of antimicrobial resistance and growing it into a multi-asset clinical stage company. Some of these assets will address significant unmet medical needs in infectious conditions such as tuberculosis and hospital acquired Acinetobacter infections. Marc has raised over $70 mio in equity financing and secured over $30 mio in non-dilutive funding. He has also established several important partnerships with a Big Pharma and other development organizations. Multi-award-winning Biotech CEO, having received amongst others the Swiss Technology Award 2011, Venture Kick 2009 and Venture Leaders 2008 and 2017 awards for his work in founding and advancing BioVersys. He is also President of the Board of the BEAM Alliance, a European association representing over 70 European and international SMEs active in antimicrobial research and development and Board member of AMR Industry Alliance. Marc is a young thought leader in the field of antimicrobial research and development. He is passionate about next generation antimicrobial therapies and leads a highly motivated team striving to bring life-saving antimicrobial therapies to patients in need. He is also co-author on several high ranked scientific publications and patents in the field.