2026 ISAR AWARDEES
AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
Peter Piot, MD, PhD
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK
KU Leuven, Belgium
From Ebola to Corona: 50 Years of Viruses, Action, People, Politics
Peter Piot, MD, PhD is a Professor of Global Health and former Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Senior Advisor at the Gates Foundation, and visiting professor at the KU Leuven, and the National University of Singapore. He was Special Advisor to EC President von der Leyen on Health Security, and was the founding Executive Director of UNAIDS and Under Secretary-General of the UN. He co-discovered the Ebola virus in 1976, and led research on HIV, women’s health and infectious diseases. His MD is from Ghent and PhD from Antwerp, and worked at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp; the University of Washington, Seattle; the University of Nairobi; Imperial College London; the College de France, Paris. He is a member of the Belgian, American, British, and French Academies of Medicine, and the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. He is Chair of the Strategic Committee of the Pasteur Network, Paris; the Advisory Committee of the Global Burden of Disease, Seattle; of PREPARE, Singapore; and of JIHS, the Japan Institute of Health Security; and was a founding Board Member of CEPI, and of the Global Fund to fight AIDS,TB, Malaria. He was made a Baron in his native Belgium, and received a UK Knighthood, and the Grand Cordon of the Rising Sun, Japan. His awards include the Canada Gairdner Global Health Award, Robert Koch Gold Medal Prince Mahidol Award, Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize, Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights, Paul Harris Fellow, WHO Life Achievement Award, and was a 2014 TIME Person of the Year. He has published over 650 scientific articles and 17 books, including No Time to Lose, available in 5 languages.
GERTRUDE ELION MEMORIAL AWARD
Pei-Yong Shi, PhD
GSK, United States
Talk Title: TBD
Pei-Yong Shi, PhD has a unique mix of international experience from across public health (New York State Department of Health), industry (BMS, Novartis, and GSK), and academia [Yale University and University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB)]. He is internationally recognized for his contributions to virus research with over 430 papers; and for his leadership in academia and industry in developing antivirals and vaccines that are in human use. A recent example is his development of the first peer-reviewed infectious clone of SARS-CoV-2, which facilitated the rapid development of the first COVID mRNA vaccine; he also generously shared this critical research tool with over 300 laboratories to enhance COVID research. During his tenure at UTMB from 2015 to 2023, he and his collaborators pioneered research in Zika virus and SARS-CoV-2, and founded the Sealy Institute for Drug Discovery at UTMB. He is currently Global Head of Viral Vaccines at GSK and is responsible for development of novel vaccines and therapeutics.
WILLIAM PRUSOFF MEMORIAL AWARD
Valeria Cagno, PhD
Institute of Microbiology, Lausanne, Switzerland
University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland
Unconventional Approaches to Broad-Spectrum Antivirals
Valeria Cagno, PhD is a Group Leader and Assistant Professor at the Institute of Microbiology of Lausanne, working on broad-spectrum innovative antiviral approaches. She did her postdoctoral work between the University of Geneva (Laboratory of Caroline Tapparel) and EPFL (Laboratory of Francesco Stellacci). She got her PhD in Medicine and Experimental Therapy from the University of Torino, working in the laboratory of David Lembo. Her current research focuses on finding innovative antiviral approaches for respiratory viruses, flaviviruses, and emerging viruses targeting the host cell, the viral attachment, and viral RNA. She authored and co-authored more than 60 publications in international journals, including Nature Materials, Science Advances, Science Translational Medicine, Lancet Microbe, Antiviral Research, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Journal of Medical Virology, and others, and she is the inventor of 8 patents. Her research has been funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, Novartis Biomedical Foundation, Bavarian Nordic, and the InnoSTEP fund. When she does not work with viruses, she likes to talk about viruses in podcasts.
ANTONÍN HOLÝ MEMORIAL AWARD
Andrea Brancale, PhD
University of Chemistry and Technology, Czech Republic
CADD in Antiviral Research: Between Promise and Challenge
Professor Andrea Brancale, PhD is Chair of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Chimica e Tecnologia Farmaceutiche from the University of Rome “La Sapienza” in 1996, and in 2001 was awarded a PhD by Cardiff University for his thesis on a novel class of nucleosides with anti-VZV activity. From February 2001 to September 2002 he carried out postdoctoral research in Professor Chris McGuigan’s group, working on a GSK-sponsored antiviral project. As a Lecturer, Professor Brancale focused his research on molecular modelling and computer-aided design, with particular emphasis on the development of novel anticancer and antiviral compounds. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles and is named as an inventor on 13 patents. He served as an elected board member of the International Society for Antiviral Research in 2013–2019 and again in 2022–2025, and in 2013 received the William Prusoff Young Investigator Award for his contributions to antiviral research. Professor Brancale has contributed to several projects that progressed from basic medicinal chemistry through to clinical evaluation. He is the co-founder and Chair of Awen Oncology Ltd., a company dedicated to the development of innovative anticancer therapies.
ALICE BALL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Jinhong Chang, MD, PhD
Baruch S. Blumberg Institute, USA
A 15-Year Academic Journey: Discovery and Development of a Small Molecule Drug Candidate for Yellow Fever
Dr. Jinhong Chang, MD, PhD is a Professor and Vice President of Drug Development at the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, where she holds the Harvey Alter Chair Professorship. Her academic and research career spans over two decades, with a focus on antiviral drug discovery and translational medicine. Dr. Chang received her medical degree and Ph.D. degree in clinical virology from Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China. She pursued postdoctoral training at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she began her research on molecular virology of viral hepatitis and antiviral therapeutics. Her research interests focus on the discovery and development of direct-acting small-molecule antivirals, host-targeting agents, and immune modulators for hepatitis viruses, as well as emerging and re-emerging viral pathogens including yellow fever virus, dengue virus, and other hemorrhagic fever viruses. She currently leads a multidisciplinary team working under a NIAID-funded program to develop an orally available antiviral candidate for yellow fever, targeting the viral NS4B protein. Dr. Chang previously served as Secretary of the International Society for Antiviral Research (ISAR) and Editor of Antiviral research. She actively contributes to peer review and scientific leadership in the antiviral research community.