Liz Whittaker is Professor of Practice (paediatric infectious diseases and immunology). She divides her time between Imperial College London and the Department of Paediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology, St. Marys Hospital, London where she is a Consultant. Dr. Whittaker is the Director of Research for West London Children's Healthcare (WLCH), working closely with the Board of WLCH and Imperial College's Centre of Paediatrics and Child Health (PAECH) to ensure research is embedded in every patient's journey. Dr Whittaker is the Clinical Lead for Paediatric Infectious Diseases and the co-lead for HCID (high consequence infectious diseases) at St Marys, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. She is the Convenor of the British Paediatric Allergy Infection and Immunity Group (BPAIIG; BPAIIG). She is on the steering committee of the British Association of Paediatric Tuberculosis (BAPT). She works closely with international colleagues in Europe and beyond to improve diagnosis and outcomes in children with TB through the PTBNET group. She is the National Clinical Lead for High Consequence Infectious Diseases in Children (NHSE) nationally. Her main research interests are the ontogeny of infant immune responses to a variety of pathogens. Her PhD data suggest that children under a year of age have an immaturity of their non-specific T cells or innate immune responses in conjunction with increased numbers of regulatory T cells. She expanded on this theme with an NIHR-funded ACL and now is creating generic and specific assays that will examine the maturation of immune responses in children of different ages, from premature infants of different gestation to older children with 'mature' immune systems. The aim of this research is to develop biomarkers of infection for diagnostic purposes in neonates and to understand differences in immature immune responses that may lead to protection for this vulnerable group, either through vaccinations or immunomodulatory interventions in pregnancy and/or the early neonatal period. Understanding these differences is essential for developing new adjuvants, which will increase the efficacy of neonatal vaccinations to pathogens such as CMV, Group B streptococcus & RSV. Her PhD students work on the impact of viral co-infection on tuberculosis (TB) susceptibility and on factors that lead to increased susceptibility to TB disease and infection in adolescents.