Building Bridges: 99nicu.org Welcomes NeoIPC

Professor Julia Anna Bielicki is a Professor of Paediatric Infectious Diseases at City St George’s, University of London, Professor of Paediatric Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Basel. Julia trained in Social and Political Sciences and Medicine at the University of Cambridge, where she graduated top of her year, and holds a Medical Doctorate from the University of Zurich, as well as an MPH and PhD from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her research focuses on optimising antibiotic use in neonates and children and developing innovative infection prevention and control strategies across high-income and low- and middle-income country settings. She has led and co-led multiple randomised controlled trials, including cluster and platform trials, funded by organisations such as NIHR, Horizon 2020, EDCTP, IMI and the Wellcome Trust, with the aim of generating robust evidence to inform clinical practice and health policy in the context of rising antimicrobial resistance.

Tuuli Metsvaht is a paediatric and neonatal intensive care doctor in Tartu University Hospital, Estonia, with over 25 years of experience in the field. She is also Professor of paediatric and neonatal intensive care and pharmacotherapy in the University of Tartu, Estonia. Her interest has been in developemntal pharmacology with specific focus on PK and efficacy studies of antimicrobial therapy in neonates. She has worked in several EU-funded International projects like NeoMero, NeoVanc, ALBINO. Other fields of interest include early cardiovascular support in postnatal adaptation,  excipients use in neonatal drug formulations (Era-Net funded International Project ESNEE). Currently she is involved in postnatal colonisation studies in NICU with specific focus on family centred care and development and implementation of novel infection prevention and control measures in NICU in the NeoIPC Project.

Annika Tiit-Vesingi is a paediatrician at Tartu University Hospital in Estonia with over 20 years of experience in the field of neonatology. She currently serves as the Head of the Neonatology Department at the University of Tartu, where she plays a key role in both clinical care and academic development. Her main areas of interest include neonatal feeding, family-integrated care, and advancing the concept of the “golden first hour” for all newborns to improve outcomes. In addition to her clinical and leadership work, she is actively involved in research on postnatal colonisation in neonatal intensive care units, with a special focus on promoting family-centred care practices.

Brar Piening is a senior physician and deputy director of Charité's Institute of Hygiene and Environmental Medicine, board-certified in hygiene and environmental medicine. He is responsible for infection prevention and control at Charité's Campus Virchow-Klinikum and has worked in HAI surveillance, antimicrobial resistance, and antibiotic use for more than 20 years. He is the scientific coordinator of NEO-KISS, Germany's national surveillance system for nosocomial infections in very low birth weight infants and leads the MEASURE work package of the EU-funded NeoIPC project, where he coordinates the development and operation of a multinational HAI surveillance system for high-risk neonates. His research spans the epidemiology of healthcare-associated infections in vulnerable patient populations, with a focus on neonatal infection outcomes, antibiotic use, and the design and evaluation of surveillance systems.

Chiara Minotti is an MD and a NICU‑trained, board‑certified paediatrician (University of Bologna and Padova University Hospital, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Italy). She previously worked as a neonatologist and clinical researcher at the Department of Neonatology, Modena University Hospital, Italy, and was involved in large, EU‑funded international projects (PedMERMAIDS, GBS‑PREPARE). She is currently a PhD candidate in Clinical Research at the University Children’s Hospital Basel, Switzerland. Her research focuses on innovative strategies for the prevention and management of infections in neonatal intensive care units, within the NeoIPC and NeoSep ADAPT projects.