Meningitis UK's Scientific Medical Advisory Panel

Meningitis UK's panel is made up of nine medical professionals from across the UK who are international experts in meningitis vaccine development. Their role is to ensure that money donated by Meningitis UK supporters is used to fund top-quality, cutting-edge research.

Professor Dlawer Ala'Aldeen

Professor of Clinical Microbiology and the Head of the Molecular Bacteriology and Immunology Group at Nottingham University.

Dlawer Ala'Aldeen has had a long-standing interest in the study of Neisseria meningitidis infections and vaccine development. His main focus is on the molecular pathogenesis of, and human genetic response to, N. meningitidis and Campylobacter jejuni and together with his research group is interested in defining the role of bacterial secreted proteins in host-pathogen interaction, having carried out extensive studies on meningococcal type I and V secreted proteins. Another area of interest is the identification of host receptors for bacterial virulence factors. They have also studied the population genetics of N. meningitidis and made significant contributions to this field. Prof Ala'Aldeen's clinical commitments consist of the management of patients with infectious diseases, control of hospital infection, and participating in the professional aspects of the diagnostic laboratory at Nottingham's University and City hospitals.

Dr Helen Baxendale

Clinician Scientist, Infectious Diseases, Institute of Child Health, Great Ormond Street Hospital, London.

Helen Baxendale, a Clinician Scientist in Infectious Diseases and Immunology has been working at the Institute of Child Health for over ten years developing techniques to look in fine detail at how individuals respond to pneumococcal vaccines and infection. The main objectives of her work are to understand the genetics of the immune response to pneumococcus and how this correlates with the quality of immune protection provided by immunisation. This approach will then be used to see how the response to pnuemococcus differs in different patient groups and may improve the understanding of why some individuals are at higher risk of pnuemococcal disease than others.

Professor Peter Beverley

Scientific Head, The Edward Jenner Institute for Vaccine Research, Berkshire.

Peter Beverley trained as a doctor at University College Hospital London and then went to the National Institute for Medical Research to learn immunology. After carrying out postdoctoral work at Sloan-Kettering Institute in New York, he joined the Imperial Cancer Research Fund to work on immunity to tumours. In 1995 he became the Scientific head of the newly formed Edward Jenner Institute for Vaccine Research at Compton in Berkshire.

Although he stepped down as head in 2005, he continues to head a research group. Through his career, he has worked on immunity to viral and bacterial pathogens and to study the nature of immunological memory.

Dr Jeremy Brown

Senior Lecturer at University College London and holds an Honorary Consultant in the University College London Hospitals trust.

Dr Brown trained in medicine within a variety of London hospitals and carried out his PhD and post-doctoral training at Imperial College and Adelaide University. He now heads a research group investigating the pathogenesis of infections due to Streptococcus pneumoniae, with particular interests in the mechanisms of innate immunity to S. pneumoniae infections and bacterial surface proteins. The long-term goal of the research is to identify new preventative or therapeutic strategies against S. pneumoniae disease.

Professor Ian Feavers

Principal Scientist, Division of Bacteriology, National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, Blanche Lane South Mimms, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire EN6 3QG.

Professor Feavers is a Principal Scientist in the Division of Bacteriology at the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, where he heads a team responsible for ensuring the safety and quality of meningococcal and pneumococcal vaccines. In addition to this regulatory responsibility, his group carries out research on meningococcal antigenic variation,population biology and the cell-surface proteome. As a result, Ian is closely associated with many of the current meningococcal vaccine developments and frequently advises the WHO, the EMEA, and companies on meningococcal and pneumococcal vaccine issues. He is currently a Visiting Professor in the Centre for Molecular Microbiology and Infection at Imperial College London.

Professor Adam Finn

Head of the Academic Unit of Child Health at Bristol Medical School, Dept of Clinical Science South Bristol, and an honorary consultant in paediatric infectious diseases and immunology at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.

Adam Finn is director of the South West Medicines for Children Research Network and heads the Bristol Children's Vaccine Centre. His main research interests include mucosal immunology relating to bacterial vaccines, in particular pneumococcus and clinical trials of vaccines and medicines in children.

Professor Catherine Ison

Director, Sexually Transmitted Bacteria Reference Laboratory, Health Protection Agency Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, London.

Professor Catherine Ison is Director of the Sexually Transmitted Bacteria Reference Laboratory (STBRL) at the Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections, London, which provides reference services for gonorrhoea, chlamydia and syphilis. She is also a Visiting Professor of Investigative Science and Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Imperial College London. She was the founder of the Bacterial Special Interest Group of the British Association of Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH,formerly MSSVD) and is currently its chair.

Dr Paul Langford - Chairman

Reader in Paediatric Infectious Diseases, Imperial College, London.

Dr Paul Langford

Professor Paul Langford graduated from UWIST (Cardiff) with a BSc in Applied Biology and a PhD from the University of Aston (Birmingham). After a gratuitous fun year in Australia he did postdocs in the Departments of Chemistry/Microbiology at the University of Bristol and the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Oxford.Subsequently he was appointed a Lecturer in The Department of Paediatrics at Imperial College London and is now a Reader. His research interests include development of vaccines for meningococcal disease and bacterial respiratory diseases of pigs as well as novel diagnostics for tuberculosis.

Professor Elizabeth Miller

Head of Immunisation Department, Health Protection Agency Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, London.

Professor Miller is the Head of the Immunisation Department at the Health Protection Agency, Centre for Infections in Colindale North West London. Professor Miller joined the Epidemiological Research Laboratory in 1978. The ERL had a long history of vaccine-related research and Professor Miller was recruited to work on the large post-licensure safety and efficacy studies of pertussis vaccines that were being conducted following the collapse of the UK whooping cough immunisation programme in the mid 1970s.

This experience prompted her continuing interest in the risks and benefits of vaccination programmes and organising trials of new vaccines. She has been involved with trials of acellular pertussis, MMR, Hib, meningococcal C vaccines and more recently the new pneumococcal vaccines. Her other interests include seroepidemiology and mathematical modelling, vaccine safety studies and viral infections in pregnancy. She is also a member of the Agency's R & D Committee whose aim is to promote research and development as a major activity within the Centre for Infections.

Professor Robert Read

Professor of Infectious Diseases and Honorary Consultant Physician to the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation NHS Trust.

Robert Read's clinical work is based at the Infectious Disease Unit at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield, and his research is conducted within the Henry Wellcome Laboratories of the Sheffield University School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. He received undergraduate and postgraduate clinical training at Sheffield, Leeds, Bristol, London and Nottingham hospitals, and trained in research at the National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College London, and at University of California at San Francisco. His research interests include pathogenesis and prevention of meningococcal disease.