Network structure

IVVN Annual Report 2022

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The IVVN is directed by Dr Timothy Connelley, Professor Simon Graham and Professor Christine Maritz-Olivier. The Network is governed by a Network Management Board and advised by an External Advisory Group, both of which comprise international experts from across the fields of human and veterinary vaccinology.

The Network is managed by Dr Carly Hamilton, with communications support by Dr Mabon Elis. Please do not hesitate to contact the team at IVVN [at] roslin [dot] ed [dot] ac [dot] uk if you have any questions or comments.

Network Management Team

The Network Management Team is responsible for all aspects of network activity and the day-to-day running of the IVVN.

Name Position Organisation
Dr Timothy Connelley Network Director The Roslin Institute
Professor Simon Graham Network Co-Director The Pirbright Institute
Professor Christine Maritz-Olivier Network Co-Director University of Pretoria
Dr Carly Hamilton Network Manager The Roslin Institute
Dr Mabon Elis Network Administrative & Communications Assistant The Roslin Institute

Network Management Board

The Network Management Board governs the IVVN's activities, and comprises experts from across the range of human and veterinary vaccinology.

Name Organisation
Professor Bryan Charleston The Pirbright Institute
Dr Baptiste Dungu Onderstepoort Biological Products
Dr Michael Francis BioVacc Consulting Ltd
Dr Crystal Loving USDA ARS National Animal Disease Center
Dr Michèle Mboo-Tchouawou African Women in Agricultural Research and Development
Dr Vish Nene International Livestock Research Institute
Dr Thảo Ngô Biotechnology Center of Ho Chi Minh City
Professor Brian Perry Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh
Dr Carolin Schumacher GALVmed
Professor Fiona Tomley Royal Veterinary College (RVC)
Professor George Warimwe KEMRI - Wellcome Trust Research Programme

External Advisory Group

The External Advisory Group oversees the Network's activities and monitors the progress of the IVVN.

Name

Organisation
Professor Adrian Hill The Jenner Institute
Dr Valeria Mariano World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH, formerly OIE)
Dr Keith Sumption Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO)

 

Christine Maritz-Olivier and Simon Graham

Two new co-directors join IVVN team

We were delighted to announce earlier this year that Professor Christine Maritz-Olivier and Professor Simon Graham have become co-directors of the Network.

Along with founding director Dr Tim Connelley, Simon and Christine will lead the Network Management Team that runs the IVVN’s activities.

Christine Maritz-Olivier is a professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, where she leads the Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases programme. Her research looks at how the cattle immune system responds to ticks and the diseases they transmit, helping to improve vaccine formulations. To ensure translation of this research to field conditions, the team’s vaccinology studies are conducted in parallel with phylogeography of tick species and animal models.

Before starting her current role, Christine carried out postdoctoral research as a Wellcome Trust-funded fellow in South Africa and the Netherlands. Christine is also co-initiator of a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded cattle tick vaccine project and is a past president of the International Society of Tropical Veterinary Medicine. She has received several international awards, serves on a number of journal editorial boards, and has been a member of the team delivering the IVVN African Schools Outreach Programme in South Africa since 2019.

Professor Maritz-Olivier said:

I am excited to be joining the Network Management Team of the IVVN, and be part of an enthusiastic team focused on bringing together current researchers in the field while also creating an enabling environment for the next generation of veterinary vaccinologists.

I believe the IVVN has a vital part to play in scientific training and leadership. Nowhere is this more evident than in Africa, where skills development will be key for the realisation of the sustainable development goals on the continent. As stated by Marie Curie: ‘You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals’.

Professor Simon Graham leads the Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) Immunology group at The Pirbright Institute in the United Kingdom, and is also a visiting professor at the University of Surrey. Simon’s research seeks to understand how PRRS viruses interact with the immune system, and to exploit this knowledge to develop improved vaccines. He also leads research aimed at developing a vaccine for use in pigs to protect against the zoonotic Nipah virus.

Before joining Pirbright, Simon led the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s immunological and vaccine-related research on a number of viral diseases of livestock. He has also worked on theilerioses vaccine development at the University of Edinburgh and the International Livestock Research Institute, Kenya.

Professor Graham said:

I am honoured and excited to take on this role. I look forward to working with the IVVN team and members to continue connecting and catalysing veterinary vaccinology for the benefit of both livestock and human health.

After serving as co-director since the Network launched, and previously serving as director of the UK Veterinary Vaccinology Network, Professor Bryan Charleston stepped down from the Network Management Team this year. The team will continue to benefit from his experience and advice as he joins the Network’s governing body.

Dr Tim Connelley, Network Director, said:

I am thrilled that Christine and Simon have agreed to join the Network Management Team. This is an exciting time for the IVVN, as we come to the end of the original grant that funded the Network and move towards a new funding model. Christine and Simon’s experience and expertise will bring new perspectives and help drive new activities over the coming years.

I also want to thank Bryan for the invaluable support and expertise he has provided over the past five years, and for the solid framework he built for the IVVN through the work of the UK Veterinary Vaccinology Network. I am grateful that he will continue to support and advise the IVVN in his role on the Network Management Board.

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