Meet the
SPEAKERS
Discover the esteemed lineup of speakers at the STI & HIV 2025 World Congress in Montreal. These experts will share their insights, cutting-edge research findings, and invaluable experiences, contributing to the advancement of knowledge in the field of sexually transmitted infections and public health
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
JeannE
Marrazzo
Jeanne Marrazzo is currently the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health in the United States. Prior to her position at NIAID, Dr. Marrazzo was Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and was a professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Washington.
Dr. Marrazzo previously served as the president of the International Society for STD Research and received the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association’s Distinguished Career Award, the highest recognition of contributions to research and mentoring in the field. She is currently a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and is board certified in infectious disease. Dr. Marrazzo also has chaired the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Council and the ABIM Infectious Disease Specialty Board. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Harvard University; her M.D. from Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia; and her M.P.H. in epidemiology from the University of Washington, Seattle. She completed residency and chief residency in internal medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
Henry
de Vries
Henry de Vries (1967) is dermatologist-venereologist with expertise in skin infections, especially sexually transmitted infections. In 2010 he was appointed Professor of skin infections at the University of Amsterdam, and he is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London (FRCP).
He is currently employed at the Public Health Service Amsterdam Centre for Sexual Health where he leads a research group including 15 PhD students in close cooperation with the public health laboratory and research department. He is also appointed as staff member at the Department of Dermatology at the Amsterdam University Medical Centres, the Netherlands. In 2021 he organised the STI & HIV World Congress as President of the International Society for STD research (ISSTDR). He was scientific chair for the International Union against STI 2018 World congress in Dublin, and the IUSTI Europe congress in Malta in 2023. He co-authored over 300 PubMed registered publications on various topics including mpox, Lymphogranuloma Venereum, Syphilis, Gonorrhea, and sexualised drug use. In 2020 and in 2022 he was awarded the Bio Art & Design Award in joint projects with artists.
PLENARY SPEAKERS
Eric
Chow
Helen
Rees
Professor Helen Rees is internationally recognised as an award-winning global health practitioner who has dedicated her professional career to improving public health in Africa, with a focus on vaccine preventable diseases, HIV and sexual and reproductive health. Helen is the Executive Director of Wits RHI, the largest research Institute at the University of Witwatersrand and Co-Director of the Wits African Leadership in Vaccinology Expertise Flagship programme.
Helen is widely respected for her ability to synthesize recommendations from multifaceted inputs and to link research to policy and has successfully chaired many national, regional and global committees in deliberations that have changed key strategies and policies in the African region, and has served on expert structures and committees for WHO, UNAIDS, UNICEF, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Helen chairs the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority and the World Health Organisation’s AFRO Region Immunization Technical Advisory Group.