Independent Scientific Committee
In the interest of independence, rigour and transparency of the scientific results, the scientific leadership of the DRIVE project is supported by an Independent Scientific Committee (ISC).
The members of the ISC have expertise in the areas of influenza vaccine effectiveness evaluation, statistics, influenza strain surveillance, vaccination programs, observational & database research, and clinical practice. They have experience working in European and international academic institutions, public health organizations and regulatory agencies, and have no recent affiliation with any of the DRIVE partners.
ISC members are not paid for their service but are reimbursed for meetings and associated travel expenses.
ISC members
Dr. Hector Izurieta
Dr. Hect
or Izurieta is a senior epidemiologist at the office of biostatistics and Epidemiology in CBER/FDA. He has over 80 publications, mainly in vaccines and other biologics effectiveness and safety. He worked in Africa for 5 years with the French Doctors without Borders and the Swiss cooperation, and subsequently worked at CDC for 11 years (4 seconded at PAHO/WHO, where he played a key role in the 2003 interruption of measles circulation in the Americas). He holds a medical degree, an MPH from Harvard University, and completed CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) and Preventive Medicine programs in Atlanta, GA. (DOI)
Prof. Elisabeth Miller
Prof. Eli
sabeth Miller is a Consultant Epidemiologist and former Head of the Immunisation, Hepatitis and Blood Safety Department of Public Health England. She has extensive experience in studies of risks and benefits of vaccination programmes and specific vaccines. Her other interests include seroepidemiology, mathematical modelling, and viral infections in pregnancy. She was a founding member of the WHO Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety and served as a member of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE), chairing working groups on pertussis, polio and influenza. (DOI)
Dr. Mark Miller
Dr. Mark Miller founded and directed the Multinational Influenza Mortality Study, a collaborative research network to analyze the disease burden, transmission dynamics and genomics of epidemic and pandemic influenza viruses and its control. This network involved over 50 nations and over 800 virologists, epidemiologists, public health investigators and manufacturers to produce over 250 research publications to influence global, regional and national influenza policy. (DOI)
Dr. Stefania Salmaso
Dr. Stefania Salmaso is a former Head of the Communicable Disease Epidemiology Unit and a Director of the National Centre for Epidemiology, Surveillance and Health Promotion at the Italian National Institute of Health (ISS). She has coordinated several research projects, surveys and randomized clinical trials, established surveillance systems and co-authored approximately 300 publications. Dr. Salmaso has participated as an expert in various initiatives and committees at EMA, WHO and ECDC. Since 2016 she retired from ISS and currently is an independent expert working with communication and capacity building on vaccination issues. (DOI)
Prof. Marianne van der Sande
Prof. Marianne van der Sande is the professor of Public Health Epidemiology at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, where she heads the Department of Public Health. Before, she was head of the Centre for Epidemiology and Surveillance of Infectious Diseases at the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment for 10 years. She has co-authored around 200 publications, including several on influenza vaccine effectiveness estimates. (DOI)