Current Officers

Prof. Gerard Flaherty hails from a rural townland near Galway in the west of Ireland. He graduated from the National University of Ireland, Galway, in 2000 with a first class honours degree and gold medals in each of the eight final year subjects. As an undergraduate, Gerard gained an intercalated BSc degree in Anatomy and received numerous international academic distinctions, including the Duke Elder Prizer in Ophthalmology from the Royal College of Ophthalmology (UK), and the Annual Undergraduate Prize of the Faculty of Radiology (UK). He gained Membership of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland in 2002 and Fellowship in 2011. He holds a Diploma in Travel Medicine from the RCPSG (Glasgow). He has completed 3 Masters degrees, including a Masters in International and Travel Health (Sheffield) and Masters in Medical Education (Dundee). His two doctoral theses (MD and PhD) were based on his original research in travel medicine.

He is a Fellow and former examiner, board member and education convener of the Faculty of Travel Medicine at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. He was also the recipient of the Cameron Lockie Prize for Travel Medicine in the UK. He is Past President, Research Officer and current Honorary Scientific Adviser to the Travel Medicine Society of Ireland. He was Chair of the Northern European Conference on Travel Medicine (NECTM) 2012 scientific committee, which the Travel Medicine Society of Ireland hosted in Dublin, and Vice-Chair of the NECTM 2014 scientific committee in Norway. He also served on the international scientific committee for the 2015 NECTM, 2016 RCISTM and 2017 NECTM conferences in London, South Africa and Stockholm, respectively. He was Scientific Programme Committee Co-Chair for the 2021 CISTM17 virtual conference. He served as a Counsellor on the Executive Board of ISTM from 2014 to 2019 and has held several leadership positions, including membership of the Examinations Committee and Chair of the Publications Oversight Committee (2019-21). He is also a member of the Asia Pacific Travel Health Society. He holds an Adjunct Professorship in Travel Medicine and International Health with the International Medical University in Malaysia. Gerard’s research interests in travel medicine include risk assessment in the pre-travel consultation, travel health behaviour, travellers with pre-existing medical conditions, high altitude medicine, mental health issues and travel, older travellers, and education in travel health. He has nearly 20 years of clinical experience in travel medicine.>

Gerard's current academic position as Professor of Medical Education, Immediate Past Undergraduate Medical Programme Director at NUI Galway and Head of International Students for the School of Medicine gave him responsibility for design, delivery and assessment of the undergraduate medical curriculum, including recruitment and support of international students. He received a President’s Award from NUI Galway for Teaching Excellence in 2008. He has been awarded Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Educators (UK). He served on the executive committee of AMEE between 2017 and 2020. He has been awarded Associate Fellowship of AMEE. He has over 200 publications and research presentations to date, including a textbook, and eight textbook chapters. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Travel Medicine for which he is Section Editor (non-communicable diseases). He is a regular reviewer for multiple travel medicine and medical education journals.

Gerard has worked with the non-profit organisation Croí, the West of Ireland Cardiac Foundation, for many years as a volunteer expedition physician on fundraising high altitude treks to the Himalayas and Africa. He was co-founder of the National Institute for Prevention and Cardiovascular Health, on whose Advisory Council he serves as Director of Academic Affairs and Fellowship. In addition to acting as founder and Programme Director (2013-2020) for the Masters in Preventive Cardiology programme at NUI Galway, Gerard was responsible for the medical management of patients enrolled on preventive cardiology programmes. In his leisure time Gerard travels passionately, golfs erratically, walks in forests, cares for bonsai trees, climbs mountains, and bird-watches. He has been awarded Certificates in Ornithology and in Bird Behaviour. He is fluent in English and Gaelic, and speaks French and German hesitantly. He is currently enjoying the challenge of learning Mandarin Chinese.

Image and Bio coming soon.

Peter A. Leggat, AM, ADC, MD, PhD, DrPH, FAFPHM RACP, FFPH RCP(UK), FPHAA, FACTM, FFTM FFEWM ACTM, FFTM RCPSG, FISTM, FACAsM, FACRRM, FAIHS, FACE, FAICD, FRAS, FRGS, FRSTMH, Dist.Int.FASTMH, Hon.FFPM RCP(UK), Hon.FACTM, Hon.FFTM ACTM, WSO-CSE/CSM/CSS(OSH)/CSSD, ChOHSP, ISTM-CTH®, is Professor and co-Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Vector-borne and Neglected Tropical Diseases, College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University (JCU), Australia. Professor Leggat has a strong interest in health workforce development in public health and tropical medicine, but also in related areas such as aerospace and travel medicine, having founded the Australian postgraduate course in travel medicine in 1993. A medical and higher doctorate graduate from the University of Queensland, Australia, he has published more than 500 journal papers, more than 100 chapters and more than 30 books. He has consulted with or assisted as an external expert for various organisations, including the Australian Defence Force, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Australia), the Therapeutic Goods Authority (Australia), and the World Health Organization.

Professor Leggat has more than 30 years’ experience serving on professional organization and charitable boards. Current appointments include the ISTM (President); The Australasian College of Aerospace Medicine (Dean of Education); and The Australasian College of Tropical Medicine (ACTM) (President). He is also Immediate Past Dean of the Faculty of Travel Medicine of the ACTM; Councillor on the Board of the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine, and Honorary Secretary of the Travel Health Advisory Group, Australia. He was formerly Director-General of the World Safety Organization, having served more than 25 years on the Board at various times between 1989 and 2021. He has been a member of the JCU Academic Board since 2018 and currently holds the position of Deputy Chair. He was previously a member of the JCU Council from 2005-2018. He was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors in 1991.

ISTM service: Founding Member 1991; Certificate in Travel HealthTM, 2003; Fellow, 2016. Councilor, Executive Board 2003-05; Leadership Council 2010-12; Secretary Treasurer, 2013-2019; President-Elect, 2019-2021; President, 2021-President ; ISTM Foundation, Secretary Treasurer, 2015-2019. Journal of Travel Medicine: Editorial Board 2000-12, Section Editor 2003-09; Deputy Editor-in-Chief 2009-11. Editor-in-Chief, ISTM NewsShare, 2010-12. ISTM Committees: Member, CTH® Examinations Committee 2001-05; Nominations Committee, Member, 2002, 2003, 2008, Chair, 2020; Member, various RCISTM/CISTM Organizing/Scientific Committees 2002-11; Member, Professional Education Committee 2003-12; Member, Continuing Professional Development Committee 2011-12 (formerly Taskforce 2010-11). Interest Groups: Military Travel Interest Group, Founder, Council, 2018-Present; Expedition and Wilderness Medicine, Founder, Member, 2019-Preesent; Executive Board Committees: Member, CISTM Oversight Committee, 2013-19 and from 2021; and Finance Committee, 2013-Present.

A former Fulbright Scholar and Fulbright Ambassador, Professor Leggat has received numerous national and international Fellowships and other accolades, including admission as a Member of the Order of Australia in 2013 and promotion to Commander of the Order of St John in 2016. Having served more than 30 years in the Australian Defence Force in full-time and reserve roles, he was promoted to his present rank of Colonel in 2013 and was appointed Honorary Aide-de-Camp to the Governor General of the Commonwealth of Australia in 2019.

Bio will be updated soon.

Bio will be updated soon.

Bio will be updated soon.

Bio will be updated soon.

Dr Mike Jones, MB, ChB, FRCP(Edin, Glasg & Lond), FFTM RCPS(Glasg) graduated from Aberdeen University in 1972, and after training in internal medicine, was appointed a UK Key Cadre Technical Aid Officer as a Specialist Physican at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre, Tanzania 1976-1982.

On return to the UK he co-founded HealthLink360 with his wife Elizabeth who became its first Director of Psychological Servces. Located near Edinburgh, this not-for-profit charity provides whole person health care for expatriates working with voluntary agencies throughout the developing world. He was Medical Director 1983-2006, volunteer Honorary Consultant until 2018 and is now a Consultant Advisor. He set up a thriving public access HL360 Travel Clinic in 2004.

He was a staff physician at the Edinburgh Regional Infectious Diseases Unit (RIDU) from 1983, Associate Specialist from 1989, Consultant from 2005 and founded the RIDU Travel Clinic in 1993. He had a strong interest in the management of HIV infection, managing his own patient cohort for nearly 30 years. Retiring in 2014 he continued in clinical practice at the Spire Hospital, Edinburgh and HealthLink360 until end 2018.

He has lectured widely on HIV, Infectious Diseases and tropical medicine, and internationally on Travel Medicine. He wrote a module for the Glasgow Diploma in Travel Medicine in 1998. In 2007 he was invited to chair the Faculty of Travel Medicine Examination Committee at RCPS Glasgow, became Vice Dean in 2009 and Dean 2012-15, where he encouraged international links, educational development, and enjoyed chairing an enthusiastic Board.

Mike was Editor of the quarterly developing world journal Tropical Doctor, 1995-2002, edited the vaccination and anti-malarial prophylaxis pages for the GP Newspaper Pulse from 1994 and was Associate Editor of Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease 2015-18.

He joined the International Health Advisory Committee of the Mission Agency SIM, based in Charlotte, NC in 2001. From 2003-9 he made five visits to Zambia supporting the roll out of ART with the Lothian-Zambia HIV/AIDS Partnership. In 2014 he co-authored a report on developing Travel Medicine services for the Government of Oman, and helped orgnaise the first conference on Travel Medicine in the Arab world in Oman in 2015.

He was a founder member of ISTM in Atlanta in 1991 and has attended every CISTM since, presenting 34 posters and lectures over the years. He was Chair of the Psychological Health of Travellers Interest Group 2014-17 and became Secretary-Treasurer for the International Society of Travel Medicine in June 2019. He enjoys downhill skiing, cycling, golf, swimming and home maintenance.

Non-Voting Member of the Board

Whitney has worked with ISTM for 5 years. She held the position of Marketing Coordinator beginning in 2017. In 2021 she assumed the Deputy Director position before stepping into the Acting Executive Director role. Whitney received a Bachelor of Science in Marketing degree at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga in 2000. After graduation, Whitney was awarded a Graduate Assistantship and continued her studies to complete an MBA with a concentration in International Business in 2002. She brings more than 20 years of marketing experience to the society, having worked for non-profits including the YMCA, The Salvation Army, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, and the Public Education Foundation, and for-profit organizations in the restaurant/hospitality, staffing/human resources and steel industry. Whitney is creative and passionate about public health, marketing strategy, leadership, communications and community engagement. Originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee Whitney has spent time living and working in Loire Valley, France, Chicago, Illinois, Napa Valley, California, and Atlanta, Georgia. She currently resides in Inman, South Carolina with her family. Whitney enjoys travel and embraces the opportunity to connect with people and experience new cultures. In her leisure time Whitney swims, enjoys art, gastronomy and wine appreciation, community cultural events, volunteering and spending time with her family. Whitney currently volunteers her time with her son's Pack 413 Cub Scout troop and with her daughter's preschool, serving on the parent Council.

Non-Voting Member of the Board

Annelies Wilder-Smith is Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom, and a Consultant at the World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. She is in charge of dengue and Zika vaccine development at WHO. Furthermore, she is Scientific Coordinator of an international consortium called "ZikaPLAN" (zikaplan.tghn.org) funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020. She coordinates 25 institutional global partners to address research gaps with regards to Zika virus infections. From 2011 to 2016, she led another EU funded research consortium "DengueTools" to investigate innovative tools for the surveillance and control of dengue.

A physician with expertise in travel and tropical medicine, she is the Immediate Past President of the International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM), and Past-President of the Asia Pacific Society of Travel Medicine. Her special research interests include vaccine preventable and emerging infectious diseases, in particular related to arboviral diseases. With a career spanning almost three decades, she has led and co-led various vaccine trials, published more than 260 scientific papers, edited and co-edited textbooks, and served on various scientific committees. Her awards include the Myrone Levine Vaccinology Prize, the Honor Award for exemplary leadership and coordination in determining and communicating global yellow fever risk, the Mercator Professorship award by the German Research Foundation and the Ashdown Oration Award by the Australian College of Travel Medicine.

Annelies' passion is global health. She frequently volunteers in community development work in South India, and serves in various NGOs. As previous Director of the Master Programme in International Health at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, she is still involved with the Alumni network and loves interacting with international students. As President of the ISTM, her vision was to "close the gap" in travel medicine by addressing the rapidly evolving needs in developing countries and emerging nations.

Image and bio coming soon.

Bio will be updated soon.

Sarah McGuinness, MBBS, BMedSc, CTH, MPHTM, FRACP, FACTM, is a infectious diseases physician with interests in travel and tropical medicine, epidemiology and public health. She runs the Travel Medicine Clinic at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, is a Lecturer at Monash University, and is soon to finish her PhD.

Sarah is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine. She chairs the ISTM Digital Communications Committee and also serves on the ISTM Research & Awards Committee and the editorial board of the Journal of Travel Medicine. She is an author/editor of the upcoming 4th edition of the Manual of Travel Medicine.

Sarah is a keen traveller, loves classical music, and enjoys taking latin dance classes with her husband Aaron.

Dr Pierre Landry qualified as a medical doctor in 1984 at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. He furthered then his training as a general practitioner for a few years. In 1989 he got a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene  at the London School of Tropical Medicine before leaving for 4 years of clinical work in a rural mission hospital in Cameroon, with a wide range of clinical activities including surgery, medicine, paediatrics, setting up an eye clinic, and supervising the laboratory activities.

Back in Switzerland he completed his training in 1994 as a specialist in tropical and travel medicine (doing some research in traveller behaviour and in hepatitis A vaccine) and in 1997 as a specialist in internal medicine at the Lausanne University Policlinic.

Since 1997 Dr Pierre Landry is working full time in a private practice in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, as a physician in general medicine and as a specialist in tropical and travel medicine.

He has been working for shorter periods in Africa (Uganda 1983 and 1985, Burkina Faso 1996 and 1998, Mali 2006 and 2008), mainly teaching and training. Since 1997 he enjoys training Swiss GP's and nurses in travel medicine and vaccine issues in general.

He is and has been member of various Swiss committees (Swiss Society of Tropical and Travel Medicine 1997-2009, Swiss Society of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 2014-… , Swiss Federal Commission for Immunization 2008-… , Expert Committee for Travel Medicine 2008-…) Dr Pierre Landry is member of the ISTM Exam committee since 2004, recently elected chair.

Robert Steffen, Emeritus Professor, is currently concentrating on research projects at the University of Zurich Centre for Travel Medicine, where until 2008 he was the Head of the Division of Epidemiology and Prevention of Communicable Diseases in the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine and Director of a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Traveller's Health. Further, he is Adjunct Professor in the Epidemiology and Disease Prevention Division of the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston, TX and Honorary Fellow of the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine.

Dr. Steffen began systematically investigating illness and accidents in travellers in 1975. He organised the First International Conference on Travel Medicine in Zurich 1988 and became a co-founder and President of the International Society of Travel Medicine. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Travel Medicine and has published more than 350 papers, book chapters, monographs - mainly in the field of travel health. For 12 years each, Dr. Steffen presided over the Swiss Influenza Pandemic Planning Committee and the Expert Committee for Travel Medicine; he was Vice-President of the Federal Commission on Vaccination and of the Swiss Bioterrorism Committee.

Dr. Steffen has held a number of critical roles in ISTM since its inception. He has served as President-Elect, President and Past-President, as well as chairing the Exam and Liaison Committees.

Bio will be updated soon.

Sandra's background is in midwifery, in a university teaching and research professorial unit. She undertook general nursing and midwifery training in Scotland, completed the Diploma in Travel Medicine (Dip Trav Med) at Glasgow University and gained a First-Class Honours degree in Health Promotion and Education. She is a proud Scot now based in England. Her husband's career with HM forces and a Multi-National Company led to a mobile lifestyle within the UK and abroad. Her interest in Travel Medicine began in 1991 since when she has specialised in the field, and currently works in an educational and advisory role. She was an Associate Trainer (Yellow Fever) for The National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC) until the training moved online in 2013. She is a member of The British Global and Travel Health Association (BGTHA) and the International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM), previously co vice-chair of the ISTM Nurse Professional Group (NPG), current Publications Committee member and served on the scientific committee for CISTM15 and CISTM16. She was awarded FISTM in 2019.

Sandra has been an active member of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) forums since 2000, holding office as Chair of the travel health forum (THF), and the public health forum (PHF) and member of Forum Governance Group (FGG). She edited the THF Newsletter for a decade until the forum merged into PHF. She is a Co-author of the RCN documents, Travel health nursing: career and competence development, 2007, 2012 and 2018 and contributed to the first resource on Female Genital Mutilation for those providing travel health services. With a membership in excess of 400,000 she is the RCN travel health lead and represents the RCN and PHF on travel health related issues nationally and internationally. Previously chair of the Northern European Conference on Travel Medicine (NECTM) Steering Group, she is currently co-chair of NECTM8 and the RCN member of the Organising and Scientific Committee (SC). She is a Fellow of the Faculty of Travel Medicine (FTM), Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (RCPSG), an accredited examiner for the Dip Trav Med and the Membership examination (MFTM) and was editor of the FTM magazine Emporiatrics until it moved online in 2019. She is an external examiner for the new Diploma in Travel Health (DipTH) jointly developed by NaTHNaC and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM).

Sandra has published numerous articles in nursing Journals and contributed to textbook chapters. She particularly enjoys writing, attending conferences, gathering and disseminating travel health information and forging links with nurses around the world.

Bio will be updated soon.

Dr. Ericsson graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1970. He did his medicine residency at the University of Minnesota Hospitals and served two years in the US Air Force. He did his fellowship in infectious diseases with Herbert L. DuPont at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, where he remained on the faculty to this day. Dr. Ericsson has heavy clinical infectious diseases consultative and teaching duties. He has received several awards for his teaching and is presently the Director of the Infectious Diseases Fellowship Training Program at University of Texas Medical School at Houston. In addition, he is director of the University of Texas Travel Medicine Clinic. He is also currently involved in hospital infection control and antibiotic restriction programs. His research interests include travellers' diarrhea and travel medicine. He has journeyed each summer to Guadalajara Mexico to conduct clinical trials in travellers' diarrhea since 1975.

Dr. Ericsson is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the Infectious Diseases Society of America. He is a member of the American Society for Microbiology and the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Dr. Ericsson is a manuscript reviewer for more than 10 journals; founding editor of the Journal of Travel Medicine; and past Editor of the Travel Medicine Section, Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2000-2009.

A member since the Atlanta meeting, Dr. Ericsson served on the ITSM Scientific Planning Committee for the ISTM meetings in Paris, France. He also was a member of the ISTM Long Range Planning, the Examinations and the Publications Committees and was the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Travel Medicine. Dr. Ericsson served as President of ISTM from 1999 through 2001.