IVVN webinar: One health, COVID-19 and lessons from veterinary vaccination

Dr Michael Francis has over 40 years of experience in vaccine research and development and has published more than 125 scientific papers. He obtained his PhD in viral immunology from the University of Surrey, UK, and began his scientific career at the Wellcome Foundation Foot-and-Mouth Disease Vaccine Laboratories, where he conducted research into the immune response to FMD vaccination. He later joined Wellcome Biotechnology Ltd and investigated novel vaccines for both human and veterinary diseases, with a particular emphasis on peptide vaccines. Dr Francis then moved to Pitman-Moore and enjoyed a progressive career with Mallinckrodt Veterinary, Schering-Plough Animal Health, Intervet/Schering-Plough and MSD Animal Health. During this time he progressed to become Executive Director and Head of Research and Development within the UK, and took on responsibility for a broad range of veterinary vaccine projects against viral, bacterial and parasitic diseases, leading to the development of successful commercial vaccines for all major domesticated veterinary species (including three vaccines against animal coronaviruses). He is currently the Managing Director of a specialist vaccine consultancy, BioVacc Consulting Ltd. Michael was elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Biology and awarded an Honorary Associateship of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, in recognition of his contribution to the field of vaccine development and animal wellbeing. In addition, he is currently a scientific editor of the journal “Research in Veterinary Science” and a member of the Zoonoses and Emerging Livestock Systems Independent Programme Advisory Group (ZIPAG), the UK Vaccine Network, the Veterinary Vaccinology Network Coordination Group, an Independent Member of the UK Science Partnership for Animal and Plant Health, a Trustee of the Jenner Vaccine Foundation and a Board member of the IVVN.