Editorial Board
Yulia Ovechkina
Director
High Throughput Screening
Tuberculosis Drug Discovery group
Infectious Disease Research Institute
USA
Dr. Yulia Ovechkina serves as Director of High-Throughput Screening in the Tuberculosis Drug Discovery group at the Infectious Disease Research Institute. She received her B.S. in Cytology and Genetics from Novosibirsk State University in Russia, an M.S. in Molecular Genetics from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, and a Ph.D. in Physiology from the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.
Dr. Ovechkina has over fifteen years of experience in cellular biology research, with extensive expertise in in vitro cellular assay development, assay miniaturization, high-throughput and high-content screening, automation, and data analysis. Prior to joining IDRI, she developed and implemented an innovative multiplexed screening platform, OncoPanel, using an automated HTS platform with a Tipless V11 Biocel and Echo 550 integrated system at Ricerca Biosciences (MDS Pharma Services).
She served as a Principal Scientist, where she developed high-content in vitro cellular assays in oncology, immunology, and toxicology, and also acted as a project lead for a large-scale oncology therapeutic agent screening project. Dr. Ovechkina also developed in vitro cellular immunology assays as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Immunology at Seattle Children’s Hospital & Regional Medical Center.
Her doctoral research focused on the regulation of cellular proliferation, the cytoskeleton, and cancer cell signal transduction.
Giovanni Rezza
Director
Department of Infectious Diseases
Istituto Superiore di Sanita
Italy
Dr. Giovanni Rezza, M.D., is a specialist in hygiene and infectious diseases and serves as a Senior Scientist at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) in Rome. He has been Director of the Department of Infectious, Parasitic, and Immune-Mediated Diseases since 2009. His primary expertise is in infectious disease epidemiology.
Dr. Rezza has worked with the Italian Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization in Geneva, the Italian Cooperation, and the European Union. He has served as a contract professor at Sapienza University of Rome and has taught courses for several years at the University of Sassari.
He has been Chairman of the Board of Administration and currently serves as President of the Scientific Board of the consortium “Collezione Nazionale dei Composti Chimici e Centro Screening” (CNCCS), a public–private initiative involving the ISS, the National Research Council, and IRBM.
Dr. Rezza has conducted epidemiological investigations in Italy and abroad and has served as principal investigator for numerous research and cooperation projects. He is the author of more than 400 articles indexed in PubMed, as well as four books.
His areas of expertise include HIV and emerging infectious diseases such as Chikungunya, West Nile virus, influenza, and Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever, as well as vaccine strategies, particularly in developing countries.
He is the editor of the “Infectious Disease Epidemiology” section of BMC Public Health. He has also served on the Editorial Board of AIDS for six years and as Editor of its supplement for two years. In addition, he acts as a reviewer for several international scientific journals and has been a member of numerous national and international committees.
Roma Chilengi
Scientific Director
Centre for Infectious Disease Research
University of Zambia
Tel: 260-973-724935
Zambia
Dr. Roma Chilengi is a medically qualified professional with formal training in epidemiology. He has a strong background in product research and vaccine development and is a certified clinical research professional. He has held several international positions and has extensive experience in clinical trials and capacity-building efforts across Africa.
His research interests include vaccine development, child immunization, and public health, with a particular focus on infectious tropical diseases. He currently serves as Scientific Director at the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia.
Dr. Chilengi leads research on rotavirus while overseeing several health systems strengthening programs in Zambia. He serves on multiple boards and scientific committees and has authored over 40 publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Sanjib Adhikari
Department of Microbiology, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
“Exploring the molecular epidemiology of infectious diseases, as well as the identification and characterization of pathogens from clinical and environmental samples.”
Prof. Dr. Matteo Bassetti
Affiliations
Department of Infectious Diseases, Health Sciences, University of Genoa, 16126 Genoa, Italy
Infectious Diseases Clinic, Policlinico San Martino Hospital—IRCCS, 16132 Genoa, Italy
Italian Society of Antiinfective Therapy (SITA), Genoa, Italy
ESCMID Critically Ill Patients Study Group (ESGCIP), Genoa, Italy
Research Interests
Antimicrobial resistance; new antibiotics; viral infections (including COVID-19 and HIV); infections in critically ill patients.
Prof. Dr. Bishara Freij
Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Beaumont Children’s Hospital, Royal Oak, MI 48073, USA
Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, Rochester, MI 48309, USA
Research Interests
Pediatric infections; congenital and perinatal infections; central nervous system infections; musculoskeletal infections; viral infections and antiviral therapy; history of medicine.
Dr. Botond Lakatos
Department of Internal Medicine and Hematology, School of Infectious Diseases; Working Group of Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Semmelweis University, 1097 Budapest, Hungary
Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Hematology and Infectious Diseases, 1097 Budapest, Hungary
Research Interests
HIV; tropical diseases; antimicrobial resistance; antimicrobial stewardship; bloodstream infections; cardiovascular infections; infections in vulnerable populations.
Fujie Zhang
Director and Professor of Medicine
Department of infectious disease
Clinical and Research Center of Infectious Diseases
Beijing Ditan Hospital
Capital Medical University
Biography:
Fujie Zhang is Director of the Clinical and Research Center of Infectious Diseases and Professor of Medicine at Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, China. He also serves as Director of the National HIV/AIDS Clinical Task Force.
Professor Zhang received his M.D. from Capital University of Medical Sciences in 1985 and has worked at Beijing Ditan Hospital since then. During this time, he has received training in epidemiology and earned a Ph.D. in Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics from China Medical University.
His primary research interests include the utility and outcome evaluation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in resource-limited settings, as well as co-infections, particularly hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV). Since establishing China’s Free Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) cohort in 2002, he has led the National Free Antiretroviral Therapy Program (NFATP), which includes records of over 600,000 patients. Professor Zhang is also involved in research on other infectious diseases, including yellow fever, Zika, and Rift Valley fever.
Professor Zhang has published numerous significant studies based on the NFATP cohort in leading international peer-reviewed journals, including The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Annals of Internal Medicine, and Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Research Interests:
HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, and infectious diseases
Nicole Berens-Riha
PD (Priv.-Doz.)
Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine
Univesity Hospital
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Biography:
PD Dr. med. Nicole Berens-Riha, MSc in Epidemiology, has been working as a resident and postdoctoral researcher at the Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine at LMU Munich, Germany, since 2006. During this time, she has pursued her clinical specialization in internal medicine, with a particular focus on infectious diseases and tropical medicine.
She has extensive knowledge and experience in clinical microbiology and internal medicine, with advanced specialization in infectious diseases, as well as tropical and travel medicine. She has participated as an independent co-investigator in numerous clinical studies, including vaccine trials, and has supervised several smaller studies. In addition, she served as principal investigator for a large clinical trial on malaria in Ethiopia.
During a leave of absence in 2009, she obtained a Master of Science degree in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. As a member of the academic staff, she has delivered seminars and lectures on internal medicine, infectious diseases, parasitology, and particularly malaria. She completed her habilitation in 2017 (Privatdozent, PD) in accordance with LMU standards and continues to lecture at the university.
Dr. Berens-Riha leads a junior research group focused on malaria research, with particular emphasis on the clinical and molecular surveillance and epidemiology of drug resistance. She has published several original research articles in esteemed peer-reviewed journals.
She is a member of the national cooperation network German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF) and the national cooperation network “Deutsches Chagas Projekt – ElCiD.” She also participates in the international collaboration Worldwide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN).
Research Interests:
Malaria, drug resistance, molecular surveillance, gametocytes, parasitology, Chagas disease, infectious diseases, epidemiology