04 Oct 2024
Cumming Global Centre appoints two new members to Interim Scientific Advisory Board
The Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics has announced Professor Johan Neyts from the University of Leuven in Belgium and Professor Si Ming Man from the Australian National University as the newest members of its Interim Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB). This takes the ISAB’s membership to nine global experts.
The ISAB provides independent advice crucial to the success of the Cumming Global Centre. This includes guidance on funding allocation to ensure strategic alignment with the Centre's mission and to uphold scientific excellence. With members from Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and North America, the ISAB draws on international best practice and facilitates global knowledge sharing.
Professor Johan Neyts is one of the world’s leading virologists, whose groundbreaking research has focused on advancing antiviral treatments for infectious diseases including COVID-19, viral hepatitis, dengue and rabies.
“Joining the Cumming Global Centre’s Interim Scientific Advisory Board is a real privilege, and I’m looking forward to helping shape the Centre’s progress, particularly as it relates to antiviral innovation,” said Professor Neyts.
Professor Si Ming Man is an eminent expert in innate immunity, the body’s first line of defence against infectious diseases. Deciphering how the immune system first responds to infections and disease is an important strategic priority for the Cumming Global Centre, and the focus of its first international research partnership with the University of Bonn.
“The Cumming Global Centre is one of the most exciting medical research organisations established since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. I’m honoured to have the opportunity to input on the work it’s doing to shape future pandemic response,” said Professor Man.
Cumming Global Centre ISAB Chair, Professor Andrew Cuthbertson, welcomed Professor Neyts and Professor Man to the team.
“As we aim to advance the science behind therapeutic development for pathogens of pandemic potential, it’s critical that we tap into the world’s best scientific minds to ensure mission alignment and progress,” said Professor Cuthbertson
“Professor Neyts and Professor Man both fit that bill, and are extremely valuable additions to the Centre’s Interim Scientific Advisory Board.”
The ISAB will next meet in November for the Cumming Global Centre’s inaugural Annual Symposium at the Doherty Institute in Melbourne.