Prof. Dr. Pierre Van Damme obtained his Medical Degree from the University of Antwerp in 1984 and has been active in vaccine, clinical trial and infectious disease research for more than 35 years. He conducted more than 550 national and international vaccine studies with vaccines against various pathogens. Since 2000 he is full professor in Vaccinology at the University of Antwerp, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, and teaches vaccinology in national and international courses. Pierre Van Damme is director of the Centre for the Evaluation of Vaccination (CEV, University of Antwerp), which he founded in 1994. The CEV is a WHO Collaborating Centre for the WHO European Region for the control and prevention of infectious diseases. In 2022, together with Prof Arnaud Marchant, Pierre Van Damme set up the European Plotkin Institute for Vaccinology, including Vaccinopolis, an innovative vaccine research centre to accelerate the evaluation of vaccines for pandemic and endemic pathogens. Pierre Van Damme has been for more than 25 years a regular advisor for national and international organizations, including the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group, and the World Health Organization (European Regional Office and Headquarters). He has been appointed as chairman of the European Technical Advisory Group of Experts on communicable diseases and vaccines for the WHO European Region (ETAGE) (2005-2015). Pierre Van Damme obtained several awards: the Research Award of the University of Antwerp, the Belgian Social Medicine Award ‘Jean Van Beneden’ for his work on the introduction of universal hepatitis B immunization programs; the prestigious Bill Marshall award of the ESPID society (2014); the ACRP (Association of Clinical Research Professionals) with the European Outstanding Leadership Award (2017); the prestigious Paul Harris Fellowship by the Rotary Foundation 2017); the Balmis distinction Award (Almeria, Spain, 2017), the AHA Antwerp Innovation award (2019), the science communication award UAntwerpen (2021), and recently the International Vaccine Institute-SK Bioscience Park Mahnhoon Award (Korea, 2025). Pierre Van Damme is member of the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine.Prof. Dr. Paolo Bonanni is a Full Professor Hygiene and Public Health at the Faculty of Medicine and director of the department of Health Sciences at the University of Florence, Italy. Professor Bonanni graduated in Medicine and Surgery (MD) in 1985 and obtained two specialisations in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine at the University of Genoa, Italy. Professor Bonanni’s scientific activity covered the epidemiology and prevention of infectious diseases, especially viral hepatitis, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, influenza, measles, rubella, varicella, and, more recently, bacterial invasive diseases and human papillomavirus, including clinical trials and economic evaluation of vaccination strategies. Professor Bonanni has been a member of the National Vaccination Commission of the Italian Ministry of Health, and he acts as an expert advisor for the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) based in Stockholm, Sweden. He has been appointed member of the European Technical Advisory Group of Experts on communicable diseases and vaccines for the WHO European Region (ETAGE) (2012-2017). He is standing adviser of the Viral Hepatitis Prevention Board (VHPB) and HPV Prevention and Control Board. Paolo Bonanni received several grants from the Italian Ministry of Health on projects regarding vaccine-preventable infections and was/is responsible for 5 EU-funded projects on vaccination (ANTRES, EURO-HEPNET, VACSATC, HEPSCREEN, DRIVE). Paolo Bonanni is member of the Steering Committee of the International Council on Adult Immunization (ICA), Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore and scientific Coordinator in the Board of the Vaccination Calendar for Life (Inter-scientific societies alliance representing >50,000 physicians in Italy giving guidance and advice on vaccination strategies). He authored >350 publications and is author and/or contributor to numerous chapters of international and national books dealing with vaccines and vaccination. Dr. Jade Pattyn is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for the Evaluation of Vaccination (CEV) at the University of Antwerp. Since September 2022, she is the project manager of the Adult Immunization Board, a platform to provide multidisciplinary guidelines for the implementation and optimization of vaccination in adults in Europe. Jade Pattyn studied Biomedical Sciences (2011-2016) at the University of Antwerp (Belgium), majoring in Infectious and Tropical Diseases, and gained international experience during her Master's thesis at the Medical Research Council in The Gambia. In December 2016, she was awarded a doctoral fellowship entitled “Non-invasive self-sampling for follow-up of preventive and therapeutic interventions to control Human papillomavirus (HPV)” by the Royal Belgian Academy of Medicine. During her doctorate, she helped organize and run the annual CEV Summer School on Vaccinology to train future health professionals in all aspects of vaccinology, including safety, confidence and communication. After her PhD, Jade Pattyn left the CEV to expand her horizons and skills as a vaccine analyst at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Geneva) and as a COVID-19 vaccine Quality Specialist Operations at Pfizer (Puurs). These experiences allowed Jade Pattyn to become familiar with vaccine formulation, vaccine production, global health and the science-policy interface.
