THE FUTURE OF VACCINES & VACCINE ACCEPTANCE

OUR PANELISTS

MODERATOR JONATHAN "JONO" QUICK, MD, MPH

Adjunct Professor of Global Health at Duke Global Health Institute

Jonathan D. Quick, MD, MPH (“Jono”) is an internationally recognized global health leader and author of The End of Epidemics: The Looming Threat to Humanity and How to Stop It (2020 Australian, Italian, Korean, South Asia, U.K. and U.S. editions). His current research focuses on market-driven epidemics, from tobacco to opioids, ultra-processed foods, and social media. He is an adjunct Professor of Global Health at the Duke Global Health Institute (Durham, NC) and Affiliated Faculty in Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School (Boston, MA). He has held senior leadership positions at the World Health Organization, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Management Sciences for Health. His other publications include Managing Access to Medicines and Health Technologies (MDS-3), The Financial Times Guide to Executive Health, and more than 100 other books, chapters, and articles in leading medical journals. He has contributed to Trinity Forum Readings on the lives and faith of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Nelson Mandela, Albert Schweitzer and human rights pioneer Bartolomé Las Casas.  Dr. Quick has appeared on North American, European, and Asia media, including the BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, ABC News, MSNBC, and Bloomberg.

MARIA ELENA BOTAZZI, Ph.D

Co-Director, Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development

Baylor College of Medicine

Maria Elena Bottazzi is a distinguished scientist and a leading figure in the fields of vaccinology and neglected tropical diseases. With a career spanning over two decades, Dr. Bottazzi has made remarkable contributions to global health through her research, leadership, and advocacy efforts. She is Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology and Microbiology, currently serving as the Sr. Associate Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and Division Chief of Pediatric Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. She is also the Co-director of Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, where Dr. Bottazzi has been instrumental in advancing innovative approaches to combat diseases that disproportionately affect underserved populations worldwide. Her work focuses on developing vaccines and therapeutics for neglected tropical diseases such as hookworm, schistosomiasis, Chagas disease, and tick-borne diseases.

Dr. Bottazzi is widely recognized for her pivotal role in the co-development of a patent-free, open science vaccine technology against COVID-19 that led to the development of Corbevax in India and IndoVac in Indonesia, and with approximately 100 million doses delivered. Throughout her career, Dr. Bottazzi has been a vocal advocate for equitable access to healthcare and vaccines, particularly for marginalized communities in low- and middle-income countries. She has collaborated with international organizations, governments, and non-profits to promote initiatives aimed at addressing health disparities and improving global health outcomes.

FRANCIS S. COLLINS, MD, MPH

NIH Distinguished Investigator

National Human Genome Research Institute

Former Director, National Institutes of Health

Francis Collins is a physician-scientist.  Under his direction, the Human Genome Project produced the first finished sequence of the human DNA instruction book in 2003.  From 2009 to 2021, Collins served under three Presidents as the Director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the largest supporter of biomedical research in the world.  Following a year in the White House as the President’s Acting Science Advisor, he oversees a research laboratory as a Distinguished Investigator in the intramural program of the National Human Genome Research Institute.  He is also working with advocates and the Congress to launch a bold initiative to eliminate hepatitis C in the United States.  His contributions to science, medicine, and society have been recognized by the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Science, and the Templeton Prize.  His most recent book is The Road To Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust (Little Brown and Worthy, 2024).

JOSEPH MARTIN '73, Ph.D

Research Fellow, Pfizer, Bioprocess R&D, Pharmaceutical Sciences (Retired)

Pfizer Global Research and Development

Joe received his A.B in Biology from Harvard in 1973. He performed his NSF- and NIH- supported predoctoral and postdoctoral work in protein chemistry at the Duke Marine Laboratory and in the Biochemistry Department of the Duke Medical Center, respectively. He moved on to Rice University as an NIH New Investigator in infectious diseases in 1981. He joined the nascent Biotechnology Industry in 1988 and spent 34 years working for Pfizer Legacy Companies until his retirement in 2022. Joe was on the development team for Zyvox, a synthetic antibiotic for drug-resistant Staph aureus and tuberculosis. His group developed manufacturing processes for a variety of drugs, including monoclonal antibodies for liver cancer and hemophilia, subunit vaccines for meningitis and clostridial infections, a carbohydrate-based pneumococcal vaccine, an adenovirus-based vaccine for cancer, long lasting human growth hormone for pediatric growth deficiency, and the DNA purification technology supporting the production of Pfizer’s mRNA clinical candidates for the COVID-19 and seasonal flu vaccines. He has worked with bacterial, insect, adenovirus-based, and mammalian expression systems. His groups’ manufacturing processes have been implemented in biomanufacturing facilities in the US, Ireland and Germany. Joe was also a clinical trial volunteer for the COVID-19 and seasonal flu mRNA vaccines.

MICHAEL T. OSTERHOLM, Ph.D, MPH

Director, Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy

University of Minnesota

Dr. Osterholm is Regents Professor, McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair in Public Health, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, a professor in the Technological Leadership Institute, College of Science and Engineering, and an adjunct professor in the Medical School, all at the University of Minnesota. He is also a member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) and the Council of Foreign Relations. In June 2005 Dr. Osterholm was appointed by Michael Leavitt, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to the newly established National Science Advisory Board on Biosecurity. In July 2008, he was named to the University of Minnesota Academic Health Center’s Academy of Excellence in Health Research. In October 2008, he was appointed to the World Economic Forum Working Group on Pandemics.