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ISV FELLOWS

Submitted by admin on Tue, 03/03/2020 - 16:33
2023

Ann Ginsberg

Title
Deputy Director, TB Vaccines, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Description

Ann M. Ginsberg, M.D., Ph.D., is Deputy Director, TB Vaccines in the Global Health Division of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She has conducted and managed TB research and product development programs for 25 years, including 15 years leading and designing clinical strategy for development of TB vaccines and drug regimens for the developing world. Ann previously served as the Chief, Respiratory Diseases Branch, NIAID, NIH, as Director, Project Management at Merck Research Laboratories, as Chief Medical Officer at the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, as Chief Medical Officer at Aeras and as Senior Technical Advisor at IAVI. In these roles, she oversaw the early clinical development program of Pretomanid and two recent, positive TB vaccine efficacy trials – of BCG revaccination and M72/AS01E. Ann has served on numerous national and international advisory committees on vaccines and global health, including the U.S. National Vaccine Advisory Committee. Her AB cum laude in Biology is from Harvard University, her PhD in Molecular Biology from Washington University and her MD from Columbia University. She was Board-certified in Anatomic Pathology.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States
2022

Hiroshi Kiyono

Title
Dr. Hiroshi Kiyono
Description

Dr. Kiyono obtained his D.D.S. and Ph.D. degrees at Nihon University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) respectively. Extensive research experience in the field of Mucosal Immunology and Vaccine at UAB, Max-Planck Institute, Osaka University and The University of Tokyo resulted in a total of 520 publications. He has also served as the Vice Dean and the Dean of the Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, and currently the Director and Professor for the International Research and Development Center for Mucosal Vaccines To reflect his scientific contribution, he was listed in ISI Highly Cited Researchers’ List and received several prestigious awards.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
Japan
2020

Sarah Gilbert

Title
Professor of Vaccinology, University of Oxford
Description

Dr. Sarah Gilbert is Professor of Vaccinology in the Nuffield Department of Medicine at the University of Oxford. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of East Anglia and her doctoral degree at the University of Hull. Following four years as a research scientist at the biopharmaceutical company Delta Biotechnology she joined Oxford University in 1994 and became part of the Jenner Institute (within NDM) when it was founded in 2005. Her chief research interest is the development of viral-vectored vaccines that work by inducing strong and protective T and B cell responses. She works on vaccines for many different emerging pathogens, including influenza, Nipah, MERS, Lassa, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, and SARS-CoV-2. Working with colleagues in the Jenner Institute research labs, the Clinical Biomanufacturing Facility and Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine, all situated on the Old Road Campus in Oxford, she has advanced important novel vaccines from design to clinical development, with a particular interest in the rapid transfer of vaccines into manufacturing and first in human trials. She is the Oxford Project Leader for ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, an important vaccine ( being codeveloped with AstraZeneca) against the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which likely can play an important role in this current pandemic. Sarah has had an exceptionally impactful vaccine career and has contributed service to ISF in by participating in past ISV conferences, serving on the organizing committee for the annual ISV meeting held in 2020, as well as being able to serve on the organizing committee for the ISV 2021 meeting.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United Kingdom

Gary Kobinger

Title
Professor, Université Laval and Director of the Centre de Recherche en Infectiologie
Description

Dr. Gary Kobinger obtained his PhD magna cum laude from the University of Montreal was recruited by the Public Health Agency of Canada where he became Chief of the Special Pathogens Biosafety Level 4 program. He is now a Professor at the Université Laval and is Director of the Centre de Recherche en Infectiologie. He also holds appointments at the University of Manitoba and the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Kobinger supported the development the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine as well as the monoclonal antibody cocktail ZMapp which was advanced to treat Ebola virus infection, the first such antibody approach advanced for Ebola, thus helping to advance the MAb approach for EID in resource limited settings. His preclinical NHP work and service to WHO helped advance rVSV-ZEBOV, which is an important tool for control of Ebola. He also pioneered simple mobile diagnostic laboratories for field use for Ebola testing during outbreaks facilitating public health controls of outbreaks, and used these diagnostic tools in the current SARS-CoV2 outbreak in Canada. For this and other contributions he has been granted several awards including the 2015 scientist of the year award from Radio Canada (CBC), the Order of Manitoba and the Meritorious Service Cross (civil division) of the Governor General of Canada in 2016, and the Manning principal award in 2017. Dr. Kobinger has co-authored over 300 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts, and has given numerous invited seminars in Universities, national and international funding agencies, departments of national defenses, the White House, and the World Health Organization (WHO) concerning research on high consequence pathogens and the development of new public health policies and recommendations. His work presently focuses on developing and testing new vaccine platforms and immune treatments against pathogens of high consequences to global public health.

Serving the international community, Gary sits on several committees such as the IHR roster of experts in Viral Haemorrhagic Fever, the WHO’s High Priority Pathogen advisory board, the STAG-IH advisory board to the Deputy Director-General and ad-hoc advisor to the SAGE committee. He has contributed to ISV meeting through speaking, helping to organize sessions, and providing speakers. In addition Dr. Kobinger serves on the ISV Board.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
Canada

Xavier Saelens

Title
Professor of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Ghent University
Description

Dr. Xavier Saelens obtained his PhD degree from the University of Ghent (Ghent, Belgium) in 1990 in the laboratory of Walter Fiers. After postdoctoral training in the influenza research group of Willy Min Jou, and in the Molecular Signaling and Cell Death group of Peter Vandenabeele, both at Ghent University, he became an assistant professor in Molecular Virology in 2008. Currently, he is a full professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology at Ghent University and a principle investigator at the VIB-UGent Center for Medical Biotechnology.

The research team of Xavier Saelens applies modern biotechnology methods to develop new vaccines and antivirals against important human respiratory viruses such as influenza, respiratory syncytial virus and, more recently, coronaviruses. In addition, his group uses interactomics tools to gain new insights in the molecular interplay between host and viral factors.

His research group pioneered the development of a universal influenza A vaccine candidate based on the viral matrix protein 2 and elucidated it’s mechanism of protection. More recently, his team proposed a new human respiratory syncytial vaccine candidate that is based on the small hydrophobic protein of this virus. This vaccine candidate has successfully passed a Phase I clinical study. The group also develops single domain antibodies and formats thereof as new candidate biologics to control infections by human respiratory viruses. A recently started research focus point is the development of respiratory delivery technologies for antibody-based antivirals.

In 2015 he received the biennial price in Virology from the Study Centre Princess Joséphine- Charlotte from the Flanders and Walloon Research Foundations of Belgium. In 2019 and 2020 Xavier Saelens obtained excellence awards from VIB for outstanding scientific and technology transfer output.

He is a board member and the treasurer of the Belgian Society for Microbiology and member of the board of the International Society for Vaccines where he has contributed in many ways to the society.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
Belgium

Tonya Villafana

Title
Vice President, Global Franchise Head, Infection, AstraZeneca
Description

Dr. Tonya Villafana has dedicated her career to developing vaccines and drugs against some of the most difficult infectious diseases and sought to improve global health through significant contributions spanning the public, non-governmental and private sectors. In her current role as Vice President, Global Franchise Head, Infectious Diseases at AstraZeneca, Dr. Villafana has led the accelerated late-stage development of Vaxzevria (COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca), working closely with the University of Oxford, health authorities, the US government, US National Institutes of Health and COVAX (a partnership between CEPI, Gavi, WHO and UNICEF), to enable broad and equitable access to the vaccine around the world at no-profit during the pandemic. This complex development program has enabled supply of more than 1 billion doses in more than 170 countries around the world in just 18 months. 

During her 12 years with AstraZeneca, Dr. Villafana has led late-stage development for a number of vaccine and monoclonal antibody infectious disease programs including nirsevimab, a novel monoclonal antibody for the prevention of RSV disease in all infants. From 2011-2013, she was seconded to the World Bank and served as the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) World Bank Fellow. In this role, Dr. Villafana supported the Global Medicines Regulatory Harmonization Initiative with a focus on strengthening regulatory systems in Africa and co-authored the Bank’s position on Non-Communicable Diseases for the 2011 UN High Level Meeting on NCDs. Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Dr. Villafana was Director of Portfolio Management at the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), where she had oversight of MVI’s vaccine candidate portfolio. She served as Chair of MVI’s Portfolio Management Committee and was a member of the RTS,S malaria vaccine team (GSK’s Mosquirix, which received positive scientific opinion from the EMA), leading teams for PATH in Tanzania and Gabon. From 2001-2006 Tonya was the Site Director of the HIV Vaccine Initiative at the Botswana Harvard School of Public Health AIDS Initiative Partnership for HIV Research and Education in Gaborone, Botswana, where she established clinical sites to conduct the first HIV vaccine studies in the southern African nation, in collaboration with the US NIH HIV Vaccine Trials Network. While in Botswana, she served on the Botswana National HIV Vaccine Committee collaborating with local and international institutions including WHO, the Debswana Mining company and Botswana Police Service.

Dr. Villafana has served on several important scientific committees and advisory boards including the Malaria Clinical Trials Alliance, International Society of Vaccines and the NIH Integrated Preclinical/Clinical Vaccine Development Program.  She has worked closely on global health initiatives with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PAHO, WHO, IFPMA, and UK Development Agency for International Development. She has contributed to ISV meetings and participated in several over the years.  She was a member of the ISV Scientific Committee for the 2017 meeting held in Paris, where she helped to create a forum for young investigators interested in vaccines. Dr. Villafana is supportive of ISV’s role in training and elevating the work of young researchers, particularly those from developing countries.

She received a PhD in immunology from Weill Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences and an MPH from Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Villafana is committed to developing novel vaccines and drugs to prevent diseases in the most vulnerable populations around the world.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States
2019

Punnee Pitisuttithum

Title
Director of the Vaccine Trial Centre, Faculty of Tropical Medicine Mahidol University, Thailand
Description

Professor Punnee Pitisuttithum is the Head of the Department of Clinical Tropical Medicine, and also the Head of the Vaccine Trial Centre (VTC) at the Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Thailand. She is an internationally recognized expert on tropical infectious diseases, especially on vaccine trials and clinical studies. She has completed over 40 clinical trials and has 170 publications in international peer-reviewed journals. Her research has been cited more than 5,000 times according to Scopus database. She has designed and conducted numerous clinical studies (phase I, II, III vaccine trials) of tropical diseases and vaccine against HIV/AIDS, HPV, Cholera, and other infectious diseases. She was the lead clinical investigator in the largest community trial of HIV vaccines (prime-boost regimen) involving 16,000 participants (RV144) which was the first time showed efficacy in human. She played a key role in the testing of the world’s first commercial dengue vaccine.

She served as a member of the Initiative for Vaccine Research (IVR) of the World Health Organization (WHO), the WHO-UNAIDS Vaccine Advisory Committee (VAC) on HIV/AIDS, the International AIDS Vaccine Institutes, and the Task Force on Research and Development during the establishment of The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). She has also chaired and co-chaired numerous international conferences or reviewing committees. She has received numerous honors and awards including the Most Outstanding Researcher in Medical Science in 2015 from the National Research Council of Thailand, as well as the Mahidol University Award for Outstanding Research in 2013.

She received her MBBS degree from Lady Hardinges Medical College, New Delhi, India. She has a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and a Doctor of Clinical Medicine degree, both from Mahidol University, Thailand. She also holds a Diploma of Thai Board of Internal Medicine from the Medical Council of Thailand.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
Thailand

Anna-Lise Williamson

Title
Professor of Virology, University of Cape Town
Description

Anna-Lise Williamson was awarded her Ph.D. in 1985 from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Her training is in virology and vaccinology. She has worked in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town (UCT) since 1987, where she was promoted to full professor in 2004. In 2008 she was awarded a South African Research Initiative Research Chair in Vaccinology. She is one of the founding members of UCT's Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, which is generally regarded as the best institute in Africa for infectious disease research. Her laboratory has successfully tested novel vaccines against papillomaviruses, Rift Valley fever virus, rotavirus and rabies virus in animal challenge models. These vaccines were based on recombinant Bacille Calmette Guerin or recombinant poxviruses as vaccine vectors. In collaboration with Professor Ed Rybicki (UCT), also an ISV member, subunit vaccines to HPV and HIV based on production in tobacco or insect cell systems were developed and tested in mice, rabbits or non-human primates. 

On the basis of this expertise, research into the development of HIV vaccines was initiated under the auspices of the South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI), with the long-term goal of moving candidate HIV vaccines through the vaccine development pipeline from basic research to clinical trials. The pipeline to get vaccines from concept to clinical trials is complex, requiring many different sets of expertise and major funding support. One of her most significant achievements was to direct the vaccine development group that got two locally-developed HIV vaccines into clinical trials. These are the only HIV vaccine candidates developed in Africa to go into human clinical trials. Their role was vaccine design and construction, as well as generation of pre-clinical data to support regulatory documentation, including vaccine stability assays and immunogenicity in mice and non-human primates. This was funded by SAAVI and the NIH, which was crucial to the success of the project as it enabled a critical mass of people to participate in the project with the flexibility to respond to the challenges of the project. The two candidate HIV vaccines, SAAVI DNA C2 and SAAVI MVA-C, have successfully been taken from basic research concepts through to Phase 1 clinical trial, which required the establishment of a sophisticated laboratory infrastructure and skill-set for the preclinical part of the programme, and the exploitation of various networks and of different sets of expertise. Once the vaccines were ready for Phase 1 clinical trials, the clinical teams under Professor Glenda Gray and Professor Gavin Churchyard took over with funding from HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) and the SA MRC. This represents a unique example of a multidisciplinary research effort taking a project from the basic concept through to clinical trial in Africa. It shows that academic institutions in South Africa have the capacity to do these projects, and to contribute meaningfully to the global initiative to make a successful prophylactic HIV vaccine.

Present projects include novel HIV vaccines and recombinant veterinary vaccines based on lumpy skin disease virus. She is also an expert on human papillomavirus, and has participated in national committees on the introduction of HPV vaccine in South Africa, as well as serving as a consultant for the WHO. She is actively involved in training post-graduate students and has over 200 peer reviewed publications.

Prof. Williamson served as a member of the ISV Board for two years and was elected a Fellow of ISV in 2019.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
South Africa
2018

Rafi Ahmed

Rafi Ahmed
Title
Professor of Microbiology and Immunology; Director, Emory Vaccine Center Emory University
Description

Dr. Rafi Ahmed is a world-renowned immunologist who holds positions of Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Emory University, Director of the Emory Vaccine Center, Eminent Scholar of the Georgia Research Alliance, and Investigator at the Emory Center for AIDS Research.

In 1981, he received his Ph.D. in Microbiology from Harvard University after studying for four years in the laboratory of Dr. Bernard Field. Dr. Ahmed then completed a three-year postdoctoral fellowship that he focused on cytotoxic T lymphocytes while in the laboratory of Michael B. Oldstone at the Scripps Institute in La Jolla, California. Dr. Ahmed’s accolades include Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (2009), Foreign Member of the Indian National Academy of Sciences (2013), Member of the Institute of Medicine (2014), Member of the National Academy of Sciences (2014), AAI Excellence in Mentoring Award (2015), Robert Koch Award (2017), and William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic Immunology (2017).

Dr. Ahmed's early seminal discovery that T cell exhaustion during chronic viral infections is linked to the PD-1 inhibitory receptor opened a new area of research on PD-1-directed immunotherapic approaches for chronic infections and cancer.

Dr. Ahmed served as the local co-chair for the 2018 ISV Annual Congress held in Atlanta, Georgia (USA), and served on the Scientific Organizing Committee for the 2019 ISV Annual Congress held in Ghent, Belgium.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States

Randy Albrecht

Randy Albrecht
Title
Associate Professor of Microbiology; Director, Emerging Pathogens Facility Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Description

Dr. Albrecht earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Microbiology and Immunology from the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Shreveport, Louisiana in 2003 under the mentorship of Dr. Dennis J. O'Callaghan. He conducted his postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of Dr. García-Sastre in the Department of Microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York.

Specific areas of research have focused on developing novel influenza vaccines, studying humoral responses of animals and humans to influenza vaccines, developing immunological reagents and assays to examine  the adaptive immune response of ferrets, testing the protective efficacy of novel influenza vaccines in small animal models of influenza disease, and in vitro assays of antibody-mediated virus neutralization. Novel influenza vaccines that induce protective immunity against more conserved antigens such as the hemagglutinin stalk domain are an exciting and rapidly developing area of research on influenza virus vaccines. These vaccine approaches hold the promise to induce broadly neutralizing antibody and cellular immune responses that could confer increased protection against antigenic drift and possibly against  pandemic influenza.  Dr. Albrecht has contributed to preclinical research studies that have examined in the ferret model of influenza the potential of sequential immunization regimens with vaccines that are designed to focus humoral immune responses against the conserved hemagglutinin stalk domain.

 Dr. Albrecht, an active member of ISV, serves as the Editor of the ISV newsletter. Dr. Albrecht served on the Scientific Organizing Committee for the 2018 ISV Annual Congress held in Atlanta, Georgia (USA), and was elected a member of the ISV Board (2020-2021).

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States

Nathalie Garcon

Title
Chief executive (CEO) and scientific officer (CSO) of BIOASTER. Prior to joining BIOASTER
Description

Dr. Nathalie Garçon is currently the chief executive (CEO) and scientific officer (CSO) of BIOASTER. Prior to joining BIOASTER, Dr. Garçon held several positions within SmithKline Beecham Biologicals, now known as GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines, including Vice President, Head of global vaccine center for adjuvants and technology innovation, Vice President, head of Research and North America R&D, Director of research and new technologies R&D, and Director of alternative deliveries and preclinical operations. She is a biological Pharmacist by training, which included two doctoral dissertations, one in pharmaceutical science and another in immunotoxicology and immunopharmacology from Claude Bernard Lyon 1, which is part of the Université de Lyon. Dr Garçon expertise in vaccinology extends from research to manufacturing, in particular immunology, adjuvant and formulation technologies, analytical methods, animal experimentation and toxicology/safety evaluation and testing. Dr Garçon is the 2014 laureate of the Stanley Plotkin award for lifetime achievement in the field of vaccines and vaccine technologies. She has authored over 80 papers and book chapters, and is listed as inventor on more than 100 patents. Dr. Garcon is an active member of ISV, including poster presentations and serving as a keynote speaker. She served on the scientific committee for the 2015 and 2017 ISV Congresses and participated in the mentoring sessions.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
France
Portraits

Adrian Hill

Adrian Hill
Title
Founding Director of the Jenner Institute and Chairman of the Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford; is a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and a Fellow of the Academy of
Description

Professor Hill serves as the Founding Director of the Jenner Institute and Chairman of the Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford; is a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. Professor Hill holds an academic appointment as Professor of Human Genetics at the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics at the University of Oxford, which studies genetic susceptibility factors for common bacterial diseases. He the leader of one of the most successful translational research programs in the UK, with over 25 new vaccines designed, manufactured, and assessed in clinical trials.

Professor Hill focused his research on the development of a range of viral vectored vaccination approaches, which are currently in widespread clinical development. His research has also focused on the discovery of approaches that induce cellular immunity in humans (prime-boost and prime-target vaccination) leading to clinical development in multiple infectious disease and cancer indications for both disease prevention and immunotherapy,

Dr. Hill has served as Chief Investigator on over 50 clinical trials, including clinical trials for malaria vaccines and the first clinical trial of a monovalent Ebola virus vaccine (cAd3-ZEBOV) aimed at targeting the West African Ebola virus epidemic. Prof. Hill has been an active participant in the ISV Congresses, including being on the Scientific committee in 2016 and 2017, and as a plenary speaker. He is particularly interested in guiding the scientific program efforts for both future Congresses and regional topical ISV meetings, ensuring that the meetings have an important emphasis on diseases primarily affecting developing countries including One Health programs and is passionate about extending pre-clinical vaccinology research to more centers in sub-Saharan Africa.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United Kingdom

Paul Offit

Paul Offit
Title
Director of the Vaccine Education Center Chief of Infectious Diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)
Description

Paul A. Offit, MD, is the Director of the Vaccine Education Center and Chief of Infectious Diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). He is also the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology and a Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Offit earned his bachelor's degree from Tufts University and his medical degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. During his early training at CHOP, he was mentored by Maurice Hilleman, who is considered the father of modern vaccines. Along with H. Fred Clark, PhD, and Stanley A. Plotkin, MD, Dr. Offit is the co-inventor of an oral rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq, a pentavalent rotavirus vaccine that took 26 years to develop. In recognition to his dedication to the development of a rotavirus vaccine, Dr. Offit was the 2018 recipient of the Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal, which the Sabin Vaccine Institute has awarded annually since 1994 for recognition of research accomplishments in the field of vaccinology or a complementary field.

Additional accolades include being selected as a recipient of the Young Investigator Award in Vaccine Development from the Infectious Disease Society of America and a Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Offit is a regular contributor to the CHOP Vaccine Update Newsletter for Healthcare Professionals, and an accomplished writer. Dr. Offit is a member of the Scientific Committee for the 2019 ISV Annual Congress.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States
2017

Denise Doolan

Denise Doolan
ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
Australia
Portraits

Linda Klavinskis

Title
Professor of Viral Immunology, King’s College London
Description

Linda S. Klavinskis, PhD, is Professor of Viral Immunology at King’s College London where her laboratory focuses on immunity to vaccination and virus infection. The goal is to understand and harness cross talk between dendritic cells and T cells, and use this knowledge to develop new and more effective vaccines. This work has led to deciphering an alternative mode of antigen presentation, termed ‘cross-dressing’ and unravelling mechanisms contributing to epitope selection and CD8 T-cell immunodominance. At the translational level, her lab has made contributions to the development of gene delivery systems for DNA and viral-mediated vaccination. More, recently she made inroads in understanding the biology of skin immunisation and developed a microneedle vaccine delivery platform. This has led to the new finding that skin immunisation activates cross talk with innate cells in epithelial barrier tissues to recruit effector CD8+ T-cells and can establish immune surveillance at the barrier tissues. During the COVID-19 pandemic her lab has focused on the role of innate immunity in the hyperinflammatory response in severe COVID-19 and applying therapeutic approaches. Her laboratory has co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications.

Professor Klavinskis currently serves as a member of the UK Medical Research Council’s Infection and Immunity Board. She also serves as Associate Editor of Frontiers in Mucosal Immunology and as an Editor of Frontiers in HIV and AIDS. She has served as President of the ‘Medical Research Club’, a prestigious London based biomedical society established 1891 with a focus in infection and immunity. She contributes to national and international peer review in vaccine sciences and as a consultant in industry. She has expertise in executive and senior management positions, including most recently as Vice Dean for Postgraduate Research (Life Sciences and Medicine) at King’s College London. She is a Fellow of the International Society for Vaccines and was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists.

Linda Klavinskis has been an active member of the International Society for Vaccines since 2015 and is an elected ISV Fellow. Her service to the ISV includes, membership of the Executive Board since 2018 (where she has championed promoting opportunities for women and junior/early career researcher members in ISV activities); Secretary for the 2020-2021 term; and is President-elect for the 2022-2023 term.

She served as Co-Chair of the 2019 ISV Annual Congress in Ghent, playing a key role in identifying the Scientific Committee (SC) and planning the scientific program with the SC and also introduced further opportunities for junior researchers e.g. the “Bright Sparks in Vaccinology’ junior PI session and a career focus event illustrating opportunities beyond the purely academic career path.  During the COVID-19 pandemic she served as Co-chair for the ISV COVID-19 Vaccine Congress mini-series (2020 -2021). With Drs Shan Lu and Margaret Liu she wrote an article published in Emerging Microbes and Infections, which described the leadership role of the ISV in providing the global community with balanced presentations of progress and challenges in COVID-19 vaccine development.

Over the past 5 years she has annually contributed to the ISV as a workshop chair and as a plenary/workshop speaker. She regularly contributes to the ISV newsletters to publicise and feedback on the ISV’s work. She brings a trans European and North American perspective to the Society from her training and extensive research experience in several labs on these continents.   

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United Kingdom

Joon Haeng Rhee

Title
Professor of Microbiology, Chonnam National University Medical School
Description

Dr. Joon Haeng Rhee is a graduate of Chonnam National University Medical School and received PhD from the same university. He has been working on molecular microbial pathogenesis and vaccine biology for more than 30 years.

For the molecular microbial pathogenesis studies, his laboratory has been observing the V. vulnificus-host interactions using various molecular and cellular microbiological tools. His team was the first reporter of the whole genome sequence of V. vulnificus, which became one of the most widely used standard strains in the Vibrio research field. They identified an RTX (repeats in toxin) toxin as the culprit of deadly host-killing mechanism in the V. vulnificus infections and recently developed an effective preventive vaccine and therapeutic monoclonal antibody targeting a specific region of the toxin. Vaccine study was first started aiming the high mortality V. vulnificus infections. During the vaccine research, his team came across the finding that a flagellin protein of V. vulnificus has an excellent mucosal adjuvant effect in late 1990s, which was later proved by his group and others to be mediated by the TLR5 signaling. Currently his laboratory is studying the basic science and applications related to the flagellin-TLR5-mediated immune modulation. His team reported the mechanism how TLR5 is very well maintained in senescent animals and proposed that flagellin could be used an effective adjuvant for vaccines against infectious diseases affecting elderly population. Now flagellin is applied to the development of effective vaccines and immunotherapeutics against diverse diseases such as cancers, allergies, and Alzheimer’s disease.

He was the president of Korean Vaccine Society (KVS) from 2013 to 2015. He hosted the 2015 International Society for Vaccines (ISV) Congress in Seoul as a local co-chair. He was elected as an ISV Fellow and serves a member of ISV Executive Board. He served editorial board member for Infection and Immunity and Microbiology and Immunology journals. He is currently the director of Clinical Vaccine R&D Center and Combinatorial Tumor Immunotherapy Research Center of Chonnam National University. As of August 2021, he has more than 160 papers published in peer-reviewed journals and named as an inventor on 20 patents

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
South Korea

Indresh K Srivastava

Indresh K Srivastava
Title
Vice President, Process and Analytical Development, Protein Sciences Corporation
Description

With a PhD in Biology (Zoology) from Central Drug Research Institute, Dr. Srivastava has a strong background in vaccine development, particularly in immunogen design, purification, analytical and formulation development, and has published extensively in these areas. Previously, he has spent more than twelve years at Chiron Corporation/Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc. in various capacities, including Head (AI), Protein Biochemistry; Head, Vaccine Manufacturing; and Head, Protein Expression and Analytics. He also spent two years at NIH’s Vaccine Research Center (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases), where he led the purification, analytical and formulation development of Chikungunya vaccine for clinical evaluation.

Dr. Srivastava has more than 120 peer reviewed publications, including contributions in Vaccine, and Science. In addition, he co-edited the book “Development of Vaccines: From Discovery to Clinical Testing,” published by John Wiley and sons in 2011. He joined Protein Sciences in 2013 and served as Vice President of Product Realization from 2012-2015 where he led the yearly strain change activities required for successful commercial production of flu vaccine. Since 2015, Dr. Srivastava has served as Vice president of Process and Analytical Development and has made significant contributions in process optimization, improving the yield of Flublok, and performing comparability studies to implement process changes to the approved process.

Dr. Srivastava has served on the NIH special emphasis study section focused on vaccine development for ten years and in 2015 was named the standing member of the scientific review committee VACC. Dr. He has served on the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Gates Foundation Funded Program Project at the University of Massachusetts, the NIH Funded Program Project for the Development of HIV Vaccine at the University of Massachusetts, and currently serves as the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board, Staged Vaccine Development Program at the University of Massachusetts. He has many honors, among which are two Research Fellowships with the Indian Council of Medical Research Malaria project, a Swiss Government Scholarship to work at Hospital Cantonal, University of Geneva, and malaria research support from the Swiss National Research Foundation.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States

Jeffrey Ulmer

Description

Dr. Jeffrey Ulmer has been an active scientist in the vaccines community since completing his post-doctoral fellowship in 1990.  He has published more than 200 scientific papers in various aspects of vaccines discovery and development, is named as a co-inventor on eleven patents, serves on the editorial boards of three journals, and has been on the scientific advisory boards of many academic laboratories and biotechnology companies.  During his career in the vaccines industry, he has held scientific and management positions in the Vaccines divisions of Merck Research Laboratories, Chiron Corporation, Novartis and GSK.  His various leadership roles and responsibilities have included:  Platform Technology Leader (DNA, RNA vaccines), Project Leader (Tuberculosis, SARS); Department Head (Immunology & Cell Biology), Global Function Head (External Research), US Site Head Research, Head Preclinical R&D, and Program Head Technical R&D.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States

Britta Wahren

Britta Wahren
Title
Professor Senior, Karolinska Institutet, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology
Description

Dr. Wahren has been a pioneer for many areas of vaccinology, including her prime-boost clinical trials for both prevention and therapy of HIV/AIDS, and her therapeutic vaccine studies for cancer (targeting CEA) and her novel passive immunotherapy for HIV known as Dock-and-Lock therapy. She is a Professor at the Karonlinska Institutet and has devoted significant effort to mentoring and educating PhD and post-doctoral students throughout Europe via various European consortia such as EAVI, AVIP, and Europrise.

One of Dr. Wahren’s focuses was designing a genetic HIV vaccine for immunotherapy and prophylaxix, and targeting genes that HIV possesses and making small DNA constructs. The resulting vaccine has been used in human trials in four different countries in Europe and Africa, and appears to be one of the most effective vaccines to prime for immune responses against a variety of HIV strains as it stimulates both Humoral and Cell-mediated immunity. The vaccine concept is an unusual one as the vaccine is composed of viral genes and not the usual proteins. The individual produces the vaccine antigen, thus making the vaccine tailor-made for the immune responses of the vaccinated individual. Efforts are underway to design a similar tailor-made genetic vaccine against the common colorectal cancer cells.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
Sweden
2015

Manon Cox

Description

Dr. Manon M.J. Cox, MBA founded NextWaveBio early 2018 initially providing scientific and strategic direction to various biopharmaceutical companies. NextWaveBio’s mission is to bridge the gap between preclinical and clinical development by offering infrastructure and education around quality systems required for clinical development and manufacturing. Prior to that she led the development of Flublok®, the only FDA approved recombinant influenza vaccine at Protein Sciences Corporation where she served as President and Chief Executive Officer since April 2010 and Director since 2008. She joined Protein Sciences in 1998 as Director of Business Development and became Chief Operating Officer in 2003.

Previously she was with Gist-brocades, a large Dutch company specialized in fermentation, where she held various management positions, most recently in New Business Development and before that in Production and Research and Development.  Prior to joining Gist-brocades, she worked as a Molecular Biologist on the development of a PCR screening test for cervical cancer at the University of Amsterdam. 

She serves on the Board of Directors of Vaxxas, the Netherland-America Foundation including its Education Committee, the International Society of Vaccines, and various Scientific Advisory Boards in the vaccine development space.

Dr. Cox has received many honors and awards recognizing her stature as a leader in innovation and influenza, including in 2014 receiving a Doctorate in Humane Letters honoris causa from St. Joseph University and the Woman of Innovation award from the Connecticut Technology Council and was elected fellow in the International Society of Vaccines in 2015. Dr. Cox holds a Doctorate from the University of Wageningen, received her MBA with distinction from the University of Nyenrode and the University of Rochester, NY and holds a Doctorandus degree in Molecular Biology, Genetics and Biochemistry from the University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States
Portraits

Ronald Ellis

Description

Dr. Ronald Ellis has >30 years of scientific, managerial and executive R&D experience for vaccines, immunotherapeutics and biological products in small, medium and large biotech / pharma companies. He has championed or led R&D efforts on a wide range of vaccines and Immunotherapeutics from discovery or in-licensure through development to product licensure and launch in major markets. These include several licensed vaccines – human papilloma virus and rotavirus for which he initiated these two vaccine programs at Merck, Haemophilus influenzae type b, hepatitis B and varicellawhich together have annual sales ~$4B.

At Merck he led Vaccine Research as well as joint projects with partner companies for developing several combination vaccines. He had a succession of senior R&D positions, beginning with his start-up and position of Site Head of a large Boston-area vaccine development facility for BioChem Pharma that subsequently became part of Shire then ID Biomedical. He then worked at Avant Immunotherapeutics before joining NasVax, then FutuRx in 2014.

He has managed numerous functions in all aspects of vaccines and biologicals ranging from research to process and analytical development through to clinical and project management, as well as strategy and evaluation of new opportunities. He is (co)author of over 100 publications and over 35 review articles, and editor/coeditor of 8 books. He has made over 100 invited presentations, chaired many sessions at international scientific conferences, consulted for different companies, and served on many SABs.

He is the founding (2004) and Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed indexed journal Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
Israel

Kathrin U. Jansen

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States
Portraits

Marie-Paule Kieny

Description

Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny was appointed WHO Assistant Director-General in October 2010. Prior to this, Dr. Kieny directed the WHO Initiative for Vaccine Research since its inception in 2001. Major successes under her leadership were the development and licensing of a new vaccines against meningitis A, and against pandemic influenza in developing countries through pioneering the transfer of technology and know-how. Vaccines against poverty-related diseases and those that disproportionately affect poor and marginalized populations are continuing priorities since her first role in WHO with the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases in 2001. In 2009-2010 she lead the WHO Pandemic Influenza Deployment Initiative which allowed delivery of more than 80 million doses of vaccine to nearly 80 low- and middle-income countries. She was placed in charge of Ebola R&D in WHO in 2014 and has overseen the design and implementation of a successful Ebola Vaccine clinical trial in Guinea.

Before coming to WHO, Dr Kieny held top research positions in the public and private sectors of her home country, France. The positions included Assistant Scientific Director of Transgene S.A. from 1981 to 1888, and Director of Research and Head of the Hepatitis C Virus Molecular Virology Group at the Institute of Virology, Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (INSERM) from 1999 to 2000.

Dr Kieny's research career began with the development of a recombinant rabies vaccine, allowing the elimination of rabies in vaccinated territories in Europe and North America. She has also worked on the design of several original AIDS vaccine candidates in collaboration with the Pasteur Institute, and conducted research on immuno-gene therapy targeting breast and cervical cancers with encouraging results. Dr. Kieny has taught molecular virology, vaccinology and genetic engineering and directed the research of many doctoral candidates and undergraduates.

She received her PhD in Microbiology from the University of Montpellier in 1980, where she was also awarded a University Diploma in Economics, and her Diplôme d’Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches from the University of Strasbourg in 1995. Dr. Kieny has published over 250 articles and reviews, mainly in the areas of infectious diseases, immunology and vaccinology.

Dr. Kieny was awarded the coveted Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite, au titre du Ministère de la Recherche (2000); the Prix Génération 2000-Impact Médecin (1994); and the Prix de l'Innovation Rhône-Poulenc (1991).

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
Switzerland
Portraits

Paul-Henri Lambert

Paul-Henri Lambert
Title
Director International Advanced Course of Vaccinology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Description

 Paul-Henri Lambert, MD, is a retired professor associated with the Centre of Vaccinology in the Department of Pathology and Immunology at the University of Geneva. He is interested in vaccination strategies and risk evaluation. Prof. Lambert is directing the International Advanced Course of Vaccinology (ADVAC) organized under the auspices of the Fondation Mérieux and University of Geneva.

Prof. Lambert chaired the steering committee of the European Consortium for the development of new tuberculosis vaccines (TBVAC), and the vaccine committee of the International Association for Biologicals (IANS) and, until December 2008, chaired the WHO Global Advisory Committee for Vaccine Safety.

Prof. Lambert led the Immunology Research and Training Program of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the WHO-associated research laboratories at Universities of Geneva and Lausanne (1975-1987). During this period his research activities lead him to decipher immunological mechanisms involved in autoimmune and immune complex-mediated diseases and in the pathogenesis of malaria. He then became involved in the development of new strategies to optimize vaccine immunogenicity. Prof. Lambert was appointed as chief Microbiology and Immunology at the World Health Organization (1987) and Chief, Vaccine Research and Development, WHO Global Program for Vaccines and Immunization (1994).

A native of Belgium, Prof. Lambert was boarded in Internal Medicine (University of Liege). In 1966, he joined Frank Dixon at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, La Jolla, California, for immunopathology training. He then moved to University of Geneva Medical School as head of a research unit (1970), becoming professor in the Department of Medicine (1974) and affiliated in the Department of Pathology (1984).

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
Switzerland

Connie Schmaljohn

Description

Dr. Connie S. Schmaljohn is currently the Director of the Integrated Research Facility at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Frederick, Maryland.  Previously, she was Senior Research Scientist for Medical Defense Against Infectious Disease Threats (ST) at USAMRIID and her research involved developing medical countermeasures against highly lethal viruses of military importance. She was instrumental in the discovery of hantaviruses, a previously unknown class of rodent-borne viruses that cause hemorrhagic fever or severe respiratory diseases in humans. In addition, she is a widely recognized pioneer and world expert on DNA vaccines and highly pathogenic viruses. 

Dr. Schmaljohn introduced novel vaccine technologies that led to five clinical trials of first-of-kind recombinant DNA-based vaccines to protect against hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome and Venezuelan equine encephalitis. She has more than 200 research publications and 21 U.S. and international patents to her credit and is the recipient of numerous scientific awards and honors.
 

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States

Matthias Schnell

Title
Professor and Chair, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Thomas Jefferson University, Jefferson Medical College
Description

Matthias J. Schnell, PhD, is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Thomas Jefferson University, Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA, USA.  He is also the Director of the Jefferson Vaccine Center.  Dr. Schnell earned his BS, MS in Biology from the University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany and he received a Doctorate in Molecular Virology and Biochemistry from the University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim & Federal Research Center for Virus Diseases of Animals, Tuebingen, Germany in 1994.  Dr. Schnell performed post-doctoral fellowships with Dr. K.-K. Conzelmann at the Federal Research Centre for Virus Diseases of Animals in Tuebingen, Germany.  He then took by second postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. John. K. Rose in the Department of Pathology at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT, where he worked on immunological studies in HIV and other viruses. Dr. Schnell is a leader in vaccine development and viral pathogenesis.  He has pioneered the use of Rhabdoviral based vectors as vaccines for viral pathogens, including Ebola, Marburg, Lassa fever, and Zika viruses. Dr. Schnell has also led studies to understand the biochemistry, molecular biology and immunology of rabies virus and its interaction with the infected host. The molecular mechanism of rabies virus pathogenesis is not well understood and our research analyses the different functions the rhabdoviral proteins (e.g. rabies virus) and their interaction with cellular host proteins. 

Dr. Schnell has published more than 103 papers and book chapters on infectious disease and vaccine development. He has been an invited speaker at more than 50 national and international conferences and participates in several vaccine working groups, including at the U.S. NIH, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Defense. He is an editorial board member of 10 different scientific journals. In addition, he has been an ad-hoc reviewer on NIH study sections and a reviewer for 24 different journals.

 

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States

Frédéric Tangy

Frédéric Tangy
Title
Director of Research, French National Centre for Scientific Research
Description

Dr. Tangy is Director of Research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, Section de Biologie de la cellule, relation hôte-pathogène et immunologie. He is the head of the Viral Genomics and Vaccination lab at Institut Pasteur, CNRS UMR 3569, Paris, France. Dr. Tangy is a conference co-chair for the 2016 ISV Congress that will be held in Boston, MA, and will also serve as the co-chair for the 2017 ISV Congress. He is one of the ten ISV fellows that were selected in 2015. Dr. Tangy received his PhD in Pharmacology and Dr. Sc. in Microbiology from the Pierre and Marie Curie University (University of Paris VI). He is an internationally renowned scientist, professor, inventor, entrepreneur, and writer and director of TV film documentaries. He has coauthored over 130 publications on vaccines, including measles virus-vectored vaccines, molecular biology and pathogenesis of viruses, innate immunity, and virus host interactions. As an inventor, he holds over 20 patents with the US and the EU Patent and Trademark Office. As an entrepreneur, he is co-founder of Epixis SA, Paris, France, a biotechnology company that develops vaccines based on virus-like particles designed to confer protection against hepatitis C. He also cofounded OncoVita, a start-up company that develops the use of modified measles virus as oncolytic agents. Dr. Tangy will attend the 2016 ISV Annual Congress, and looks forward to discussing his research with Congress attendees.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
France

Yu Mei Wen

Yu Mei Wen
Title
Professor & Director, Institute of Medical Microbiology, Fudan University
Description

Yu-mei Wen, Ph.D., Professor & Director, Institute of Medical Microbiology, Fudan University, Shanghai. Dr. Wen is also Professor of Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology, Ministry of Education/Ministry of Health. Her research interests are in molecular virology and immunology of hepatitis B virus, and in microbial functional genomic studies. She is one of the pioneers in developing therapeutic vaccine for chronic hepatitis B patients. Prof. Wen graduated from Shanghai Medical University and has been a WHO fellow at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Fogarty visiting scholar at NIAID, National Institutes of Health, USA. She has published 240 articles home and abroad, and has edited and co-edited 8 books, including Viral Hepatitis in China-Problems and Control Strategies (Karger publisher, 1992) and recent works on micorbes and infections in China (World Scientific Publisher, 2010). She was acting editor of Archives of Virology (2008-2011).

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
China

Julius Youngner (1920-2017)

Title
Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, University of Pittsburgh
Description

Julius S. Youngner, Sc.D., a world-renowned virologist best know for this contributions to the development of the first effective polio vaccine alongside Jonas Salk, died peacefully on April 27, 2017 at his home in Pittsburgh, surrounded by family.  Dr. Youngner, a Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of microbiology and medical genetics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, had a remarkable scientific career that spanned more than 60 years, influenced the careers of an entire generation of virologists, and has saved innumerable lives.

Dr. Youngner’s contributions to virology began shortly after his arrival at the University of Pittsburgh in 1949 as an Assistant Professor. At that time, Dr. Youngner started working with Dr. Jonas Salk on the development of a vaccine for poliomyelitis. A number of significant advances toward the realization of this vaccine, which came to be called the Salk vaccine, followed in a remarkably brief time. In particular, Dr. Youngner’s efforts were responsible for establishment of techniques for the production of poliovirus on a large scale, and he developed the process for the inactivation of the infectivity of the virus without destroying its activity as a vaccine. He also devised methodology for safety testing of vaccine batches, including those used in the first field trial. A simple color test for anti-polio antibodies, used to determine the efficacy of immunization in human subjects was also the fruit of Dr. Youngner’s efforts.

It was during the course of his work on the polio vaccine that Dr. Youngner exploited a new and effective technique for culturing cells from animal tissues. This involved the simple expedient of treating tissues with proteolytic enzymes to obtain cell suspensions used to establish primary cell cultures. This method, now commonly referred to as trypsinization is the basis for modern cell culture, and the publication describing this advance, has been cited so often that it has achieved the status of a so-called citation classic according to the criteria of the Informational Sciences Institute.

Since his initial early work on the polio vaccine and related topics, Dr. Youngner has continued to make major advances in the field of virology and immunology. In the area of interferon research, Dr. Youngner was the first to demonstrate that non-viral agents could trigger interferon induction in animals. In addition, Dr. Youngner and his colleague, Dr. Samuel Salvin, identified a second variety of interferon that was acid-sensitive and termed it Type II interferon, which is now known as gamma-interferon. Dr. Youngner also made several significant contributions to the understanding of the antiviral-effect of interferon and was the first to demonstrate the anti-interferon effect of some viruses, particularly poxviruses, a research area that is currently under active investigation in many laboratories.

Persistent viral infection has been another field in which Dr. Youngner has made a seminal contribution. Working with RNA viruses, his laboratory developed insights into the factors involved in the establishment and maintenance of persistent infections by virulent viruses in cell culture model systems. The role of selection and amplification of defective viral mutants in the evolution of persistence led to the understanding that many of these mutants were dominant-negative viruses that were able to interfere with the replication of their wildtype parental viruses.

Dr. Youngner’s productivity has continued to the present day. As an outgrowth of studies of dominant-negative mutants, Dr. Youngner has devised a novel approach to antiviral therapy. He and his colleagues have demonstrated that the live, attenuated virus vaccine for influenza A is a dominant mutant virus that is able to directly interfere with wild-type influenza virus in animals and protect them from disease. This characteristic is distinct from the ability of the live virus vaccine to induce a protective immune response. This strategy for influenza antiviral therapy may have the potential for a significant impact on the morbidity and mortality associated with influenza infections and may be applicable to other systems.

Most recently, Dr. Youngner and his colleague, Dr. Patricia Dowling developed a live, attenuated equine influenza vaccine that was licensed by the USDA on November 17, 1999. This patented vaccine was licensed to Heska Corporation of Ft. Collins, CO, who supported the development of the vaccine and is responsible for its production and distribution. The vaccine “FluAvert IN” is administered intranasally and is considered by equine veterinarians to be the first effective influenza vaccine to prevent a serious respiratory disease of horses.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States
2014

Alan Barrett

Title
Director, Sealy Institute of Vaccine Sciences and Professor, University of Texas Medical Branch
Description

Dr. Barrett is Director of the Sealy Institute of Vaccine Sciences, Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Vaccine Research, Evaluation and Training for Emerging Infectious Diseases, and Professor in the Departments of Pathology, and Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston. He obtained his BSc, MSc and PhD from the University of Warwick (1975-1983) and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Subsequently, he was an academic at the University of Surrey (1985-1993). In 1993 he moved to UTMB. He became Director of the UTMB Sealy Center for Vaccine Development (SCVD) in January 2008. The SCVD was re-designated Institute status, as the Sealy Institute for Vaccine Sciences, in December 2017 with the approval of University of Texas system, and became the fourth Institute at UTMB. He was elected Fellow of the International Society for Vaccines in 2014 and Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2016. Dr. Barrett's research interests are the molecular basis of pathogenesis and vaccine development of flaviviruses (dengue, Japanese encephalitis, West Nile, tick-borne encephalitis, yellow fever, and Zika). His research has resulted in him authoring more than 300 papers, reviews and book chapters. He is Founding Editor-in-Chief of npj Vaccines (2015-present).  Finally, he has co-edited three books, including Vaccines for Biodefense and Emerging and Neglected Diseases with Larry Stanberry in 2008; and in 2015 he co-edited, with Gregg Milligan, the first student textbook on vaccines, entitled Vaccinology: An Essential Guide.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States

Emilio A. Emini

Emilio A. Emini
Description

Emilio Emini, Ph.D., is the HIV Program Director at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the Global Health. Dr. Emini was the Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President of Vaccine Research at Pfizer Inc. Previously, Dr. Emini served as Senior Vice President and Head of Vaccine Development at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. He was also the founding Executive Director of Merck’s Department of Antiviral Research and the Vice President of Merck’s Vaccine and Biologics Research. Dr. Emini received his doctoral degree in 1980 from the Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences in the fields of microbiology, genetics and biochemistry.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States

Bruno Guy

Description

Dr. Bruno Guy has been a scientist at Sanofi Pasteur since 1992.  He holds a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine, a PhD in Human Biology and an engineering degree in Biotechnology.  He has been Head of the Microbiology-Immunology platform in the Discovery Department, in charge of the preclinical research and immunological investigations and collaborations within the Dengue program.  His research has been linked to the induction of protective responses against viral and bacterial targets, both in humans and animals.  Dr. Guy is an expert in adjuvant research programs and vaccine delivery routes. 

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
France

Ken Ishii

Title
Professor, Immunology Frontier Research Center (IFREC), Osaka University
Description

Prof. Ken Ishii is currently appointed as Director for Vaccine and Adjuvant Research Center (CVAR) at National Institutes for Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition (NIBIOHN) recently established by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) of Japanese government, as well as Professor of the Laboratory of Vaccine Science at the Immunology Frontier Research Center (IFREC), Osaka University in Japan. He is also affiliated as Science and Technology Advisor for Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), Japan. Prof. Ishii graduated with a MD in 1993, practiced medicine for 4 years and then obtained a PhD from the School of Medicine, Yokohama City University, Kanagawa, Japan. He is further qualified with his years of experience in vaccine research supported by numerous books and over 180 periodical publications over 20,000 citations since 1998 including 7 years as a Visiting Scientist and IND reviewer at US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and 14 years in Osaka University and NIBIOHN. His H-index is 56 and elected as one of highly cited researchers for 3 years in raw (2014-16) by Thomson Reuters (Clarivate Analytics as of 2016). Based on his career, he conducts basic research on immunology related to vaccines and adjuvants and try to translate into vaccine markets globally.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
Japan

Myron M. Levine

Myron Levine
Description

Myron M. (“Mike”) Levine received his MD from the Medical College of Virginia in 1967 (where he was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society) and went on to become Board-certified in both Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine. He studied Tropical Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and received a DTPH in 1974. In that year, he also co-founded the Center for Vaccine Development (the CVD) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He has devoted his career to accelerate the development and introduction of vaccines against infections that pose a great burden on children and adults in developing countries (e.g., Shigella, typhoid fever, cholera, diarrheagenic Escherichia coli, malaria). In 1979, as a Pan American Health Organization consultant, he assisted Dr. Jose Manuel Borgoño in establishing the Typhoid Fever Control Program in the Ministry of Health of Chile and served as advisor to the Program until the early 1990s. CVD-Chile, a field unit of the CVD was established as a formal juridical public health research entity in Chile in 1991. Under his leadership, another field unit, CVD-Mali, was established in Bamako, Mali, West Africa; collaborating with Malian physicians and investigators, this unit serves as a public health research arm of the Malian Ministry of Health. At the University of Maryland School of Medicine he has served since 1984 as Professor and Head of the Division of Geographic Medicine in the Department of Medicine and from 1985 to 2006 as Professor and Head of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics.

Mike Levine has authored 461 papers in peer reviewed scientific journals and more than 100 book chapters. He is Chief Editor of “New Generation Vaccines”, the leading textbook of research vaccinology; the 4th edition of will be published in 2008. He has been highly successful in receiving large grant awards from the NIH and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Some recent grants include $50 million from the NIH as Principal Investigator of a Regional Center of Excellence, $20.4 million from the Gates Foundation to develop a new measles vaccine for immunizing infants in developing countries who are too young to receive the current measles vaccine and $29 million from the Gates Foundation to study the burden and etiology of diarrheal disease in eight sites in sub-Sahara Africa and South Asia.

He has received many honors acknowledging his research contributions. To cite a few, he was elected a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation (“the Young Turks”) (1986), the American Association of Physicians (“the Old Turks”) (1993) and the American Epidemiological Society (1982). In 1995 he was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and in 1998 he received the Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal Award for lifetime achievement in the field of vaccinology. Based on his vaccine research, in 2000 the Institute for Science Information recognized Dr. Levine as one of the top 100 most highly cited, influential researchers in the field of immunology. Since 2003, he has served as Principal Investigator of the Middle Atlantic Region Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research, a $50 million NIH-funded consortium that includes > 60 investigators from 16 medical schools.

Mike Levine has served as President of two national societies, the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (2006) and the American Epidemiological society (2001). He has also received multiple honors for his public health and humanitarian efforts. Among these are the Rank of “Grand Officer of the National Order of Mali” presented on behalf of the President of Mali, His Excellency Amadou Toumani Touré, for efforts in developing and distributing vaccines to the children of Mali. This honor is traditionally bestowed only to heads of state; (past recipients include U.S. President Jimmie Carter and President Jacques Chirac of France). In the January 2002 issue of Baltimore Magazine, Myron Levine was featured as one of ten “Baltimoreans of the Year”, an honor bestowed in recognition of improving the way of life in Baltimore in 2001; (another recipient that year was baseball hall of fame inductee Cal Ripken, Jr.).

Dr. Levine is a tireless provider of service to the international community in the area of public policy on immunizations and on strategies to foster the development of vaccines against diseases of particular importance to the developing and tropical world. He has served on multiple World Health Organization committees and advisory groups and repeatedly as an advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. He served as a member of the initial Working Group of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), 1999 –2002 and as Co-Chair of GAVI’s Task Force on Research and Development. He also serves on a Board of the Institute of Medicine and on multiple IOM committees (and during the past 12 months has Chaired two Institute of Medicine Committees).

Two recent phenomena, “emerging infections” and bioterrorism, have underscored the importance of the area in which Mike Levine carries out research. The general public, as well as scientists and health professionals have come to recognize that the world’s human population comprises a “global village”, and that most pathogens have global reservoirs that do not respect national borders.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States

Margaret Liu

Description

Professor Margaret A. Liu, obtained an M.D. from Harvard Medical School, a B.A. in Chemistry, summa cum laude, from Colorado College, and passed the Epreuve pour le Diplôme d’Enseignement, à l’unanimité (judges’ unanimous decision), in piano from the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, and is the recipient of an honorary Medical Degree (MD honoris causa) from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and an honorary Doctorate of Science from Colorado College. She completed Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine and a Fellowship in Endocrinology, all at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. She received Board Certification in Internal Medicine and in Endocrinology and Metabolism. Dr. Liu was a Visiting Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Instructor at Harvard Medical School, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, a Visiting Professor at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and the recipient of an NIH Physician Scientist Award. She served as Senior Director at Merck Research Laboratories, Vice President of Vaccines Research and Gene Therapy at Chiron Corporation, Vice-Chairman of Transgène, Senior Advisor in Vaccinology at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Executive Vice-Chair of the International Vaccine Institute, and was on the US NIH NIAID Council.

Her research has focused on novel technologies for vaccines and immune treatments for cancer. She pioneered the development of DNA vaccines, which are now in clinical trials for many human diseases and are licensed for several veterinary applications. She also was an innovator in the field of bispecific antibodies to activate T cells for tumor cell killing. The Nobel Committee invited her to lecture in the Karolinska Research Lecture series, and she was named by Discover magazine as one of the 50 most important female scientists. She consults world-wide for companies, investment firms, non-governmental organizations, and governmental scientific advisory bodies, and has held positions as an Adjunct Professor at UCSF, and as a Foreign Adjunct Professor at the Karolinska Institutet. Dr. Liu was previously the President of the International Society for Vaccines for the 2015- 2017 term, then President Emerita, and is currently the Chairman of the Board of ISV (2020-2021).

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States
Portraits

Peter Palese

Peter Palese
Title
Professor and Chair at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Description

Dr. Peter Palese is an internationally renowned microbiologist who pioneered the field of reverse genetics for negative-strand RNA viruses, which allows the introduction of site-specific mutations into the genomes of these viruses. This revolutionary technique is crucial for the study of the structure/function relationships of viral genes, for investigation of viral pathogenicity, and for development and manufacture of novel vaccines. The technique has significant implications in understanding and preparing for infectious disease pandemics.

Dr. Palese was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2000 for his seminal studies on influenza viruses. He is also a member of the German Academy of Sciences and a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He serves on the editorial board for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and as an editor for the Journal of Virology. Dr. Palese was President of the Harvey Society in 2004 and President of the American Society for Virology in 2005-2006. His honors include the Robert Koch Prize in 2006 and of the Charles C. Shepard Science Award in 2008.

After earning a PhD in chemistry from the University of Vienna in Austria in 1969, Dr. Palese remained at the university to pursue a master's degree in pharmaceutical science. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in virology at the Roche Institute for Molecular Biology in Nutley, New Jersey. Dr. Palese joined the Mount Sinai faculty in 1971 as an Assistant Professor of Microbiology. He rose through the ranks and was named Chair of the Department of Microbiology in 1987.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States

Stanley A. Plotkin

Title
Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania
Description

Dr. Stanley A. Plotkin is Emeritus Professor of the University of Pennsylvania. Until 1991, he was Professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania, and Professor of Virology at the Wistar Institute and at the same time, Director of Infectious Diseases and Senior Physician at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. In 1991, Dr. Plotkin left the University to join the vaccine manufacturer, Pasteur-Mérieux-Connaught, where for seven years he was Medical and Scientific Director, based at Marnes-la-Coquette, outside Paris. The same company is now named Sanofi Pasteur.

Dr. Plotkin’s career includes internship at Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital, residency in pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Hospital for Sick Children in London and three years in the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the Centers for Disease Control of the US Public Health Service.

He has been chairman of the Infectious Diseases Committee and the AIDS Task Force of the American Academy of Pediatrics, liaison member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and Chairman of the Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Research Committee of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Plotkin received the Bruce Medal in Preventive Medicine of the American College of Physicians, the Distinguished Physician Award of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, the Clinical Virology Award of the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology, and the Marshall Award of the European Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases. In June 1998, he received the French Legion of Honor Medal, in June 2001, the Distinguished Alumnus Award of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the Sabin Gold Medal in May 2002, and in September 2004 the Fleming (Bristol) Award of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 2005. Dr. Plotkin holds honorary degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Rouen (France). A lecture in his honor has been established at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting. His bibliography includes over 600 articles and he has edited several books including the standard textbook on vaccines.

He developed the rubella vaccine now in standard use throughout the world, and has worked extensively on the development and application of other vaccines including polio, rabies, varicella, rotavirus and cytomegalovirus.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States
Portraits

Rino Rappuoli

Description

Dr. Rino Rappuoli is Global Head Research and Development at Novartis Vaccines and is based in Siena, Italy. He earned his PhD in Biological Sciences at the University of Siena and has served as visiting scientist at Rockefeller University in New York and Harvard Medical School in Boston. Prior to the present position he was head R&D of Sclavo and then head of vaccine research and Chief Scientific Officer of Chiron Corporation.

Several molecules he worked with became part, or are near to becoming, licensed vaccines. These include: CRM197 used in H.influenzaeN.meningitidis, and pneumococcus vaccines; an acellular vaccine against pertussis containing a genetically detoxified pertussis toxin; the first conjugate vaccine against meningococcus C and later against meningococcus ACYW; the MF59 used in a vaccine against pandemic influenza; and the genome-derived vaccine against meningococcus B for which in November 2012 the European Medicinal Agency recommended the granting of a marketing authorization, the first vaccine to provide broad coverage against meningococcal serogroup B. This was followed by the approval of the European Commission in January 2013. In August 2013 the vaccine was approved by the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) for use in individuals from two months of age and older.  In March 2014 the UK Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation  (JCVI) recommended adding the vaccination to the primary childhood programme.

He was elected member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the European Molecular Biology Organization. Awards conferred include: Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize (1991), the Gold Medal by the Italian President (2005), the Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal (2009), the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Institute of Human Virology in Maryland (2010), and the Excellence Award from the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (2011). In 2013 he was nominated third most influential person worldwide in the field of vaccines (Terrapin).

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
Italy

Mark K. Slifka

Title
Professor, Oregon National Primate Research Center
Description

Dr. Mark K. Slifka earned his B.S. degree in microbiology and molecular biology in 1992 from Washington State University from the UCLA School of Medicine with a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology in 1996, Mark Slifka became a postdoctoral fellow in the department of neuropharmacology at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla. He came to OHSU as an assistant professor and to ONPRC as an affiliate assistant scientist in 2001 and was promoted to associate professor and associate scientist in 2006. Slifka was promoted to professor in 2011 and to senior scientist in 2013. PhD at the UCLA School of Medicine and currently holds a joint faculty position as a Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at Oregon Health & Science University and Senior Scientist at the Oregon National Primate Research Center. Dr. Slifka also serves as President and CSO of Najít Technologies, Inc. Dr. Slifka sets expansive goals for NTI’s vaccine development pipeline, identifying significant target pathogens and engaging a talented group of partners to advance these important vaccine programs. Dr. Slifka has published >80 research articles and reviews, including papers in prestigious biomedical journals. He has been quoted in >200 news articles. Dr. Slifka has served on academic review panels for both governmental and private institutions.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States
2013

Annie De Groot

Description

Dr. Annie De Groot is a physician and Research Professor of Biotechnology at the University of Rhode Island and co-founder and CEO/CSO of the immunoinformatics company EpiVax. She founded and directs the Institute for Immunology and Informatics at the University of Rhode Island, one of the first centers of excellence for immunoinformatics-driven vaccine design in the world. Dr. De Groot graduated from Smith College with a BA and from the Pritzker School of Medicine at University of Chicago. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Tufts New England Medical Center in 1986 and completed fellowships in Parasitology and Vaccine Research at the NIH (1989) and in Infectious Disease at the Tufts New England Medical Center (1993). While still an assistant professor at Brown University, Dr. De Groot and Bill Martin (COO/CIO EpiVax) co-founded EpiVax (1998) to use the immunoinformatics tools that De Groot had developed to design epitope-driven vaccines; services were then expanded to offer immunogenicity screening services for protein therapeutics in 2002. She led the team that discovered Tregitopes in 2008 and a new tool for predicting Treg epitopes, JanusMatrix. She is most excited about the relevance of this tool for the development of improved vaccines. In addition to her research on vaccines, Dr. De Groot has also contributed to the care of HIV-infected women inmates at the Yale HIV in Prison program and the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Framingham, and founded the GAIA Vaccine Foundation (in West Africa) for improving global AIDS treatment. De Groot is also volunteer medical director at Clinica Esperanza (Hope Clinic), a free clinic for Rhode Island residents who do not have health insurance.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States
Portraits

Adolfo Garcia-Sastre

Adolfo Garcia-Sastre
Description

Dr. Adolfo Garcia-Sastre is a Professor of Medicine and Microbiology and co-director of the Global Health & Emerging Pathogens Institute at The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Dr. García-Sastre earned his Ph.D at the University of Salamanca. He is the Director of the Global Health & Emerging Pathogens Institute. He is also Principal Investigator for the Center for Research on Influenza Pathogenesis (CRIP), one of five NIAID Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance (CEIRS). He served as the President for the International Society for Vaccines from 2013-2015, which is termed ended at the recent 9th Annual Vaccine and ISV Congress in Seoul. For the past 20 years, his research interest has been focused on the molecular biology of influenza viruses and several other negative strand RNA viruses. During his postdoctoral training in the early 1990s, he developed for the first time, novel strategies for expression of foreign antigens by a negative strand RNA virus, influenza virus. He has made major contributions to the influenza virus field, including 1) the development of reverse genetics techniques allowing the generation of recombinant influenza viruses from plasmid DNA (studies in collaboration with Dr. Palese); 2) the generation and evaluation of influenza virus vectors as potential vaccine candidates against different infectious diseases, including malaria and AIDS; 3) the identification of the biological role of the non structural protein NS1 of influenza virus during infection: the inhibition of the type I interferon (IFN) system; and 4) the reconstruction and characterization of the extinct pandemic influenza virus of 1918. His studies provided the first description and molecular analysis of a viral-encoded IFN antagonist among negative strand RNA viruses. These studies led to the generation of attenuated influenza viruses containing defined mutations in their IFN antagonist protein that might prove to be optimal live vaccines against influenza. His research has resulted in more than 100 scientific publications and reviews. He was among the first members of the Vaccine Study Section of the NIH.
In addition, he is an editor for Journal of Experimental Medicine and PLoS Pathogens and a member of the Editorial Board of Journal of Virology, Virology, Journal of General Virology and Virus Research.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States

Marc Girard

Title
Professor of Virology, University of Paris, France
Description

Marc P. Girard received his doctorate in veterinary medicine at Paris University in 1960, and his doctorate in Science in 1967, also in Paris. He trained for three years in the molecular biology of poliovirus as a Post-doctoral Fellow in the USA with Pr James Darnell, Renato Dulbecco and David Baltimore. He went on studying the molecular biology and genetics of poliovirus, then SV40 and adenovirus, before moving to HIV. He was a visiting professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Pr Hurwitz), the NIH (Dr Anthony Fauci), the Salk Institute in La Jolla (Pr David Baltimore) and Duke University (Pr Bolognesi). He worked for the last 20 years of his career on the development of an HIV vaccine.

Pr Girard was the Director General of the Mérieux Foundation in Lyon from mid 2001 to end of 2004. He previously was the Director of the Center for Research in Immuno-Virology (CERVI) in Lyon, France, which includes the BSL4 Virology Laboratory that was operated jointly by the Mérieux Foundation and the Pasteur Institute, and the Federative Research Institute on Virology, Immunology and Pathology of Emerging Diseases (IFR 74), a research laboratory of the French National Health & Medical Research Institute (INSERM).
Among the positions held by Pr Girard prior to his appointment in Lyon were Head, Department of Virology, and Professor, Chief of the Laboratory of Molecular Virology, Institut Pasteur, Paris (1980-1999); Scientific Director (CSO), Pasteur Vaccins, a joint industrial subsidiary of the Pasteur and Mérieux Institutes (1984-1990); Vice-Director of the Pasteur Institute, Paris (1990-92), Professor of Virology and Molecular Biology at University Paris 7 Denis Diderot, Paris (1974-1984; on leave until 2001).

Pr Girard was the Chairman of the Concerted Action “Vaccines” at the French National AIDS Research Agency (ANRS) from 1988 to 1998. He then chaired the E.U. HIV Vaccine Initiative “EuroVac”, an international AIDS vaccine Research Consortium which grouped together 21 European laboratories participating in comparative Phase I clinical trials of candidate HIV vaccines in human volunteers.
Marc Girard went on official retirement  in 2004 but he has remained active, teaching, giving talks and writing review articles on vaccines as an Honorary Professor at University Denis Diderot (Paris 7). He also is a member of the French National Academy of Medicine and of the French Veterinary Academy. He has been the organizer of the “Cent Gardes Conference” on HIV Vaccines since 1986.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
France

Dennis Klinman

Title
Emeritus Investigator, National Cancer Institute
Description

Dr. Klinman received his M.D./Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and completed his fellowship training in Rheumatology at the National Institute of Arthritis, NIH. He headed the Section of Viral Immunology at the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research of the FDA before joining the Laboratory of Experimental Immunology of the National Cancer Institute as chief of the Immunoregulation Group. He has authored over 340 peer reviewed articles and received the FDA's 'Outstanding Scientist of the Year' Award, the 'Outstanding Achievement Award In Biology' from the Washington Academy of Science, and 'Meritorious', 'Outstanding' and 'Distinguished' Service Medals from the Public Health Service, among other honors.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States

Shan Lu

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States
Portraits

Peter Nara

Peter Nara
Description

Dr. Peter Nara is currently Chief Executive Officer, President, Chairman & co- founder of Biological Mimetics, Inc., a biotechnology company founded to translate the theory of “Deceptive Imprinting” and the “Immune Refocusing” Technology, for preventative vaccines, novel immunotherapeutics and diagnostics in both human and veterinary medicine. Previously, Dr. Nara was the Section Chief of the Vaccine Resistant Diseases Section, Division of Basic Sciences, Office of the Director at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States

John Oxford

Title
Scientific Director of Retroscreen Virology Ltd., and Professor of Virology at St Bartholomew’s and the Royal London Hospital, Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Description

The world renowned influenza virologist Professor John Oxford is Scientific Director of Retroscreen Virology Ltd., and Professor of Virology at St Bartholomew’s and the Royal London Hospital, Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry. British-born, his research interest is the pathogenicity of influenza, in particular the 1918 Spanish Influenza strain. This research has been featured on science television programmes in the UK, USA, Germany and The Netherlands. Professor Oxford was fortunate in his early career to work under Sir Charles Stuart-Harris, who in 1933 had isolated the influenza virus and who was a great inspiration to the young John Oxford. Professor Oxford then moved to Canberra to work under Professor Graeme Laver, whose work with the crystallization of the influenza protein formed the basis for the development of the Tamiflu vaccine.

Co-author of two standard texts: “Influenza, the Viruses and the Disease” with Sir Charles Stuart-Harris and G.C. Schild, and most recently “Human Virology: A Text for Students of Medicine, Dentistry and Microbiology,” now in its third edition, Professor Oxford is a prolific communicator. He also makes time to give numerous interviews on BBC Radio and Television, and is a frequent contributor to the BBC News website. Professor Oxford has published 250 scientific papers.

He is especially proud of Retroscreen Virology, which he established in 1989 with the help of EU funding. Retroscreen Virology has grown into Europe’s leading contract virology research company. Its work is dedicated to creating the next generation of antivirals and vaccines in the field of biomedical research. It is the only company in the UK able to conduct human influenza challenge studies in a specialised quarantine unit with A/Panama/2007/99 and A/New Caledonia/20/99 viruses and has characterised influenza A (H1N1 and H3N2) and B viruses. Recently the company cultivated the SARS virus in its containment laboratory and has investigated virucides and lozenges for major pharmaceutical companies.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United Kingdom
Portraits

Clarisa B. Palatnik de Sousa

Title
Professor of Microbiology, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Description

Professor Palatnik de Sousa is a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (1980), Master of Science (Microbiology) from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (1983) and PhD in Microbiology from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (1989). She is currently a full professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

She has a large experience in the field of Parasitology, with emphasis in Vaccinology, acting mainly in the following subjects: adjuvants, saponins, vaccine, canine vaccine and visceral leishmaniasis. She is a permanent member of the Postgraduate Program in Microbiology of the Paulo de Góes Institute of UFRJ (since 1991), the Plant Biotechnology and Bioprocesses program, Health and Industry, of the CCS, UFRJ, from 2014 and a visitant member of the Health Science program of the Federal University of Sergipe, Brazil. She was the only Latin American member of the Executive Board of the International Society for Vaccines supported by the Vaccine-Elsevier Journal and the One-Health Scientific Committee of the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA). She was Editor in Chief of Procedia in Vaccinology of Elsevier and obtained the title of Fellow of the International Society for Vaccines, in recognition of her contribution in the field of vaccinology and contribution to the society.

She has developed several diagnostic tests for human and canine visceral leishmaniasis and described the possible transmission of the disease by blood transfusion. In addition, she studied the impact of the epidemiological control of the visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil. She developed the first 2nd generation vaccine licensed against canine visceral leishmaniasis (FML-saponin-Leishmune® (Pfizer-Zoetis) and a DNA vaccine based on the nucleoside hydrolase NH36, which is the main component of the FML antigen. She is currently engaged in the development of a synthetic epitope or chimeric vaccine based on the NH36 domains and epitopes in the murine model. Likewise, it leads the group investigating which NH36 epitopes, chimeras and domains are recognized by PBMCs from human patients of visceral or cutaneous leishmaniasis. She is interested in the molecular aspects of the interaction of the epitopes of NH36 and the receptors of the major histocompatibility complexes.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
Brazil
Portraits

Ted Ross

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States
Portraits

John Shiver

Description

John Shiver is senior vice president of global vaccine R&D at Sanofi Pasteur. He has more than 26 years of vaccine and pharmaceutical R&D experience in industry and government labs. Prior to joining Sanofi Pasteur, he led vaccine research at Merck and served in the experimental immunology branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Throughout his career, Dr. Shiver has led teams of scientists to develop novel vaccine and monoclonal antibody candidates against a broad range of diseases, which has contributed to the licensure of several new vaccines against HPV, rotavirus, zoster, dengue, as well as the combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella pediatric vaccine.

Dr. Shiver is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the International Society for Vaccines, and a member of the NIH HIV-1 Vaccine Testing Network Laboratory Science Advisory Committee and the Scientific Advisory Board of the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania College of Medicine and a member of the editorial board of Nature Partner Journals (npj) Vaccines.

He holds a B.S. in chemistry/mathematics from Wofford College and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Florida.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States

Ray Spier (1938-2018)

Description

Dr. Ray Spier has been a leader in vaccines and the founder of ISV.

Having been educated at Christ Church, Oxford and University College, London in Biochemistry (First Class Honours), Chemical Microbiology and Biochemical Engineering he then spent 7 years as a Senior Process Engineer in industry. The last 3 years in America were spent with Merck Sharpe and Dohme where he was introduced to animal cell biotechnology and the production of viruses for use in veterinary and human vaccines. On returning to the UK he worked for 10 years at the Animal Virus Research Institute, Pirbright, scaling-up bioreactors for virus vaccine production processes and maximizing the biological productivity of the BHK cell lines for Foot-and-Mouth Disease virus generation. He then moved to the University of Surrey as Professor and was Head of Microbiology (7 years) and was then (1997) appointed to the first chair in the UK in ‘Science and Engineering Ethics’. His publication record includes over 200 research papers and reviews along with over 20 edited books and an encyclopedia on animal and plant cell culture technology. In 2002 his book, ‘Ethics Tools and the Engineer’, was published by CRC Press. He is currently the Vaccine Series Editor in Chief, and Editor in Chief of Vaccine Research Quarterly, Procedia in Vaccinology, Trials in Vaccinology and ‘Science and Engineering Ethics’. Having founded the European Society for Animal Cell Technology in 1975 and the International Society for Vaccines in 1996 (President: 2007-11), he was elected to be President of the European Association for Higher Education in Biotechnology in 2000.

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United Kingdom
Portraits

David Weiner

Title
Director, Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center and Executive Vice President, Wistar Institute; Professor Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania
Description

Dr. David B. Weiner directs a translational molecular immunology research team focused on synthetic nucleic acid-based approaches for disease prevention and treatment.  His group is one of the first research teams in the field of Nucleic Acid Vaccines & Immune Therapies, advancing some of their first clinical trials.  His lab has contributed to multiple aspects and technology developments in advancing DNA vaccines.  Work resulted in clinical studies of an early Zika vaccine, the first MERS vaccine, an advanced Ebola Vaccine, a SARS-CoV2 Vaccine and a novel HIV immunogen platform, among others in the infectious disease arena.  In oncology his laboratory has helped to advance novel immune therapy approaches for HPV disease, prostate disease, GMB immunotherapy which are in clinical testing. This year a therapeutic DNA vaccine (HPV CIN) (VGX3100) moved into a licensure trial (REVEAL).  His lab work is also advancing dMAb in vivo antibody technologies for immune prevention and therapy.

Dr. Weiner’s laboratory has published over 430 papers/chapters & reviews and provided > 450 lectures. He has received several awards/honors, including the WW Smith Family Chair in Cancer Research - 2016, Vaccine Industry Association Outstanding Academic Research Laboratory (2015 & 2016) (runner up 2017, 2018, 2019), Top 20 Translational Research Laboratories of the Year (Nature Biotechnology 2016 - 2020), Stone family award for Cancer Research 2014, NIH Directors Translational Research Award 2011, and the Pennsylvania Life Sciences Achievement Award (2019). He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 2011 and a Fellow of the International Society for Vaccines 2010.  He served as President of the International Society for Vaccines (2018-2020).  He serves on the Executive Committee of the UPENN CFAR and served as chair of the prestigious Gene Therapy and Vaccine Training Program at the University of Pennsylvania (2004-2016).  He is currently a Wistar Institute Professor, Director of the Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center and the Executive Vice President of the Wistar Institute, and a Professor Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania.   Dr. Weiner has been an avid teacher, trainer, advisor, and advocate for students, fellows and junior faculty as he is highly committed to developing of the careers of young scientists.  

ISV Fellow of the Month
Country
United States