INVITED SPEAKER

Professor Alma Fulurija

Alma Fulurija is an immunologist and holds a PhD from the University of Western Australia. She has more than 15 years of experience in the biotech and pharma sectors working at the interface of academia and industry. She is currently the Project Lead for the Australian Strep A Vaccine Initiative (ASAVI) – an Australian-led global initiative led by the Telethon Kids Institute (Perth) in partnership with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (Melbourne), with the goal of reducing the disease burden caused by Group A Streptococcus infection by accelerating a vaccine through development. 

Prior to joining ASAVI, Alma held several senior positions both in Australia and Switzerland, including as Head of R&D at Ondek Pty Ltd leading the development of bacterial-based immunotherapies for the treatment of allergic disease, and at Cytos AG leading preclinical VLP-based vaccine programs. She completed postdoctoral training at the WHO Centre for Neonatal Immunology and Vaccinology at the University of Geneva. 

Alma is also an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the University of Western Australia, where she is a researcher and lecturer in immunology and supervises post-doctoral fellows and higher degree students. Her research involves understanding vaccine development for infectious diseases such as against Sars-Cov-2,  H. pylori, H. influenza and helminth infections.  

Alma has a strong interest in translating evidence-based research into clinical outcomes and has a deep understanding of immunology, preclinical and early clinical development of vaccines and immunotherapies.