Michelle J. Groome

I have more than 15 years’ experience in the field of infectious diseases and vaccinology, including conduct of clinical vaccine trials, respiratory and diarrhoeal disease surveillance programmes and observational studies assessing vaccine impact, effectiveness, immunogenicity and safety in South Africa.

I qualified as a medical doctor at the University of the Witwatersrand and have a Diploma in Child Health. I obtained a Master of Science in Medicine (in the field Epidemiology and Biostatistics) and a PhD in Public Health from the University of the Witwatersrand.

I hold a joint appointment as Senior Researcher, School of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, where I lecture and supervise post-graduate students. Important public health contributions include providing the first rotavirus vaccine effectiveness data from Africa which was pivotal to inform public health decisions and provide evidence for sustained use of this vaccine in low and middle-income countries, and evaluating safety and immunogenicity of a novel injectable subunit rotavirus vaccine in South Africa.

I have over 100 publications in local and international peer-reviewed journals and am a regular presenter at local and international conferences. I have received several awards including the Emerging Global Leader Award from the Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health (2016), and the South African Medical Research Council Scientific Merit Award (2017).