Professor Maria Zambon is the current Head of Respiratory Viruses and Director of the National Influenza Centre at the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) National Reference Laboratory in Colindale, London, UK. With 40 years of experience as a medically qualified influenza virologist – of which three decades have been spent at UKHSA and its predecessor organisations – she has played a crucial role in the surveillance and response to seasonal influenza as well as new and emerging respiratory viruses, both nationally and internationally.
She has been a member of several scientific working groups and advisory committees for UK Government including SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies), NERVTAG (New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group), and JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation) over many years. Internationally, she is a close collaborator with the World Health Organisation (WHO), representing the UK at global meetings on respiratory virology and providing input into their global influenza surveillance system GISRS.
Her main research interests include the diagnosis of viral infections in humans, especially RNA viruses, the pathogenicity of influenza, and the development of new vaccines for respiratory viruses, particularly influenza. Her PhD on the mechanism of action of amantadine led directly to the identification of a novel class of viral proteins and viral ion channels (influenza M2 protein).