These highly-regarded global experts in infectious disease, immuno-oncology, and vaccine development help guide the advancement and direction of our pipeline programs.
Michel De Wilde, Ph.D., was Senior Vice President, Research & Development, at Sanofi Pasteur, the human vaccines division of Sanofi from 2001 until June 2013. In this position, he was responsible for managing approximately 1,500 employees and a broad portfolio of approximately 20 development projects.
Prior to joining Sanofi Pasteur in January 2000, Dr. De Wilde was at SmithKline Beecham Biologicals (now GSK Vaccines) in Rixensart, Belgium. Dr. De Wilde joined the group in 1978 as a research scientist upon formation of a unit focusing on the application of recombinant DNA technology to vaccine development. He subsequently held positions of increasing responsibility and, as Vice President, Research & Development at Sanofi Pasteur, headed a team of approximately 400 specialists, active in all aspects of preclinical vaccine development.
Dr. De Wilde a member of a number of Scientific Advisory Boards, including COVAX Independent Product Group and other COVID related advisory bodies.
Dr. De Wilde received his degree in Chemistry from the Free University of Brussels in 1971, followed by a Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1976. He carried out postdoctoral work at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (U.S.) and the University of Ghent (Belgium). Dr. De Wilde authored over 50 publications during the early part of his career.
Dr. De Wilde is also a Senior Scientific Advisor on all three of VBI’s Scientific and Clinical Advisory Boards.
Adam Finn is Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Bristol, UK. He studied Medical Sciences at Cambridge University and then moved to University of Oxford Medical School to complete his clinical degree in 1983. After qualifying he did training jobs in paediatrics in Sheffield, Bristol and Guy’s Hospital London before taking up a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in 1987. He completed his academic training as Lecturer in Immunology at the Institute of Child Health, Great Ormond St, London where he wrote his Ph.D.
In 1992, he took up a senior lecturer position at the University of Sheffield, UK. Over the following 9 years he established both clinical and laboratory research groups there, focussing on mucosal immune responses to paediatric conjugate vaccines and the pathogenesis of upper and lower respiratory tract pneumococcal infection. In 2001, he moved to Bristol where he is now Theme Leader for Infection & Immunity, University of Bristol and Clinical Research Lead – Children, Genetics, Haematology, Reproductive Health and Childbirth for the NIHR Clinical Research Network: West of England. He is also a senior clinician in the paediatric immunology and infectious diseases clinical service at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children and the South West region and heads the Bristol Children’s Vaccine Centre. In addition, he became Chairman of the WHO European Technical Advisory Group of Experts (ETAGE) on Immunization in December 2011 and ex officio member of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts, Member of the UK Department of Health Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) since October 2014. In 2015, he was elected President of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID).
His research interests are elucidation of the nature of naturally acquired mucosal immunity to pneumococcus, meningococcus and other respiratory bacteria, the determinants of bacterial transmission and vaccine indirect effects and development of tools to assess human immune responses to candidate vaccine antigens. He also leads and supports numerous clinical trials of drugs and medicines
Peter A. Patriarca, M.D., is the Principal of Immuno-Vax, LLC, and a senior affiliate consultant with the Biologics Consulting Group, Inc. (Alexandria, Virginia), and has provided technical and regulatory consulting services for all phases of vaccine and drug development for the past 13 years. Prior to consulting, Dr. Patriarca was Corporate Head and Vice President, Worldwide Regulatory Affairs and Pharmacovigilance at MedImmune, Inc. (2001-2005) and also served as Medical Officer in the U.S. Public Health Service at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1980-1992) and the US Food and Drug Administration (1993-2001). At FDA, Dr. Patriarca served, among other positions, as Director of the Division of Viral Products in the Office of Vaccines Research and Review (OVRR), CBER. In that capacity, he oversaw research and review activities of more than 100 scientific staff in eight laboratories, and was intimately involved with regulatory decisions and policy affecting vaccine development and licensure. While at CDC, Dr. Patriarca was assigned to the National Immunization Program, where, among other positions, he served as the Chief Medical Epidemiologist in the Influenza Division and the first head of CDC’s program in support of the Global Poliomyelitis Eradication Initiative. He has authored more than 100 peer-review publications and has served on multiple scientific advisory bodies for CDC, WHO, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Academy of Sciences, and numerous pharmaceutical companies.
Dr. Daniel Shouval is a graduate of the Hadassah–Hebrew University Medical School in Jerusalem, Israel. After completing his residency in Internal Medicine at Hadassah, Dr. Shouval was trained in Cell Biology, Immunology, and Molecular Biology at the Liver Research Center at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, and the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. His main research interests and publications include Biology of and immune response to hepatitis B and A virus infection and liver tumors . Dr Shouval has been involved in the development of several vaccines and anti-viral agents against viral hepatitis B ,C and A. In recent years his main efforts are focused on developing a third generation Pre-S/S hepatitis B vaccine; intervention in persistent hepatitis B infection, prevention of hepatitis B infection in liver transplant recipients, adoptive transfer of immunity against hepatitis B and pre/post-exposure prophylaxis against hepatitis A. Dr. Shouval is the author/co-author of >250 publications, Editorials in leading Hepatology journals and chapters in books.
Dr. Shouval is Professor Emeritus of Medicine at the Hebrew University and Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem and former Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. He was a visiting Professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and had similar positions at the Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, USA (1987-88) and at the Liver Transplantation Center , Paul Brousse hospital, the University of Paris, France (1998-99). Prof. Shouval served as President of the European Association for the Study of the Liver in 1996/7; he is the recipient of EASL’s Recognition Award and nomination to EASL’s hall of fame and recently served as EASL honorary president(2016) . Between 1998-2002 he was Chairman of the Educational Committee of EASL. He served in a number of editorial boards in hepatology journals and was the founding editor of the FOCUS section in the Journal of Hepatology. Dr Shouval is a standing adviser to the European Viral Hepatitis Prevention Board and the World Health Organization.
Dr. Bruce Smith is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Dalhousie University, and a member of the Canadian Center for Vaccinology. Bruce received a Ph.D. in Biostatistics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1988, and has been at Dalhousie since that time, where he has served as Director of the Division of Statistics and Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. His research interests are in applied statistics and time series analysis, with applications to vaccinology, the estimation of quantitative genetic traits, and environmetrics. He is President Elect of the Statistical Society of Canada.
Dr. Thoelen has been a vaccinology consultant since 2008. Prior to consulting, Dr. Thoelen accrued over 20 years of experience as the Global Head of Clinical Development and Operations Vaccines for Sanofi Pasteur, and also as the Head of Clinical Development, Operations and Medical Affairs in Latin America for GlaxoSmithKline.
Dr. Tornieporth is a physician with extensive leadership experience and technical expertise in the clinical development of vaccines. She is Professor of Clinical Research and Pharmacovigilance at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hannover, Germany. Previously, Dr. Tornieporth served as Vice President and Head of Global Clinical Research and Development at Sanofi Pasteur where she oversaw all aspects of clinical development from First-in-Man to successful registration. Prior to her time at Sanofi, she was Vice President of Clinical Development, Prophylactic Vaccines at GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals. Over the course of her career, Dr. Tornieporth contributed to the successful licensure of more than 20 vaccines. She has served as an advisor to the World Health Organization, USAID, the Wellcome Trust, and the European Forum for Good Clinical Practice, among others. She contributes to several vaccine development programs as member of Independent Data Monitoring Committees and Scientific Advisory Boards, and currently serves as acting Head, Clinical Development, for the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). Earlier in her career, Dr. Tornieporth held international research and teaching positions at Weill Cornell Medical College and Ludwig-Maximilian University. Dr. Tornieporth received her M.D. from Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich, Germany and her Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She holds clinical patents for the RTS,S malaria and dengue vaccines and has co-authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications in infectious diseases and vaccine development.
Pierre Van Damme is full professor at the University of Antwerp, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. He chairs the Vaccine & Infectious Disease Institute (VAXINFECTIO, University of Antwerp); VAXINFECTIO is a consortium of three research units within the university. In 2000, he was appointed Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp – he teaches infectious diseases and vaccinology in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences as well as in the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, and within master programs in vaccinology at the University of Florence and Siena.
Professor Van Damme has authored more than 350 peer-reviewed papers and is on the editorial board of several scientific journals that focus on the study of vaccines and vaccine-preventable infectious diseases. Professor Van Damme was awarded with the Research Award of the University of Antwerp, and in 2000 with the Belgian Social Medicine Award ‘Jean Van Beneden’ for his work on the introduction of universal hepatitis B immunization programs. In May 2014, he was awarded with the prestigious Bill Marshall award of the ESPID society.
Current Vice Chairman and Chief Science Officer of CytoDyn Inc., and lead independent director of Aptose Bioscience Inc., Dr. Burger co-founded Trinity Biotech plc, and is currently its lead independent director. Previously, Dr. Burger was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AVI Biopharma Inc. (now Sarepta Therapeutics), and co-founder of Epitope Inc. (now Orasure Technologies), as well as a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Surgery (Surgical Oncology) at the Oregon Health and Sciences University in Portland.
Dr. Michael Lim is a Professor of Neurosurgery, Oncology, Otolaryngology, and Radiation Oncology at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Lim obtained his MD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He then completed his residency in Neurosurgery at Stanford University Hospital. Dr. Lim’s surgical interest is in both benign and malignant brain tumors, with a particular interest in gliomas (including ependymoma), meningioma, pituitary tumors and skull base tumors. He has extensive experience in new and innovative neurosurgical techniques including image guided surgery, microsurgery, minimally invasive procedures and endoscopic surgery. Dr. Lim is also the Director of the Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Program at Johns Hopkins. His primary research interest is developing immune-based therapies against brain tumors. His research laboratory is focused on understanding the mechanisms of immune evasion by primary brain tumors. Findings from Dr. Lim’s laboratory are directed towards translation to novel therapies against brain tumors. In addition to running a laboratory, he also directs the immunotherapy clinical trials program at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Lim currently serves as the principal investigator of several large brain tumor immunotherapy clinical trials based on findings from his laboratory.
Dr. Waziri is currently CEO and Co-Founder of iCE Neurosystems, a privately held medical device company. He was previously Director of the Brain Tumor Program at the Inova Neuroscience Institute. Prior to taking the position at Inova he was Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery and faculty in the Cancer Biology program at the University of Colorado. His research has focused on the study of mechanisms involved with the suppression of cellular immunity by myeloid-lineage cells in human glioblastoma, identified through the analysis of fresh human tissues. Dr. Waziri has served as Principal Investigator for a range of early- to late-phase clinical trials in primary and secondary glioblastoma, including several investigator-initiated first-in-human pilot studies encompassing serial immunomonitoring in patients to explore restitution of cellular immune function by targeting myeloid-derived immunosuppression.
Dr. Wen is Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Center For Neuro-Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Co-PI of the Adult Brain Tumor Consortium, Steering Committee Member of the Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology (RANO) Working Group, and President of the Society of Neuro-Oncology. He was previously the Editor-In-Chief of Neuro-Oncology. His research is focused on novel treatments of brain tumors and optimizing clinical trial design, endpoints, and response assessment.
Dr. Robert Pass is a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he led clinical and epidemiological studies of maternal and congenital cytomegalovirus CMV infection for a number of years. Early in his research career Dr. Pass became convinced that the most important goal of CMV research should be prevention of congenital infection. He focused his research on understanding how CMV is spread, risk factors for CMV infection during pregnancy, and sources of maternal infection. In the 1990s, Dr. Pass conducted a number of industry supported clinical trials of a CMV glycoprotein B vaccine, which led to an investigator initiated, National Institutes of Health sponsored clinical trial of a CMV glycoprotein B vaccine. This work provided the first evidence of vaccine efficacy for prevention of maternal and congenital CMV infection.
Dr. Stanley A. Plotkin is Emeritus Professor of the University of Pennsylvania, and Adjunct Professor of the Johns Hopkins University. Until 1991, he was Professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania, 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, now known as Sanofi Pasteur.
Dr. Plotkin has developed several pediatric vaccines including the rubella vaccine now in standard use throughout the world and a recently licensed pentavalent rotavirus vaccine. He has also been involved in other vaccine development programs including anthrax, oral polio, rabies, varicella, and cytomegalovirus.
Dr. Plotkin’s bibliography includes nearly 700 articles and he has edited several books including the standard textbook on vaccines, now in its 5th edition. He is a consultant to vaccine manufacturers, biotechnology companies, and non-profit research organizations as principal of Vaxconsult, LLC.
Dr. Plotkin attended New York University, where he received a B.A. degree, and then the State University of New York Medical School in Brooklyn, where he received an M.D. degree in 1956.
Dr. Tornieporth is a physician with extensive leadership experience and technical expertise in the clinical development of vaccines. She is Professor of Clinical Research and Pharmacovigilance at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hannover, Germany. Previously, Dr. Tornieporth served as Vice President and Head of Global Clinical Research and Development at Sanofi Pasteur where she oversaw all aspects of clinical development from First-in-Man to successful registration. Prior to her time at Sanofi, she was Vice President of Clinical Development, Prophylactic Vaccines at GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals. Over the course of her career, Dr. Tornieporth contributed to the successful licensure of more than 20 vaccines. She has served as an advisor to the World Health Organization, USAID, the Wellcome Trust, and the European Forum for Good Clinical Practice, among others. She contributes to several vaccine development programs as member of Independent Data Monitoring Committees and Scientific Advisory Boards, and currently serves as acting Head, Clinical Development, for the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). Earlier in her career, Dr. Tornieporth held international research and teaching positions at Weill Cornell Medical College and Ludwig-Maximilian University. Dr. Tornieporth received her M.D. from Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich, Germany and her Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She holds clinical patents for the RTS,S malaria and dengue vaccines and has co-authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications in infectious diseases and vaccine development.
