Associate Professor Ferrero is a microbiologist who currently holds Laboratory Head and Senior Scientist positions in the Centre for Innate Immunity and Infectious Disease, at Monash Institute of Medical Research. He is an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow. A/Prof Ferrero graduated with a B.AppSci. from the NSW Institute of Technology (now UTS, Sydney), followed by a PhD at the University of NSW, before undertaking post-doctoral studies at the Institut Pasteur, Paris. From 1994-2004, he held tenured research positions at the Institut Pasteur before returning to Australia to work as a Senior Lecturer at Monash University. The major focus of Associate Professor Ferrero’s research is Helicobacter pylori, the causative agent of peptic ulcer disease and gastric cancer. Among his major research achievements in the field have been the development of a candidate vaccine against H. pylori infection and identification of the mechanism by which the innate immune molecule, NOD1, regulates host responses against H. pylori. Associate Professor Ferrero has been awarded prizes from various scientific and medical bodies, including the Association Charles Debré and L’Académie Nationale de Médecine, and is regularly invited to present his research or chair sessions at international conferences. He has contributed over 80 works in journals and books, has been an inventor on patents, an abstract reviewer for leading conferences in the field and is a member of the scientific committee of The International Workshop on Pathogenesis and Host Response in Helicobacter infections.