Prof. Dr. Thirumalaisamy P. Velavan is a faculty and group leader at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, University of Tübingen, Germany, and leads several projects on infectious diseases. He is also founder and director of the Vietnamese-German Center for Medical Research in Hanoi, Vietnam.

He is coordinator of the PAN ASEAN Coalition for Epidemic and OUtbreak Preparedness (PACE-UP) consortium, which aims to bring together infectious disease experts with South-South expertise in laboratory and clinical research. PACE-UP collaborates with the EDCTP-funded Central African Clinical Research Network (CANTAM), for which he is also the project coordinator in Europe. Prof. Velavan is also a member of the EDCTP-funded Pan African Network for Rapid Research, Response, and Preparedness for Infectious Diseases Epidemics (PANDORA-ID-NET) consortium.

Prof. Velavan's vision is to build and strengthen existing structures, especially to increase and sustain individual and institutional capacity in infectious disease clinical research in LMICs. Prof. Velavan has extensive experience in training, developing, and nurturing the younger generation of scientists through high-quality training and mentoring, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

Prof. Velavan has published 170 research articles with a h-index of 32. He is also the recipient of the prize for Tropical Medicine 2021 from the German Society for Tropical Medicine, and Global Health. Prof. Velavan also serves as an editor in the Editorial board of Nature Scientific reports; Tropical Medicine and International Health; BMC Medical Genomics, and Pathogen’s journal. He serves in the scientific advisory and reviewer board for German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED), German Academic Exchange service (DAAD) and the UNESCO-The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS).