Dear Colleagues

Welcome to the 2017 New Zealand Immunisation Conference. This year marks our 10^th  Conference – a great milestone indeed!

This conference is an excellent opportunity to consider the recent changes and upcoming challenges in the immunisation landscape. On a local New Zealand level, 2017 is a year of change and whilst we will still be bedding in the new Immunisation Schedule, there are bound to be some salient lessons already to ponder.

We are very honoured to introduce Dr Steven Black as one of our international keynote speakers. Dr Black is a pediatric infectious disease specialist who has spent more than 30 years conducting clinical trials and safety studies of vaccines. He has been principal investigator in five pivotal licensure trials and six phase-four post-marketing trials. Dr Black is currently Professor of Pediatrics in the Center for Global Health at the University of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Ohio USA. He received his MD degree from the University of California, San Diego and specialty training in pediatric infectious diseases at the University of California, San Francisco. His academic interests include the epidemiology of vaccine preventable diseases, the use of clinical databases to evaluate vaccine safety and efficacy, conducting vaccine clinical trials as well as vaccine safety assessment in the developing world.

Dr Peter Hotez, President of the Sabin Vaccine Institute will join us remotely. Dr Hotez is a Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine. He also serves as Director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and the Baker Institute Fellow in Disease and Poverty at Rice University. His research focuses on developing vaccines for neglected tropical diseases that affect hundreds of millions of children and adults worldwide.

Along with our Australasian and Oceanic colleagues, I’m sure this year’s programme will provide you all with valuable opportunities to consider new perspectives, refresh friendships and boost the batteries as we push towards a country and world where the impact of preventable disease fades.

I look forward to seeing you all in September

Best wishes

Dr Nikki Turner

Director, the Immunisation Advisory Centre.