Javier Moreno

Background

About Javier Moreno

Javier Moreno (Seville, Spain) graduated in Biology from the Complutense University of Madrid in 1987 and obtained his PhD in Biology (Immunology Program) in 1994. He has been staff scientist at the National Centre for Microbiology (Instituto de Salud Carlos – since 2008. He was Head of the Unit for Leishmaniasis and Chagas Disease, between 2007 and 2010, and combined this activity with the position of Associate Professor of Microbiology in the Department of Molecular Biology at the Autonomous University of Madrid. He has participated in several research projects in leishmaniasis, particularly on immunity and vaccines against infection, and currently is principal investigator of several European and national projects, funded by various public agencies and several agreements with companies and private foundations. He is an expert for the European Medicine Agency (EMA). As a researcher, his main lines of work are oriented to studying the immunological aspects of leishmaniasis vaccine development and analysis of the immunological mechanisms of resistance and pathogenesis associated with infection. He has participated in several trials of vaccines against human and canine leishmaniasis, which has also led to the development of an experimental canine model and specific tools to analyze immunity. Another important area of research is the study of leishmaniasis in states of immunosuppression, which has contributed to understanding the risk of leishmaniasis in HIV+ patients, with solid organ transplants or under immunosuppressive therapies. Dr. Moreno is director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Leishmaniasis, which is responsible for providing support to activities that WHO carried out to assess outbreaks in countries such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Sudan or South Sudan. Since May 2015 is chair of the Parasitology Department at