ISV President’s Message
Linda S. Klavinskis, PhD (ISV President, 2024-2025)
Professor of Viral Immunology, Department of Infectious Diseases, King’s College London.
It is an honour and privilege to serve as President of the ISV, an association that brings together talented scientists from across the globe at all stages of their careers to exchange knowledge, sparks new ideas and inspires solutions to the most challenging human, animal, and One Health problems amenable to vaccine and immunotherapeutic interventions.
I would like to thank Dr Denise Doolan, the outgoing ISV President for her leadership during her term and congratulate Ted Gibson on assuming the position of Director of ISV Operations.
I have been an active member of the ISV for almost a decade, contributing to the ISV’s activities as Board member (since 2018), General Secretary (2019-2020), Congress and webinar co-chair (2019, 2020, 2021, 2023) and the Awards and Prize committee chair (since 2023). I have seen first-hand the amazing work our members tirelessly undertake to support the ISV through its committees, webinars, conferences and more, behind-the-scenes. Thank you to those of you who are involved for this remarkable service. Last year, it was my pleasure to establish a new program to honour those who have made such substantial contributions to the ISV. Congratulations to our 2023 honouree’s, Drs Shan Lu, and Margaret Liu for your outstanding altruism and service to ISV. Going forward, we have a lot to do as we expand our activities. I welcome members (at all stages of their careers) to come forward and join the work of our committees by emailing me at President@isv-online.org. Your ideas, comments and participation are intrinsic to shaping the ISV’s programs and core mission: to promote knowledge exchange, engage with the public to explain the basic tenets and importance of vaccines, connect scientists across the broad disciplines of vaccine sciences and importantly support the next generation of vaccine scientists. Participation is an excellent way for early career scientists to enhance your visibility, network, and benefit from working with more senior vaccinologists.
At our recent ISV Congress in Lausanne, attended by over 385 delegates in-person and 100 virtual, I was inspired and motivated by the enthusiasm and talent of the 70+ early career researchers (ECRs) who interacted and bounced ideas with senior ISV members in a dynamic poster session. Similarly, those who presented their data in the ‘Bright Sparks’ PhD and ECR oral presenter sessions were impressive in their research and level of preparation for the presentations. We have a rich stream of trainees who are the future of our field whom we need to support, retain, and nurture. One of my priorities as President is to provide a focal hub through social media and webinars for this ‘Next Generation’ of ISV vaccinologists to network and advance their careers through providing opportunities to increase their profile and to engage with industry in practical career-orientated sessions. Furthermore, an important goal this year is to build a network of mentors, while continuing to support ECR participation at the annual Congress with travel awards.
The field of vaccine sciences is going through an exciting time. Vaccines against the old foes of malaria, RSV and Chikungunya have recently been licenced. However, climate change and globalisation provide new and re-emerging threats of infectious pathogens that will challenge our collective minds to develop effective solutions. Technological innovations abound; AI is being applied to epitope identification and immunogen design against novel viral threats; patch, and powdered vaccine platforms for needle-free systemic and mucosal delivery are advancing through the clinic. Developments in targeting shared neo-antigens combined with other immunotherapies are on the horizon as exciting approaches to treat cancer. These will be focal topics that will constitute key parts of the ISV Annual Congress in Seoul, South Korea (Oct 21-24).
I encourage you to ask your colleagues and trainees to become ISV members. For their visibility, professionalisation and career as well as supporting our field it is one of the best steps they can take, and ISV will be strengthened by their participation.
Finally, and importantly, I would like to thank our donors and sponsors. We could not achieve our goals without their critical support. To sustain and grow our mission, particularly to enable more participation of young, global, and diverse vaccinologists, we do require additional philanthropic support and sponsorship, and I would be delighted to engage with potential future supporters. Additionally, we are grateful for the personal donations the ISV has received, and welcome additional donations through our web site (give link).
I look forward to serving as President over the next two years, interacting with many of you through our projects and committees, and seeing you all at our next Annual Congress in Seoul.
