Department of Clinical Microbiology, Hospital Clinic, Spain;
Dr. Vila is currently the Head of the Department of Clinical Microbiology of the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona, Full Professor of the School of Medicine, University of Barcelona, and Research Professor in the Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) of Barcelona, Spain. His present main field of interest is in the investigation of the molecular bases of antimicrobial resistance and the development of new drugs against bacteria and molecular tools for rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases. Dr. Vila was the Programme Director of the Congress of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology (ESCMID) from 2009 to 2014 and he has been a member of the ICAAC Scientific Program Committee (USA) for 4 years. He received an Award of the National Plan against Antibiotic Resistance (PRAN) 2018 for the Micro-combat card game, presented by the Barcelona Global Health Institute Foundation (ISGlobal) in the category of better communication and public awareness initiative on the antibiotic resistance. He is also leading the Initiative of Antimicrobial Resistance in ISGlobal. He has published 476 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 44 book chapters and directed 25 doctoral theses (number of citations, 29.536 and H-index of 84, Google Scholar). He has patented three molecules.

Antimicrobial Discovery Center, Department of Biology, Northeastern University, USA;
Kim Lewis is a University Distinguished Professor and Director, Antimicrobial Discovery Center at Northeastern University in Boston. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Microbiology, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a Highly Cited Researcher (Clarivate Analytics) and an Expertscape World Expert in Microbial Drug Resistance (top 0.1% of scholars in the field). He obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Moscow University in 1980, and has been on the Faculty of MIT, University of Maryland, and Tufts University prior to coming to Northeastern. Dr. Lewis has authored over 100 papers and is an inventor on several patents. His notable findings include the development of general methods to grow previously uncultured bacteria that make up >99% of biodiversity on the planet, the discovery of the culprit of recalcitrant biofilm infections, drug-tolerant persister cells; and several novel antibiotics, including teixobactin and darobactin. Dr. Lewis has served as a panelist and contributor to reports on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by National Academies Institute of Medicine, the Pew Charitable Trust, and the European Academies of Science. Dr. Lewis is a member of Faculty 1000, a world-wide panel of experts evaluating research advancements. He is a recipient of the MIT C.E. Reed Faculty Initiative Award, the NIH Director’s Transformative Award, and the American Society for Microbilogy Applied Biology and Biotechnology Research Award. Apart from his work in Academia, Dr. Lewis has served as a consultant to the Pharmaceutical Industry, The Biotech, and is a co-founder of NovoBiotic Pharmaceuticals, Arietis Pharma, Holobiome, Flightpath and Odyssey Therapeutics.

Ramón y Cajal's University Hospital, Spain;
Rafael Cantón is a Clinical Microbiology specialist, Head of the Clinical Microbiology Department at the University Hospital Ramón y Cajal in Madrid (Spain) and associated Professor of Clinical Microbiology at Complutense University in Madrid. His research activity is developed within the Spanish Network CIBER in Infectious Diseases (CIBERINFEC, https://www.ciberinfec.es/en/groups/research-group?id=27645) and Institute Ramón y Cajal for Health Research (IRYCIS, https://www.irycis.org/en/research/research-groups/6/biology-and-evolution-of-microorganisms) in which he coordinates the Microbiology, Immunology and Infection Area. This activity is focused on antimicrobial resistance mechanisms, including extended-spectrum beta-lactamases and carbapenemases, antimicrobial susceptibility testing with new technology, respiratory tract infections (mainly in bronchiectasis and cystic fibrosis), and interplay of clonal epidemiology and resistance. He is currently the clinical data coordinator of the European Committee for Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) (former president 2012 - 2016). He has been President of the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC) (2015-2017). Since 2018 he is in the Advisory Board of the Joint Programing Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR). He has several publications in peer-review journals, book chapters and frequently participate on international meeting and congresses. He is associated editor of Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Diseases journal and member of the editorial board of Microbial Drug Resistant, Drug Resistance Updates, Enfermedades Infecciosas y Microbiología Clinica and Revista Española de Quimioterapia journals. He has been editor of the Clinical Microbiology Procedures of the SEIMC (https://seimc.org/).

Karolinska Insititute, Solna, Sweden;

Proteomics and Biochemical Analysis Center, Brasília Catholic University, Brazil, S-Inova Biotech, Pós-Graduação em Biotecnologia, Universidade Católica Dom Bosco, Brazil;

Faculté de pharmacie, Aix-Marseille Universite, France;

Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Faculty of the Environment, University of the Aegean, Greece;