John Conly is a Professor and former Head of the Department of Medicine at the University of Calgary and Alberta Health Services - Calgary and Area, Canada. He is medically trained as a specialist in infectious diseases, and was a past President of the Canadian Infectious Disease Society, past Chairman of the Board for the Canadian Committee on Antibiotic Resistance and a previous Vice Chair for the Canadian Expert Drug Advisory Committee. He was seconded at a 0.5 FTE to the WHO Health Emergencies Programme as a Senior Technical Officer for COVID-19 during 2020. He is currently the Chair of the World Health Organization Infection Prevention and Control Research and Development Expert Group for COVID-19, a member of the Canadian Expert Advisory Group on Antimicrobial Resistance and a member of the Cochrane Collaboration Acute Respiratory Infections Working Group. He has published over 300 papers and has received multiple career honours in teaching, research, mentorship, innovation and service, including the Ronald Christie Award for outstanding contributions to academic medicine in Canada, the Medal for Distinguished Service from the Alberta Medical Association for outstanding personal contributions to the medical profession and the Order of Canada. He continues as an active consultant in clinical infectious diseases with current interests which focus on antimicrobial resistance and stewardship, prevention of hospital-acquired infections and novel innovations in healthcare.