Career Compass 2026

Natalie Fischer, PhD, is a senior epidemiologist and deputy coordinator of  the Outbreak Investigation Task Force (OITF) at Institut Pasteur Paris, specializing in infectious disease surveillance and outbreak response in international emergencies. She has worked with WHO, UNRWA, Africa CDC, and the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team across responses to Ebola, mpox, and cholera. She holds a PhD in microbiology from Institut Pasteur Paris, completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University, and received her field epidemiology training through the ECDC EUPHEM fellowship at Sciensano, Belgium. Natalie serves on the EPIET Alumni Network Board and the surveillance working group of the Global Task Force on Cholera Control.

Dr Joaquin Baruch has worked across the Americas, Africa, and Europe on disease control and outbreak response. His experience includes roles with ministries of health and agriculture across different countries, the University of Oxford, and WHO. With WHO, he has led surveillance efforts in humanitarian crises in Algeria, Mozambique, and Somalia, and supported meningitis control and vaccination campaigns across the Sahel. Joaquin is now based at the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic intelligence in Berlin where he works as an epidemiologist in the Public Health Surveillance Unit. Joaquin studied veterinary medicine and then completed a PhD and the EPIET fellowship.

Dr Amrish Baidjoe is an infectious disease epidemiologist and microbiologist specialising in humanitarian health emergencies. He works at the intersection of operational response and academic collaboration, helping bridge the needs of medical humanitarian organisations with those of research and technical partners. Over the course of his career, he has worked in major humanitarian crises across multiple regions of the world.

He earned his PhD through Radboud University Medical Centre and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), where he also served as an Honorary Associate Professor in the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology. Dr Baidjoe has held roles with the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, Institut Pasteur in Paris, and Imperial College London, contributing to outbreak investigation and analytics in complex emergency settings.

Since 2021, he serves as Director of LuxOR, Médecins Sans Frontières’ Operational Research and Epidemiology support unit, supporting operations for MSF’s Operational Centre Brussels and the newly established Operational Centre in West Africa. His research interests include malaria, vector-borne diseases, and infectious disease outbreaks, alongside a strong commitment to bioethics, diversity, equity, and inclusion in global health. He is also leading work to strengthen trauma documentation in contexts of conflict and war.

Ines Steffens has been Editor-in-Chief of Eurosurveillance and Head of the Eurosurveillance Editorial Office since 2011. After joining ECDC in 2006 as Managing Editor, she initially led Eurosurveillance’s transfer from publishers in London and Paris to ECDC, built a new editorial structure and team, and introduced policies and workflows that strengthened the journal’s visibility, standing and reach. 

With a background in medicine, public health and scientific communication, she has spent much of my career working at the intersection of infectious disease science, publishing and public health action. She is passionate about high-quality editorial work, collaboration and making scientific evidence accessible and relevant for decision-making. Since 2012, she has thus been actively involved in the European Association of Science Editors and in initiatives that promote equity, quality and transparency in scientific publishing. Before joining ECDC, she was Editor-in-Chief of the national epidemiological bulletin published by the Robert-Koch Insitute and Germany’s editorial adviser on the Eurosurveillance editorial board. A trained internist, she has 11 years of broad clinical experience, including expertise in infectious diseases. She holds a master’s degree in public health and a diploma in tropical medicine.

Veronik Hutse is a seasoned microbiologist at Sciensano, Belgium’s National Institute of Public Health. She holds a PhD in Medical Sciences and has over 20 years’ of experience in Microbiology and Virology. She played a key role in the surveillance and control of viral diseases and has headed the National Reference Centre for Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Viral Hepatitis for more than 15 years. Since 2023, Dr Hutse has been focusing her expertise on wastewater-based epidemiology. As project leader for national wastewater monitoring in Belgium, she coordinates the monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens in wastewater to support public health decision-making. Under her leadership, the detection of respiratory viruses (SARS-CoV-2, influenza, RSV) and the poliovirus has been integrated into Belgium’s syndromic surveillance systems. Dr Hutse promotes the expansion of wastewater monitoring in Belgium to include additional microbial health indicators, such as mpox, measles, avian influenza, gastrointestinal viruses, hepatitis A, antimicrobial resistance, and illicit drugs. She is involved in various national and international WES projects. As Belgium’s national contact point for wastewater monitoring, she takes part in regular European and GLOWACON meetings. She is also an active member of the ECDC WES Advisory Board and contributes as an expert to several WHO WES working groups.

Dr Gianfranco Spiteri (MD, MSc Public Health) joined ECDC in 2010 and is currently the Head of the Global Epidemic Intelligence and Health Security Section in the Surveillance, Preparedness and Response Unit. He has contributed to the surveillance of several infectious diseases at European level, including sexually transmitted infections, vaccine preventable diseases and emerging diseases (such as Ebola virus disease, Zika and Mpox). In 2020 and 2021 Dr Spiteri coordinated the ECDC surveillance work related to COVID-19 pandemic. He has led the ECDC Epidemic Intelligence team since 2021 first as group leader and then as head of section. Dr. Spiteri trained as a Medical Doctor in Malta where he is a registered Public Health Specialist and is an alumnus of the European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET).