Marta Nunes, PhD, currently is an Associate Professor at the Respiratory and Meningeal Pathogens Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Marta did her PhD thesis work at the Department of Neurology & Neuroscience, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA and obtained her PhD from the University of Lisbon, Medical College, Lisbon, Portugal. She has worked at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France, on the cellular mechanisms of Plasmodium Falciparum parasite infection and collaborated in various projects dedicated to identify new malaria vaccine candidates for pregnancy malaria. Currently her research is focused on the prevention of respiratory diseases exploring the use of vaccines and other interventions particularly in populations burden by the HIV infection. She was a co-investigator on the clinical trials that investigated the safety, immunogenicity and efficacy of trivalent inactivated influenza vaccination of HIV-uninfected and HIV-infected pregnant women against early–childhood and maternal influenza virus associated illness.