Penta Foundation UK is an independent UK charity registered on the 22nd of October, 2019.
The Foundation seeks to strengthen the overarching Penta network in the UK specifically to promote research into infectious diseases in children, support research focussed on its scientific priorities, and carry out training and educational programs to help facilitate these goals.
The charity is composed of a vibrant network of experts and investigators generating solutions for children’s health, notably infections. Through the promotion of impactful research on prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management of infections in children and pregnant women as well as through training and education programs for clinical providers and researchers, Penta UK strives to improve the health and standard of care of patients in the UK.
Penta Foundation UK promotes quality research into infectious diseases through the allocation of grants. Currently there are no active grants. The charity is actively seeking out funding opportunities.
The impact we want to have on the UK society is to:
- Improve therapeutic and disease prevention options for children and pregnant women
- Improve the standard of care for patients across the UK affected by infectious diseases.
Board of Trustees
Claire Thorne
Claire Thorne is a Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology in the Population, Policy and Practice Research and Teaching Department, UCL Institute of Child Health, University College London, UK. Claire’s research has focused on the epidemiology of viral infections with respect to maternal and child health, with a particular emphasis on HIV, viral hepatitis and Zika virus. Claire leads the UK and Ireland National Surveillance of HIV in Pregnancy and Childhood and hepatitis B and C surveillance and cohort studies in the UK and Ukraine, and co-leads the European Pregnancy and Paediatric HIV Cohort Collaboration and PENTAHep (an international paediatric HCV clinical network). She is an Advisory Board member of the International Antiretroviral Pregnancy Registry. Claire serves on technical working groups for WHO and UNICEF, and is a Member of the Regional Committee for Validation of Elimination of MTCT of HIV and/or syphilis in the WHO Region. She has been a member of the Scientific Committee for the International Workshop on HIV Pediatrics since 2009. Claire is a member of the International Advisory Board of Lancet HIV, Editorial Panel of Journal of Viral Eradication and Editorial Board of HIV Medicine.
Michael Sharland
Michael has a research interest in optimising antimicrobial prescribing in children. He is the joint Chair of Penta. He was the previous Chair of the ESPID Research Committee. In the UK, he Chairs the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Infection Committee. He is the Chief Advisor on anti-infectives to the Children’s British National Formulary. He also Chairs the Department of Health’s advisory committee, Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection, which advises the UK government on antimicrobial use and resistance. He has published 220 papers on the optimal use of antimicrobials in children.
Carlo Giaquinto
Carlo is the President of Penta Foundation and Full Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Padua (Italy). Head of the paediatric HIV clinical trial unit of Padua Hospital, he is author of more than 220 papers in peer-reviewed journals. He is the coordinator of several International research projects and scientific reviewer of international journals including The Lancet, AIDS, PIDJ, HIV Medicine, Paediatrics, and Member of the Editorial Board of the research journal “Infectious Diseases” and of “Journal of Virus Eradication”. In 2017 Carlo Giaquinto was given the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID) Bill Marshal Award.