Meet the Experts
Get to know our experts – in three questions
Behind every keynote and panel contribution is a researcher or clinician with a distinct perspective on PAIS and Long COVID. To offer a more personal preview of what our speakers bring to the conference, we invited each expert to respond to three closely related questions. About their focus, their perspective, and what lies ahead.
David Putrino
Professor & Director of Rehabilitation Innovation
MOUNT SINAI (New York | United States of America)
David Putrino
What will you focus on during your keynote at the WHN PAIS Conference?
I’ll focus on how we move from symptom labels to mechanism-driven care. Long COVID presents with shared symptoms, but very different biological drivers. If we don’t stratify patients properly, we risk repeating the same clinical trial failures and slowing real progress.
Why do so many clinical trials in Long COVID fail to deliver clear answers?
Often it’s not because the hypothesis is wrong, but because heterogeneous patient groups are treated as one condition. Post-exertional malaise, autonomic dysfunction, sleep disruption or immune activation can look similar on the surface, yet require very different approaches. Precision in phenotyping is essential.
What developments make you cautiously optimistic about the next phase of PAIS research?
We’re finally seeing trials that directly test persistent biological mechanisms, including pathogen-targeted and monoclonal approaches that were previously out of reach. If paired with better patient selection, these studies can help the field move from inconclusive averages to actionable signals.
Ziyad Al-Aly
Director of Clinical Epidemiology (VA Saint Louis Health Care System) & Professor (Washington | United States of America)
Ziyad Al-Aly
Director of Clinical Epidemiology (VA Saint Louis Health Care System) & Professor (Washington University School of Medicine)
An influential epidemiologist whose large-scale population studies have defined the long-term, multi-organ risks of COVID-19.
More information about his lecture will be announced soon.
Eva Untersmayr
Medical Specialist in Immunology & Head of Gastrointestinal Immunology Research Group (Vienna | Austria).
Eva Untersmayr
Medical Specialist in Immunology & Head of Gastrointestinal Immunology Research Group (Medical University of Vienna).
An expert in mucosal and gastrointestinal immunology, advancing mechanistic insight into immune dysregulation relevant to PAIS.
More information about her lecture will be announced soon.
Michael Peluso
Professor of Medicine (San Francisco | United States of America)
Michael Peluso
An infectious disease clinician-scientist leading translational research on HIV persistence and Long COVID.
More information about his lecture will be announced soon.
Carmen Scheibenbogen
Professor of Immunology (Berlin | Germany).
Carmen Scheibenbogen
Professor of Immunology (Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin).
An internationally recognised immunologist whose work on immune dysregulation, autoantibodies and PAIS has been pivotal in advancing understanding of ME/CFS and Long COVID.
More information about her lecture will be announced soon.