Professor of Paediatrics at Clinic of Paediatrics, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, LITHUANIA

Vytautas Usonis is a professor of Paediatrics at Clinic of Paediatrics, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University. He holds undergraduate degree in medicine/paediatrics (1974). His PhD was on the immunology of viral hepatitis (1981) and his doctor habilitatus dissertation was on the immunopathogenesis and vaccine prophylactics of viral hepatitis B (1990).

Vytautas Usonis is an expert on vaccine-related issues. He is on the editorial boards of a number of national and international scientific journals as well as being a member of the international vaccination advisory and working groups. He is (co-)author of more than 200 publications on paediatric infectious diseases published in English, Russian and Lithuanian (research articles, textbooks and chapters in textbooks on paediatric infectious diseases, vaccine preventable diseases and vaccinology, rotavirus infection, paediatric HIV infection). He has been teaching various courses on paediatric infectious diseases and vaccinology for undergraduate medical students and postgraduate physicians at Vilnius University. He supervised doctorates at Vilnius University and was an external jury member of numerous doctorates and habilitations in Lithuania and abroad. He was also a tutor of Oxford University’s Postgraduate Diploma in Paediatric Infectious Diseases (2008-2015).

He has been a board member of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID), Chair of the National Committee for Poliomyelitis Eradication Certification in Lithuania.

He was President of the Lithuanian Paediatric Society (LPS) 2000 to 2007 retiring after two terms according to the Constitution of the Society. He has since been the Vice-President and board member. From 1997 to 2003 he was President of the UNICEF National Committee of Lithuania retiring after two terms.