Katherine Perez is a pharmacist and infectious diseases expert who leads the antimicrobial surveillance efforts at Pfizer. She oversees the Antimicrobial Testing Leadership And Surveillance (ATLAS) program and dissemination of data on emerging AMR trends globally.
Dr. Perez developed and co-directed the antimicrobial stewardship program at Houston Methodist Hospital System and then joined Biomerieux as a Director of Antimicrobial Stewardship where she worked with clinical laboratories to integrate diagnostics into antimicrobial stewardship initiatives. Now, in her role at Pfizer, she is responsible for leading AMR surveillance and integrating the impact of vaccines with real-world evidence generation.
Katherine holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Texas in Austin, Texas and completed her postgraduate training in infectious diseases pharmacy at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas and Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas and pharmacoepidemiology at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. Dr. Perez is board certified in pharmacotherapy and infectious diseases pharmacy. She has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on topics such as antimicrobial resistance, antimicrobial and diagnostic stewardship, and vaccine-preventable infections.
Dr. Alisa Serio is Executive Director of Microbiology and Nonclinical Development at Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and has previously held positions in microbiology at Achaogen, Inc. Dr. Serio has over a decade of experience in antibacterial research and development, with a specific focus on combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR). She has contributed to the FDA approval and commercial launch of new antibiotics designed to evade AMR and lead research activities under several United States government partnerships including Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). She received her PhD in molecular biology and microbiology from Tufts University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and American Heart Association (AHA). Dr. Serio is a long-standing member of the American Society of Microbiology, Infectious Disease Society of America, and the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.
Alex joined the Vivli team in 2024 as an Executive Assistant where she provides support to our team.
Prior to joining Vivli, Alex worked with a boutique immigration law firm as a Law Clerk, supporting the partners and preparing substantive legal documents. Alex holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Legal Studies.
Azusa joined the Vivli team in 2022 as a Senior Advisor. Azusa will be focusing on clinical data sharing and outreach in Japan. Before joining Vivli, she has nearly 15 years’ experience as leader for the Biostatistics & Programming Department at Sanofi in Tokyo. She holds a degree in algebraic geometry from Tokyo Woman’s Christian University.
Dr. Midega is a Senior Research Manager for Wellcome’s Drug Resistant Infections (DRI) program where she is providing scientific leadership, program development and management support to the surveillance and epidemiology program on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR). At Wellcome, she led the recently published work on the burden of AMR and continues to lead science and policy research which aims at evaluating how legislative changes banning antibiotic use in animal meat production can reduce the potential transfer of resistant pathogens between animals and humans; and a surveillance program on the development of a comprehensive data capture system for patient-centered AMR surveillance in low- and middle-income countries. In line with the DRI programs interest in accelerating the development of new antibiotics, Janet worked closely with CARB-x based at Boston University, USA in 2018/19, as part of Wellcome’s role as an accelerator and support for companies joining CARBx. Prior to joining Wellcome, Janet was a scientist at Imperial College and the University of Oxford, Big Data Institute; in collaboration with the KEMRI- Wellcome Trust Research Program where she worked for over 10 years conducting academic research on the genomic epidemiology of malaria. Janet is also a Senior Fellow in Public Health at the Aspen Institute, Washington DC, USA.
Dr. Gemma Buckland-Merrett has a PhD in Immunology, an MSc in Global Health and Development and an MSc in Controlling Infectious Diseases. She has spent the last fifteen years working in multi-disciplinary research roles across academic and NGO sectors, bridging the gap between science and policy. Her work has spanned epidemiology, public health and access to medicines research with a particular focus on preventing and controlling infectious diseases and AMR. Prior to joining Wellcome Trust, Gemma was an epidemiologist at Public Health England working on travel-associated infections. She also spent three years working in Africa focusing on evidence-based interventions design to improve access to medicines. Gemma now oversees and leads the DRI work at Wellcome Trust.
Dr. Kajumbula is a Clinical Pathologist specializing in Medical Microbiology since 1998. His area of interest and Research is antimicrobial resistance notably the mechanisms of resistance, molecular approaches to rapid detection resistant infections as well as infection prevention and control. In recognition of his leadership role in the control of antimicrobial resistance in Uganda, Dr Kajumbula was nominated to chair the country’s Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Committee, a position he still holds. To this end, he has coordinated development of the Countries National Action Plan against antimicrobial resistance as well as a national surveillance plan for antimicrobial resistance.
Trudie Lang is Professor of Global Health Research; Head of the Global Health Network and Senior Research Scientist in Tropical Medicine, Nuffield Department of Medicine. She has over 20 years’ experience in running clinical trials, including trials in the developing world, for the pharmaceutical industry, the World Health Organisation and in academia.
Trudie focuses on combating diseases of poverty through the generation of high-quality evidence. She has worked in industry, academia and UN organisations. With her team and partners, she works to drive better health outcomes in vulnerable communities by enabling local leadership and ground-up implementation of high-quality health research studies.
Within the University of Oxford, she devised and leads The Global Health Network which is a major international collaborative enterprise that sets out to improve health by improving research.
Dr Mendelson studied Medicine at St. Mary’s Hospital, London, and specialised in Infectious Diseases at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, where he also attained his PhD. He moved to The Rockefeller University, New York in 2001 and subsequently to University of Cape Town to work on tuberculosis and innate immunity. In 2007 he started the first accredited Infectious Diseases Training Centre at University of Cape Town, and in 2011, he co-founded the South African Antibiotic Stewardship Programme, a grass roots advocacy and implementation collective. He co-authored the resulting South African Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Strategic Framework and chaired the South African Ministerial Advisory Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance from its inception in 2014 until 2023.
Dr Mendelson in involved with multiple international partners on AMR and his focus is now on developing international policy to mitigate AMR.
Dr. Stergachis’ research and teaching focuses primarily on the safety and use of medicines and vaccines in LMICs. He is Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs in the School of Pharmacy, Director of the Global Medicines Program and Director of the Biomedical Regulatory Affairs Program, University of Washington. He also serves as Adjunct Professor of Health Metrics Sciences, Epidemiology and Health Systems & Population Health. He directed a pregnancy registry study on the safety of antimalarials in sub-Saharan African countries. He has developed novel approaches for HIV pharmacovigilance and strengthening pharmacy services in LMICs. He is co-investigator for a study to estimate the global burden of AMR. He has conducted antimicrobial consumption and antimicrobial use projects in Tanzania. A licensed pharmacist, his interests also include antimicrobial stewardship. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, having served on numerous committees. Previously, he was senior advisor to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Safety Surveillance Working Group, a member of the US FDA Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee, and Chair of the Malaria in Pregnancy Consortium Safety Working Group. He is a Fellow of the American Pharmacists Association and of the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology.
