Meningitis UK's Scientific Medical Advisory Panel
Meningitis UK's panel is made up of eleven 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. For more information please see Professor Ala'Aldeen's page on the University of Nottingham website.
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. To read his full biography and find out more information about his research please visit Professor Beverley's page on The Edward Jenner Institute's website.
Dr Ray Borrow
Head of Vaccine Evaluation Unit, Health Protection Agency North West, Manchester Laboratory, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester.
Dr. Ray Borrow is Head of the Vaccine Evaluation Unit at the Health Protection Agency, Manchester, UK, where he is responsible for the evaluation of serological responses to various bacterial and viral vaccines with a special interest in meningococcal and pneumococcal vaccines. He gained his PhD in 1994 and his MRCPath in 2003. His scientific findings resulted in over 140 peer reviewed published papers. He serves as a member of the Department of Health's Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and frequently advises the World Health Organisation (WHO) and companies on both meningococcal and pneumococcal vaccines.
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. Please see Dr Brown's page on the University College London website for further information.
Dr Myron Christodoulides
Senior Lecturer in Molecular Microbiology, University of Southampton Medical School
Dr Myron Christodoulides graduated with a BSc in microbiology from University College, London and a PhD in microbiology from The University of Glasgow. Following postdoctoral positions in Health and Welfare, Canada and the University of Newcastle, Myron finished his postdoctoral training in the Molecular Microbiology Group in the School of Medicine of the University of Southampton. Currently, he is a senior lecturer in molecular microbiology at the University of Southampton Medical School and his research focuses on the pathogenesis of bacterial infections of the central nervous system and the nature of CNS innate immunity. Other areas of interest include investigating human immunity to meningococcal carriage and disease and the development of vaccines. For more information about his research please see Dr Christodoulides' page on the University of Southampton Medical School website.
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. For further details about the work being undertaken at Bristol Children's Vaccine Centre please see Professor Finn's page on The University of Bristol website.
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 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 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. For more information please see Professor Read's full biography on the University of Sheffield's wesbite.
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