ESPID Educational Sunday

Dr. Anne L. Wyllie serves as the Global Medical Affairs Lead for Pneumococcal Vaccines at Pfizer, Inc., and is an Associate Research Professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. With a PhD in Infection and Immunity, her research addresses the epidemiology of Streptococcus pneumoniae, examining its carriage, transmission dynamics, and the effects of vaccination strategies across various populations. Dr. Wyllie developed and implemented saliva as a non-invasive sample type for diagnostics of respiratory pathogens, extending its application to pneumococcal detection and surveillance. Her work has influenced public health by providing accessible and scalable solutions for infectious disease control. Dr. Wyllie led the SalivaDirect initiative, which received FDA Emergency Use Authorization for SARS-CoV-2 detection, and has since applied these saliva-based methodologies to enhance the surveillance of pneumococcal carriage and other respiratory viruses. Dr. Wyllie is a recipient of the 2025 ASM Award for Early Career Applied and Biotechnological Research and the 2023 ESCMID Young Investigator Award, reflecting her efforts to translate research findings into practical applications for healthcare.