Speaker's Bio

David Goldblatt
David Goldblatt obtained his medical degree from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, his Paediatric qualifications from the Royal College of Physicians (London) and a PhD in Immunology from the University of London, United Kingdom. He is currently Professor of Vaccinology and Immunology and Head of the Immunobiology Unit at the Institute of Child Health, University College London (UCL) as well as a Consultant Paediatric Immunologist at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust. He is the Director of Clinical R&D for the joint Institution where he is also Director of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Specialist Biomedical Research Centre. In 2009 he was appointed as Program Director of the Child Health theme for the UCL Partners Academic Health Science Centre. He has a long-standing interest in the immune response to vaccines and infectious diseases in childhood and has an active research programme studying natural and vaccine induced immunity to infectious diseases. He is a regular advisor to the World Health Organisation (WHO) on vaccines and is Director of the WHO Reference Laboratory for Pneumococcal Serology based at the UCL Institute of Child Health in London. He served as a member of the United Kingdom Department of Health Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunisation (JCVI) for 10 years (1997-2007) and contuinues to contribute to UK policy via membership of JCVI subcommittees. He has been a member of the MRC Infection and Immunity Panel, co-chaired the Wellcome Trust Immunology and Infectious Disease Funding Committee until it's close in 2011 and continues as a member of the Wellcome Trust's Immune System in Health and Disease Expert Review Group.