Plenary Speaker：

Day 1

Nobel Laureate Prof. Peter Doherty, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity

Trained initially as a veterinarian, Peter Doherty is Australian immunologist and pathologist who, with Rolf Zinkernagel of Switzerland, received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1996 for their discovery of how the body’s immune system distinguishes virus-infected cells from normal cells. After leading a research laboratory at the Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, and teaching at the University of Pennsylvania (1975–82), Peter headed the department of experimental pathology at the John Curtin School of Medical Research in Canberra (1982–88) and served as chairman (1988–2001) of the department of immunology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, where he still holds the Michael F Tamer Chair of Biomedical Research. In 2002, he joined the faculty of medicine at the University of Melbourne, and from 2014, has been at the Peter Doherty Institute (PDI) for Infection and Immunity, a joint venture between the university and the Royal Melbourne Hospital. The Nobel award led to an increasing involvement in public science communication, both in his own area of viral pathogenesis and immunity and in topics related to environmental sustainability and climate change.  He is active on social media and was a prominent commentator through the first two years of COVID-19 https://www.doherty.edu.au/news-events/setting-it-straight. After working on infection and immunity at one level or other for 60 years, he moved to emeritus status at the University of Melbourne in July 2023, though he continues to be the Patron of the PDI.
Peter is the author of many books, including The Beginner’s Guide to Winning the Nobel Prize: A Life in Science (2005), Sentinel Chickens: What Birds Tell Us About Our Health and the World (2012), Pandemics: what everyone needs to know (2013) The Knowledge Wars (2015), The Incidental Tourist (2018), An Insider’s Plague Year (2021) and most recently Empire, War, Tennis and Me (2022).

Prof. Weizhong Yang, Executive Dean, School of Population Medicine & Public Health, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC)

Yang Weizhong is a member of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, a distinguished professor and doctoral supervisor of Peking Union Medical College, and the executive dean of the School of Population Health and Public Health. He was deputy director of the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention. At present, his main social part-time roles include member of the Expert Advisory Committee of the Healthy China Action Promotion Committee of The State Council, Secretary General of the Expert Advisory Committee on Health Emergency Response of the National Health Commission, member of the Expert Advisory Committee on National Immunization Planning, Vice President of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association, Secretary General of the Global Chinese Public Health Association.
In recent years, he has presided over several scientific research projects in the 11th and 12th Five-Year Plan "Prevention and treatment of major infectious diseases such as AIDS and viral hepatitis" and scientific research projects in the health industry. Published as first author or corresponding author in The New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, BMJ, PLoS Medicine, Emerging Infectious Disease, Chinese Epidemiology, Many papers have been published in journals such as Chinese Preventive Medicine. Early Warning for Infectious Disease Outbreak: Theory and Practice, Infectious Disease in China The Best Practical Cases, He has edited and published Chinese monographs such as "Health Emergency Management", "10 Years of Health Emergency in China", "Infectious Disease Syndrome Surveillance and Detection Technology Series", "Public Health and Preventive Medicine Discipline Development Report", "Infectious disease risk assessment and Countermeasures and Suggestions in Belt and Road countries" and other academic works.
Professor Yang Weizhong has won 11 provincial and ministerial awards and above, including one National Science and Technology Progress Grand Prize (2017) and one National Science and Technology Progress First Prize (2014).

Prof. Kristie L. Ebi, Center for Health and the Global Environment, University of Washington

Kristie L. Ebi, Ph.D., MPH is a Professor in the Center for Health and the Global Environment in the School of Public Health, University of Washington. She has been conducting research on the health risks of climate variability and change for more than 25 years. Her research focuses on estimating the current and future health risks of climate change; designing adaptation programs to reduce those risks; and quantifying the health co-benefits of mitigation policies. She has provided technical support to multiple countries in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific in managing climate change-related risks. She was a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th assessment cycle, including the special report on warming of 1.5°C and the human health chapter for Working Group II. Her scientific training includes an M.S. in toxicology and a Ph.D. and a Master of Public Health in epidemiology, and two years of postgraduate research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She edited fours books on aspects of climate change and has more than 250 peer-reviewed publications.

Distinguished Prof. Kerrie Mengersen, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, Queensland University of Technology

Kerrie Mengersen is currently a Distinguished Research Professor in Statistical Science and the Director of the QUT Centre for Data Science at QUT, and holds a concurrent role as Associate Member in the Department of Statistics at the University of Oxford, UK. She was a Deputy Director in the ARC Centre of Excellence in Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers (2015-2021) and an ARC Laureate Fellow (2015-2021). In 2018 she was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (AAS), the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) and the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences (QAAS). She is an active member of the Institute for Mathematical Sciences, International Biometrics Society, International Statistical Institute and the Statistical Society of Australia. Distinguished Professor Mengersen focuses on using and developing new statistical and computational methods that can help to solve complex problems in the real world. These problems are in the fields of environment, genetics, health and medicine, and industry.

Day 2

Prof. Archie Clements, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research & Enterprise, Queen’s University Belfast

I joined Queen’s University Belfast in December 2023 as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (PVC) Research and Enterprise. As PVC, I am a member of the University Management Board, and am responsible for leading the development and implementation of the University’s research strategy. I chair the University Research and Innovation Committee and other decision-making bodies involved in research and enterprise. I am also the academic lead for implementation of the Belfast Region City Deal. Prior to joining Queen’s University Belfast, I held leadership roles at University of Plymouth, Curtin University in Western Australia and the Australian National University. I am an infectious disease epidemiologist and have studied the spatial epidemiology of parasitic, bacterial and viral diseases, predominantly in tropical regions of the world. I have also worked on community-based intervention studies exploring the role of multi-component, integrated strategies for sustainable infectious disease control. As of December 2023 I have co-authored over 300 peer-reviewed publications and been a chief investigator on competitively awarded research grants valued at over £18M.

Prof. Ian Barr, Deputy Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza

Professor Ian Barr is currently the Deputy Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza (one of 5 globally) based at the Doherty Institute in Melbourne, Australia which has operated since 1992. The Centre plays an active role in the regional surveillance of human influenza. Ian has over 35 years’ experience in Research and Development both with academic and commercial groups including over 22 years at the Centre and has authored or co-authored nearly 300 publications including over 250 peer reviewed journal articles, reviews and editorials on various aspects of influenza. He holds an Honorary Professorial position in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne.

Prof. Jue Liu, School of Public Health, Peking University

Dr. Jue Liu is a research professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Public Health, Institute for Global Health and Development, Peking University. She is the Vice Dean of Institute of Environmental Medicine at Peking University, and the Deputy Chair of Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at School of Public Health, Peking University. Her research interests are mainly in Epidemiology of infectious diseases. She is the founder of the Global Big Data Platform for Major Infectious Disease Prevention, Control, and Management (BIG-MID). She has acted as Principal Investigator of more than 30 national projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the National Health Commission of China, etc.. She has published more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers as corresponding author, including Lancet, BMJ, Lancet Infect Dis, etc.. She has served as the member of the National Expert Panel of COVID-19 in the National Health Commission of China and served in the Expert Advisory Committee of the Chinese Delegation to the World Health Assembly and the Executive Committee of the World Health Organization. 

Prof. Wenbiao Hu, Director, Australia-China Centre for Public Health, School of Public Health and Social Work, Queensland University of Technology

Dr. Wenbiao Hu is a Research Professor at the School of Public Health and Social Work at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and serves as the Director of the Australia-China Centre for Public Health. He has an extensive background in researching the impact of ecosystem changes on infectious disease transmission and developing climate-driven early warning systems (EWS) for infectious diseases. His research is influential, having been cited in the IPCC Working Group II Sixth Assessment Report (2021), and his work has significantly shaped public health policies. Professor Hu leads the Ecosystem Change and Population Health research group at QUT. His career includes numerous accolades, including an ARC Future Fellowship and ten highly competitive grants. Prof Hu’s research focuses on the spatial and temporal dynamics of infectious diseases and the development of integrated EWS to predict disease outbreaks, with applications in public health policy and practice. His work also involves mentoring emerging researchers, organizing international symposia, and leading innovative research programs that have garnered national and international recognition.