EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
 | DR. KAREN SCANLON President Dr. Karen Scanlon is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD. She is also the President of the International Bordetella Society. Her research seeks to define and therapeutically target age-related host factors that promote severe manifestations of pertussis in early life. |
 | DR. MARCELA PASETTI Treasurer Dr. Marcela Pasetti is a Professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD. Her laboratory researches vaccines and immunology to understand how protective immunity can be induced in animal models and in humans following infection and vaccination, and the mechanisms involved. |
 | DR. SEEMA MATTOO Dr. Seema Mattoo is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Biological Sciences (primary) and Biochemistry (by courtesy) at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. Her laboratory investigates the role of post-translational modifications catalyzed by Fic (filamentation induced by cAMP) proteins in regulating diverse signal transduction pathways, including bacterial pathogenesis, protein folding, neurodegeneration, diabetes, protein translation, and cellular trafficking. |
 | DR. ERIC HARVILL Dr. Eric Harvill is the Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Infectious Disease in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the University of Georgia, Athens, GA. His laboratory examines and considers the evolution and ecology of different Bordetella species to guide studies of their complex interactions with their hosts. |
 | DR. MONICA CARTELLE GESTAL Dr. Monica Cartelle Gestal is an Assistant Professor in the Department Microbiology and Immunology and the Gratis Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at LSU health, Shreveport, LA. Her laboratory focusses on two main questions: 1) to understand how bacteria manipulate host immune responses to increase colonization and persistence and 2) to investigate the role of eosinophils during clearance of bacterial infection and the generation of protective immunity. |
 | DR. PETER SEBO Dr. Peter Sebo is a Professor and Founder of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Bacterial Pathogens at the Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Prague. He is also the Founding Director of the Institute of Biotechnology of the CAS, designer of the BIOCEV research center in Vestec, and Professor of Microbiology at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague. His research focuses molecular and cellular mechanisms of action of bacterial toxins, such as the adenylate cyclase toxin action and on Bordetella pertussis biology and virulence mechanisms. His laboratory is also involved in therapeutic and prophylactic vaccine development. |
 | DR. KATHRYN EDWARDS Dr. Kathryn Edwards is a Professor of Pediatrics Emerita at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, TN. Her laboratory has designed, conducted and led pivotal Phase I, II and III vaccine clinical studies, including a Multicenter Acellular Pertussis Trial comparing 13 different acellular pertussis vaccines produced by different manufacturers throughout the world with two whole cell pertussis vaccines produced in the United States. |
 | DR. TOD MERKEL Dr. Tod Merkel is a Principal Investigator with the US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD. He is also the President of the International Bordetella Society. Dr. Merkel’s laboratory focuses on developing and evaluating animal models for studying the safety and efficacy of vaccines against Pertussis, Anthrax, and Staphylococcal infections. |
  | DR. DIMITRI DIAVATOPOULUS Dr. Dimitri Diavatopoulos is associate professor at the Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands, where he leads a research group focused on experimental and translational vaccinology. Dr. Diavatopoulos has a long-standing interest in respiratory tract infections, and pertussis in particular. His research integrates human vaccination studies and controlled human infection models for bacterial pathogens – including pertussis – with ‘omics’ technologies to gain a better mechanistic understanding of how our (mucosal) immune system recognizes and eliminates pathogens. He has coordinated the IMI-2 PERISCOPE consortium, a public-private consortium focusing on accelerating the development of next generation pertussis vaccines. He is also a founding partner of InFECT-NL, a recently established Dutch national initiative for early clinical research into new treatments and vaccines for infectious diseases DR. ANDREW GORRINGE Andrew Gorringe started research on the development of the Porton acellular pertussis vaccine in the early 1980s. His research moved onto meningococcal vaccine development in the 1990s with work on transferrin binding proteins as vaccine antigens. He also led the development of a Neisseria lactamica OMV vaccine to assessment in a phase I clinical trial. His group has developed functional antibody assays including a serum bactericidal antibody assay for B. pertussis and shown that pertactin is the only acellular vaccine antigen that generates this response. He has been part of the EU PERISCOPE (pertussis correlates of protection) vaccine consortium which included several clinical trials and the development of a controlled human infection model of pertussis infection. He is also active in developing immunoassays for Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Group B Streptococcus and a member of the WHO Technical Advisory Group for Group B Streptococcus vaccines. |
JUNIOR EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS
 | DR. BREEZE CAVELL Junior Executive Committee Dr. Breeze Cavell is a Senior Project Team Lead in Pathogen Immunology with the UK Health Security Agency, UK. |
 | DR. IAIN MACARTHUR Secretary Dr. Iain MacArthur is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Sciences at Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK. Dr. MacArthur serves as the IBS Secretary. |
 | KATELYN PARRISH Assistant Secretary Katelyn Parrish is a Graduate Student at Louisianna State University, and serves as the IBS Assistant Secretary. |
STAFF
 | CASSANDRA (CASSY) HOBBS Program Manager Cassandra (Cassy) Hobbs, Program Manager. Cassy is a Program Specialist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD. |
PAST EXECUTIVE COMITTEE MEMBERS
DR. F. HEATH DAMRON DR. RACHEL FERNANDEZ DR. ERIK HEWLETT
WVU-HSC U. of British Columbia Professor Emeritus, UVA
FOUNDING MEMBERS
| DR. ERIK HEWLETT Professor Emeritus, UVA | DR. HEATH DEMRON WVU-HSC | DR. MARIETTE BARBIER WVU-HSC | DR. ERIC HARVILL UGA |
| DR. PETER SEBO CAS, Prague | DR. KATHRYN EDWARDS Vanderbilt U. | DR. KINGSTON MILLS Trinity College, Dublin | DR. FLORENS VERSTEEGH |
| DR. SEEMA MATTOO Purdue U. | DR. JENNIFER MAYNARD U. of Texas | DR. LINDA EATON | DR. JUSTIN BEVERE WVU |
| DR. NICOLA KLEIN | DR. PURNIMA DUBEY OSU |