Professor James Ward is a Pitjantjatjara and Nukunu man, an infectious diseases epidemiologist and a national leader in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research. He is currently the Director of the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health at The University of Queensland. Holding various roles over the last 25 years in Aboriginal public health policy for both government and non-government organisations, in urban regional and remote communities he has built a national program of research in the epidemiology and prevention of infectious diseases, with a particular focus on STIs, HIV and viral hepatitis in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Professor Ward has previously worked at the Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Baker IDI in Alice Springs and the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute. He has served on numerous national and international committees including the Communicable Diseases Network of Australia, the Australian National Council on Alcohol and Drugs, the CDNA COVID-19 Working Group and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander COVID-19 Taskforce. He has over 140 publications and leads several large scale public health and infectious diseases studies.

Gilles Wandeler is an attending physician at the Department of Infectious Diseases, Bern University Hospital, and a senior researcher at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern. He obtained a master’s degree in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and started his research career within the framework of the Swiss HIV Cohort Study. He leads numerous projects on HIV and viral hepatitis infections and currently holds a Professorship from the Swiss National Science Foundation to study HBV functional cure in sub-Saharan Africa. He’s a member of the Scientific Board of the Swiss HIV cohort Study and the Chairman of the Steering Committee of EuroSIDA. He teaches at the Universities of Bern, Basel, Bordeaux, Paris and Barcelona.

Peter Vickerman is a Professor in infectious disease modelling with 25 years research experience. His research focuses on using modelling to assess the transmission of infectious diseases and impact/cost-effectiveness of prevention measures amongst key populations, especially HIV and HCV.