Board of Directors

Carlo Giaquinto is the President of Penta Foundation and 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 received the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID) Bill Marshal Award.

Claire Thorne is a Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Head of the Population, Policy and Practice Research and Teaching Department, UCL Great Ormond Street 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, and she has conducted research on HIV, viral hepatitis, syphilis, SARS-CoV-2 and Zika virus. Claire leads several cohort and surveillance studies on infections in pregnancy. This includes the Integrated Screening Outcomes Surveillance Service (ISOSS) which monitors HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B infections in pregnancy and related outcomes in England, and the pregnancy component of the European Pregnancy and Paediatric Infections Cohort Collaboration (EPPICC). She is an Advisory Board member of the International Antiretroviral Pregnancy Registry. Claire serves on technical working groups for WHO and is a Member of the Regional Committee for Validation of Elimination of MTCT of HIV and/or syphilis in the WHO Europe 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.  

Julia Bielicki is Full Professor and Senior Consultant in Paediatric Infectious Diseases in London (City St George’s, University of London) and Basel (University Children’s Hospital Basel). She holds a Masters of Public Health and PhD from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Julia was part of the core team of the Antibiotic Resistance and Prescribing in European Children project, one of the first international collaborations on antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance in children to date. Her current research focuses on observational and interventional studies that aim to improve childhood antibiotic use in the light of an increasing burden of antimicrobial resistance and the need to conserve antibiotics for future generations. She is involved in several strategic randomised trials investigating optimal antibiotic use in children suffering from pneumonia and in neonates with sepsis. Julia is also leading the NeoIPC project aiming to identify and implement best infection prevention and control practices in neonatal units.

Diana Gibb is a paediatrician and Professor of Epidemiology and Clinical Trials at MRC Clinical Trials Unit at University College London.  Over the last 30 years Di has set up and coordinated a network of clinical trials and cohorts across Europe, Thailand and South America mainly within paediatric HIV infection. This work expanded to Sub-Saharan Africa in the early 2000s where she has undertaken large multi-country trials to address strategy questions in adult and paediatric HIV, more recently expanding to India and South Asia, and into other diseases including tuberculosis, malaria and bacterial infections.

Di is a founder of Penta and vice-chair of the Penta Foundation Board. She has served on Wellcome Trust and MRC research boards as well as WHO advisory and guideline committees. In 2019 she was presented with an honorary doctorate from the University of York and in 2020 was made a fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences.

Paolo Rossi is an Immunologist and Professor of Paediatrics at the Children’s Hospital Bambino Gesù/ University of Rome Tor Vergata. He dedicated most of his career to congenital immunodeficiency pathogenesis. Particularly, in the field of HIV, he has performed significant research on MTCT mechanisms, HIV molecular diagnosis in infants, and analysis of immunological mechanisms correlating to early ART. Paolo coordinated the only HIV therapeutic vaccine trial conducted on HIV infected children. He has published more than 260 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Elizabeth Robinson is Co-Founder, Vice Chairman at Indaco Venture Partners SGR.