The University of Melbourne
23–28 November 2008Conference Sponsors
Speakers
Jean-Philippe Chippaux is medical doctor and epidemiologist at the French government’s Institute of Research for Development (IRD). While still a medical student, he established a snake farm at the Pasteur Institute, in the Ivory Coast, to collect snake venom and study its composition and toxicology. He also started to investigate the biology and toxonomy of snakes, and the epidemiology of snakebite.
After completing his national service at the Pasteur Institute, French Guyana, in 1981 and 1982, J. P. Chippaux has since been posted in Africa from 1985 to 2005, then in Bolivia. He published more than 250 scientific articles on tropical diseases, half of which concern snakes or snakebites.Joao Luiz Costa Cardoso
Born in 1944 in Paraguassu,SP. Medical studies at Universidade de S.Paulo (1965-1970). Interests: Dermatology, Clinical Toxinology and Public Health. Former vice-president of Sociedade Brasileira de Toxinologia (1990-1992). Coordinator of Butantan Antivenom Study Group (BIASG) in collaboration of Oxford University and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (1989-2005).Professor Bart Currie
Bart Currie is an Infectious Diseases Physician at Royal Darwin Hospital and Professor in Medicine at the Northern Territory Clinical School, Flinders University. He is also Head of the Tropical and Emerging Infectious Diseases Division of the Menzies School of Health Research at Charles Darwin University. Areas of interest include clinical and epidemiological aspects of tropical and emerging infections, development of treatment guidelines and clinical toxinology.Professor H. Janaka de Silva MD, DPhil (Oxon), FRCP, FNatAcadSci (SL), Hon. FRACP
Janaka de Silva is a professor of Medicine at the University of Kelaniya and a Consultant Physician at Colombo North Teaching Hospital, Ragama, Sri Lanka. His research interests in snakebite include its epdimediology and clinical trials seeking to improve safety of antivenom. Janaka is the team leader of the current WHO funded project to estimate the global burden of snakebite.Professor Md Abul Faiz
Abul Faiz has obtained his Ph D at Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. He is a professor of Medicine, Dean and Principal and is currently the Director General of Health Services for the Government of Bangladesh. In this role Abul is associated with policy planning for health service, medical education and research in Bangladesh. Abul’s current research interests include: Malaria, Snake Bite, Nipah infection.Gopalakrishnakone, P. MB, BS, PhD, DSc, FAMS
P. Gopalakrishnakone is presently Professor in the Anatomy Department and Chairman of the Venom and Toxin Research Programme at the National University of Singapore. He is also a consultant to the Defence Science Organization in Singapore and Adjunct Senior Research Scientist at the Defence Medical Research Institute. He is an Honorary Principal Fellow at the Australian Venom Research Unit.Professor Gopal’s research studies includes structure function studies (toxin detection, biosensors, antitoxins and neutralization factors), toxicogenomics and expression studies, antimicrobial peptides from venoms and toxins and PLA2 inhibitors as potential drug candidate for inflammatory diseases. The techniques he employs include quantum dots to toxinology, computational biology, microarrays and protein chips.
His research awards include the Outstanding University Researcher Award from the National University of Singapore (1998); Ministerial Citation, NSTB Year 2000 Award in Singapore; and the Research Excellence Award from the Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore (2003). His awards in teaching include, Faculty Teaching Excellence Award 2003/4 & NUS Teaching Excellence Award 2003/4. He is President of International Society on Toxinology till 2012.
José María Gutiérrez
José María Gutiérrez was born in San José, Costa Rica, in 1954. After performing studies at the University of Costa Rica (B.Sc.) and Oklahoma State University (PhD), he joined the Instituto Clodomiro Picado (University of Costa Rica), where he teaches and does research in snake venoms and antivenoms.Dr Geoff Isbister
Geoff Isbister is a clinical researcher with expertise in clinical toxicology/toxinology. He coordinates an Australian multicentre snakebite study investigating antivenom, studies on widow spider bite, jellyfish envenoming and drug toxicity. In 2007 he was recognized as one of Australia’s Top 10 young scientists with a Cosmos Bright Sparks Award.
.Professor Achille Ahlin Massougbodji
Achille Ahlin Massougbodji was born in Abomey (Republic of Benin) on March 15th, 1949. He studied Medicine in Dakar (Senegal) and continued his medical training in Montpellier (France) where he specialized in Parasitology and Mycology. He practiced Tropical Medicine and Reanimation in several French cities, notably Perpignan, Bordeaux and Paris.
After becoming an adjunct in Parasitology, he was appointed Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Cotonou, and then at the Regional Institute of Public Health (W.H.O.) at Ouidah. He has been Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Cotonou and teaches Parasitology at the University of Parakou (Northern Benin). He is a member of several Scientific Councils and Societies in Africa and Europe, and of the International Committee of Bioethics of UNESCO. He is a founding member of the Pan African Bioethic Initiative (PABIN), and has been in the Executive Bureau since its creation.
After some twenty years, Achille Massougbodji has conducted numerous clinical studies on malaria and filariasis and, more recently, on ophidian envenomationsDr Abdulsalami Nasidi
Dr. Abdulsalami Nasidi has served as Director of Public Health and Special Projects with Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health. He was appointed Chair of the Avian and Pandemic Influenza Rapid Response Team. He has also served as Consultant to the World Health Organization on AIDS and haemorrhagic fever. His main contribution concerning snakebites has been to introduce in Nigeria the saw scaled viper antivenom (Echitab®).Kavi Ratanabanangkoon
Kavi Ratanabanangkoon received his PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Wisconsin Madison in 1972. He was Professor of Immunology at the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University until 2004. He is currently Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Immunology, Chulabhorn Research Institute, BangkokDr Tun-Pe
Tun-Pe, MBBS DCP PhD FRCP(Edin) retired-Director of the Department of Medical Research (Lower Myanmar) initiated snakebite research in 1981. His research covered different aspects of snakebites namely innovation of fang-proof boots, rapid dipstick test, immunodiagnosis, local compression immobilization first-aid, venom-antivenom research, pathophysiology, epidemiology and antivenom storage in the village.Professor David A. Warrell
Now Emeritus Professor of Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford. Formerly physician, teacher, researcher and traveller in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Papua New Guinea. Started the Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Network in 1979. Fascinated by tropical and respiratory diseases, venomous animals, envenoming, plant and chemical poisoning and expedition medicine.Prof. Julian White
Prof. White has been involved in managing envenoming, notably snake and spider bites, for over 30 years and has written many papers, monographs and book chapters on this topic. He was the founding Director of the Toxinology Dept., Women’s & Children’s Hospital, Adelaide, a position he still holds, and is internationally recognised for his work in clinical Toxinology.
