IRIDS Virtual Science Talks

Head of the National Reference Center for Borrelia at the Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority (Bayerisches Landesamt für Gesundheit und Lebensmittelsicherheit) and serves as Science Officer for Germany's leading laboratory dedicated to Lyme borreliosis diagnostics and research.

As director of Germany's National Reference Centre for Borrelia, Dr. Fingerle is responsible for confirmatory testing, strain characterization, and surveillance of *Borrelia burgdorferi* and related species that cause Lyme borreliosis. His reference center plays a crucial role in the German healthcare system by:

- Providing confirmatory serology and molecular diagnostics for complex or unclear cases

- Monitoring epidemiological trends of Lyme borreliosis across Germany

- Supporting clinical laboratories with quality assurance and standardization

- Contributing to national and international surveillance networks

- Advancing scientific knowledge on Borrelia species and infection patterns

Based in Oberschleißheim, Bavaria—a region with significant Lyme borreliosis prevalence—Dr. Fingerle's expertise encompasses the full spectrum of Lyme disease diagnosis, from early-stage infection through late manifestations. His work is essential for accurate patient diagnosis, appropriate clinical management, and public health understanding of this tick-borne infection in Germany and across Europe.

Extraordinary Professor at the Goethe University Frankfurt's Medical Faculty and Chief Physician of the Central Institute for Laboratory Medicine, Microbiology, and Hospital Hygiene at Hospital Nordwest, Frankfurt a.M., Germany.

Dr. Hunfeld holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health, complemented by specialized certifications in hospital hygiene and antibiotic stewardship. His dual board certifications in laboratory medicine and medical microbiology, virology, and infection epidemiology establish him as a comprehensive expert in diagnostic medicine and infection control. He is also recognized as a physician in the Bundeswehr Medical Reserve as of 2025.

Throughout his career, Dr. Hunfeld has balanced rigorous clinical practice with academic contributions. He held senior positions at the University Hospital Frankfurt's Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hygiene before advancing to medical leadership roles. From 2013 to 2020, he served as Deputy and then Chief Medical Officer at Hospital Nordwest, demonstrating his commitment to institutional governance and quality improvement. Since 2009, he has held an appointment as Extraordinary Professor at the Goethe University Frankfurt's Medical Faculty, where he continues to mentor students and residents across multiple programs.

Furthermore, he is a recognized leader in quality assurance and laboratory standards, Dr. Hunfeld has held significant positions within national and international professional organizations, including his role as Vice Chair of INSTAND (Society for Quality Assurance in Medical Laboratories) since 2016. He serves on examination boards for the Hessian Medical Association and contributes to clinical guideline development, particularly regarding Lyme borreliosis. His editorial board memberships span peer-reviewed journals focused on antibiotics, tick-borne diseases, and laboratory medicine.

Prof. Lange is a pulmonologist and infectious diseases specialist. He is the Medical Director of the Research Center Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center, Professor of Respiratory Medicine & International Health at the University of Lübeck, and Head of the Clinical Tuberculosis Unit at the German Centre for Infection Research. He also serves on the Board of Directors of The Union, the world’s oldest and largest professional society for tuberculosis and other lung diseases.

Prof. Lange’s broad research interests include the epidemiology, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of tuberculosis, as well as the implementation of research findings into clinical practice. He is the founding Chairman of the Tuberculosis Network European Trials Group (TBNET).

He is one of the clinical leads of the UNITE4TB project, an EU-funded international clinical trials platform for the evaluation of novel anti-tuberculosis medicines operating in Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America.

Oxana Rucșineanu holds a Master in Public Health. As a survivor of drug-resistant TB, she leads the Moldova National Association of Tuberculosis Patients “SMIT” (Society of Moldova against Tuberculosis), providing psychosocial support and peer education while advocating for the rights of those affected by the disease.

Oxana is dedicated to ending stigma and ensuring community engagement in TB research and development. Nationally, she is an active member of the TB NGOs and Key Affected Populations Platforms, the Country Coordinating Mechanism, and the National Committee of Experts. Internationally, her work extends to the TB Global Community Advisory Board, the Global Coalition of TB Activists, TB People, and the WHO Regional Committee (RCC-THV). 

With years of experience as a consultant for WHO/Europe and the TB Europe Coalition, Oxana remains a leading voice in fostering constructive partnerships and ensuring patient-led perspectives drive the global TB response.

Jan De Waele is a surgery-trained intensivist at the department of Intensive Care Medicine of the Ghent University Hospital, full professor of Medicine at Ghent University and Senior Clinical Investigator with the Research Foundation Flanders, Belgium. His research activities focus on optimizing antibiotic therapy in severely ill infected patients to improve outcome and combat resistance development, with specific interest in PK/PD, therapeutic drug monitoring of antibiotics as well as antimicrobial stewardship. Interests also include abdominal infections, source control and sepsis management.

Jan participates in several guideline initiatives and serves as external reviewer for several national and international peer reviewed journals. He is the 2024-2026 President of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM).

Dr. Sien De Koster is a post-doctoral researcher in the Clinical Microbiology laboratory of the Antwerp University Hospital. She contributes to activities of several Belgian National Reference Centres (including for Enterococcus and invasive group A Streptococcus) and conducts research in the field of microbiology and infectious diseases. Dr. De Koster holds a Ph.D. in Medical Sciences from the University of Antwerp (2023) and a Master's degree in Bioscience Engineering from KU Leuven (2017).

Dr. Thomas Demuyser is a Clinical Microbiologist at the University Hospital of Antwerp, where he has been since 2024, and is also affiliated with the LAMB research group at Universiteit Antwerp. He specializes in molecular microbiology and genome sequencing in clinical practice. Dr. Demuyser holds Master's degrees in Clinical Biology and Infection Control, and obtained his Ph.D. in 2016.

Professor Prof. Dr. Velavan is a Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University Hospital Tübingen, where he leads the Molecular Genetics of Infectious Diseases Research Group. Furthermore, he is the founder and director of the Vietnamese-German Center for Medical Research in Vietnam.

His main research focus is on infectious diseases and global health, with particular attention to Southeast Asia, in collaboration with institutions like the University of Tübingen in Germany and VG-CARE in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Genetic factors of pathogens as well as those of the hosts decisively influence the phenotype of a disease and the immune response. Therefore, a particular focus of our work is the genetic characterization of pathogens and human genetic factors. His research group operates at the intersection of clinical and translational research, targeting high-burden infectious diseases such as dengue, malaria, and other neglected tropical diseases, but also viral hepatitis.

His research group is integral to the PAN-ASEAN Coalition for Epidemic and Outbreak Preparedness (PACE-UP; www.paceup.org), which focuses on global health challenges from a Southeast Asian perspective. Through a multidisciplinary approach, our team advances scientific knowledge, enhances regional epidemic preparedness, and supports health equity by fostering collaborations across the Global South.

Dr. Jochum is an immunologist and virologist by training. His doctoral research focused on the early immune response to viral infection and viral immune evasion strategies at the Helmholtz Center and LMU Munich, Germany. He joined Roche Diagnostics in 2014, where his team is responsible for developing assays for viral diseases, with a major focus on emerging viruses. In recent years, Dr. Jochum and his team were fully engaged in developing diagnostics for SARS-CoV-2 and associated pandemic research.