Scientific advisory board

Carolyn S. Calfee, MD MAS is Professor of Medicine and Anesthesia at the University of California, San Francisco, where she attends in the medical intensive care unit and leads a clinical and translational research group focused on molecular phenotyping of critical illness and identifying new therapies for the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), sepsis, and related conditions. She received her medical degree from University of Pennsylvania and completed her residency, chief residency, and fellowship at University of California, San Francisco, where she has since been on faculty since 2007.

Chris Reutelingsperger is emeritus Professor of Biochemistry. He studied Biochemistry at the University of Utrecht and received his PhD degree from the Faculty of Medicine at Maastricht University in 1987. 

During his PhD-research he discovered the anticoagulant protein annexin A5 and patented its use in antithrombotic therapy. He was awarded the 5-years Senior Fellowship of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (KNAW) and conducted postdoctoral research at the Boehringer Ingelheim Institute für Arzneimittelforschung in Vienna and at the Cardiovascular Research Institute (CARIM) of Maastricht University. He discovered and patented the annexin A5 assay to measure apoptosis. Currently, the annexin A5 assay is used in research laboratories worldwide. 

In 2009 he was appointed Professor of Biochemistry of Apoptosis at the Faculty of Health Medicine and Life Sciences of Maastricht University where he as PI supervised research on molecular and cellular mechanisms of vascular remodeling with a focus on cell death and inflammation. He published over 250 peer-reviewed scientific papers, which have been cited more than 36500 times (Source: Google Scholar). 

He co-invented and patented the use of low anticoagulant heparin to treat patients with sepsis. He is (co-)inventor to 10 granted patents claiming certain applications of annexins and heparins in the laboratory and in the clinic. Currently he is CSO of PharmaTarget, a biotech company which he co-founded in 2006, and scientific advisor to Annexin Pharmaceuticals and Matisse Pharmaceuticals.

John Marshall is a Professor of Surgery and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Toronto, and a Senior Scientist in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of Unity Health Toronto.  He received his medical degree from the University of Toronto, followed by post-graduate training at Dalhousie University in Halifax and McGill University in Montreal.  He is the rounding and current Chair of the International Forum for Acute Care Trialists (InFACT), past-Chair of the International Sepsis Forum (ISF) and the Canadian Critical Care Trials Group (CCCTG), former Secretary-General of the World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care (WFSICC), and past-President of the Surgical Infection Society (SIS).  He is an Associate Editor of the journal, Critical Care, and a Senior Editor of Critical Care Medicine.  He has published more than 500 peer-reviewed manuscripts, and has been cited more than 150,000 times (Google Scholar).  He has a long-standing interest in host-microbial interactions, and in sepsis clinical trials, as well as a laboratory interest in the cellular mechanisms that regulate neutrophil survival.

Mervyn Singer is Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at University College London, UK. He studied medicine at St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College, London and qualified in 1981. He then trained in internal medicine and intensive care at various hospitals in and around the London area before coming to UCL and associated hospitals as a lecturer/senior registrar in 1989. He was subsequently promoted through the ranks, becoming a consultant in 1993 and awarded a Personal Chair in 2001. 

His research career began with the development of a haemodynamic monitor (oesophageal Doppler), now in use in >30 countries worldwide. He subsequently developed his interests in sepsis, infection, ischaemia-reperfusion injury and multiple organ failure with complementary studies in basic, translational and clinical research. He has a particular passion for the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in sepsis, publishing a seminal clinical paper in the Lancet in 2002. With clinicians and engineers at UCL/UCLH and Mercedes HPP, he led the production of a non-invasive respiratory support (CPAP) device for use during the COVID-19 pandemic; this device was engineered, tested, regulated, and 10,000 manufactured within one month of idea conception, with subsequent distribution to >20 countries. He currently has two novel drugs (for sepsis and ischaemia-reperfusion injury) and two novel monitors in development. 

He was the first UK intensivist to be awarded NIHR Senior Investigator status. He has authored and edited multiple textbooks including the Oxford Handbook of Critical Care and the Oxford Textbook of Critical Care. He co-chaired the ‘Sepsis-3’ international consensus committee that developed the latest sepsis definitions. The subsequent paper (Singer et al, JAMA 2016) has had >3.7 million views and been cited in >11500 publications. He has chaired the International Sepsis Forum, and sat on the Surviving Sepsis Campaign committee, various UK Department of Health/NHS advisory/research funding boards, and numerous industry advisory boards for novel drugs, monitors and diagnostics.

Tom van der Poll is Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Department of Medicine in the Amsterdam University Medical Centers. Van der Poll is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases. His training included a postdoctoral research fellowship in Cornell University Medical College in New York (1993-1995). His research focuses on pneumonia and sepsis, particularly on pathogenesis, the host response, immunotherapy and biomarkers. He is the former chair of the International Sepsis Forum, and was a member of international committee that established the new sepsis definitions (JAMA 2016). He was elected as member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019. His Web of Science report lists >1000 publications, that were cited >72000 times.