As touchIMMUNOLOGY approaches 5 years of providing education for busy healthcare professionals involved with immune-related conditions, we are looking to the future—and it certainly looks bright!
This year, we are celebrating our inaugural touchIMMUNOLOGY Future Leaders to recognize the outstanding talent that has entered our field in recent years. These individuals are set to innovate and transform the field in the years to come.
Representing a diverse range of expertise from across the globe, these highly accomplished clinicians are among the brightest minds shaping the future of immunology. We had the pleasure of learning about their unique career journeys, motivations and the inspirations that have guided their paths. They also shared their perspectives on the most exciting developments in immunology today, along with their hopes for the future of the field.
Congratulations to all our touchIMMUNOLOGY Future Leaders, and thank you for sharing your stories, insights and ambitions with us.
Salvatore Oliva
Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
“This is a field where passion and persistence can make a real difference in children’s lives and in the future of medicine.”
Read our Q&A with Dr Oliva here
Santhanam Sham
Kauvery Hospitals, Chennai, India
“My long-term ambition is to make the management of AIRDs more patient-centric. I would like to empower patients by making them more aware of the disease, the management and expected outcomes.”
Read our Q&A with Dr Sham here
Bram Verstockt
University Hospitals Leuven & KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
“Precision medicine is a hope we all have, but I think what we all still struggle with is the translation from the wet lab to the clinic.”
Read our Q&A with Dr Verstockt here
Sonali Bracken
Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
“It truly takes a village to raise a physician-scientist, and I am very grateful for all the individuals who have helped me along my career path.”
Read our Q&A with Dr Bracken here
Hassan Abushukair
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center & Stephenson Cancer Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
“I aspire to reach a point in my career where I have the privilege of tailoring my research to address the needs of my patients.”
Read our Q&A with Dr Abushukair here
Tom Appleton
St. Joseph’s Health Care London & Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, London, ON, Canada
“My advice to aspiring clinician-scientists is to embrace this dual role, maintaining clear boundaries and leveraging the strengths each domain brings to the other.”
Read our Q&A with Dr Appleton here
Andreas Hadjinicolaou
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
“The synergy between clinical insight and scientific exploration is, in my view, essential to delivering real advances in cancer outcomes.”
Read our Q&A with Dr Hadjinicolaou here
Moritz Peiseler
Charité University Medicine, Berlin, Germany
“I am fascinated by the possibility that data analysis and AI provide for the field of immunology and intravital imaging.”
Read our Q&A with Dr Peiseler here
Brian Jaros
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
“With an enormous work-force shortage looming in rheumatology, a focus on mentorship and training is more important than ever. “
Read our Q&A with Dr Jaros here
Varol Tunali
Ege University Faculty of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey
“Reflection led me to medical parasitology, a field that speaks deeply to global health equity and the needs of vulnerable populations.”
Read our Q&A with Dr Tunali here
Opening soon!
Nominations for touchIMMUNOLOGY Future Leaders 2026
We are excited to announce that nominations for the touchIMMUNOLOGY Future Leaders 2026 will open soon, and we invite the community to share their suggestions for exceptional individuals who are shaping the future of the field through innovation and excellence in patient care.
Register below to hear about nominations as soon as they open!
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