MALARIA VACCINE - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Member of the Leadership Team
• Director of R & D at MVI
• Director of the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative
• Director, MVI
• MVI Director

Ashley Birkett was appointed Director of the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), a product development program of PATH, in October 2013, having first joined PATH in 2008 as MVI's director of research and development (R&D). As MVI director, Ashley is responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of the program's strategy, including programmatic, administrative, and financial management aspects, to develop new models and explore new pathways that will accelerate the development of malaria vaccines. He leads a staff of more than 40 professionals representing scientific, clinical trial, regulatory, forecasting, program readiness, and other key capabilities. Ashley has more than 20 years of vaccine development experience, initially with biotechnology companies, where he successfully advanced novel influenza and malaria vaccine candidates from research through first-in-human clinical studies. Prior to joining MVI, he was senior director of preclinical research at Acambis (now Sanofi Pasteur Biologics Co.), where he had responsibility for the company's global preclinical vaccine research portfolio, with a special focus on influenza and adjuvant technology identification. He served in similar roles at Apovia Inc. and, prior to that, Immune Complex Corporation (ICC), including seven years (1997-2004) leading the Malaria Vaccine Program housed first at ICC and then at Apovia. This program was the first corporate partnership for MVI after its founding as a program of PATH in 1999. As director of R&D at MVI, Ashley led the Transmission-Blocking Vaccine Priority Area, which is focused on execution of a fully integrated product development plan (i.e., from R&D through commercialization) for vaccines to accelerate malaria elimination and eradication. He also guided MVI's portfolio of evaluation technology projects, which develop and refine ways to assess vaccine efficacy prior to large-scale field trials, and provided technical support across the range of MVI's vaccine development projects. Ashley earned a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biophysics from Virginia Commonwealth University; he has a BSc (Honors) in applied biological sciences from the University of the West of England in the United Kingdom.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Leadership Team
• Director, Medical and Clinical Operations

Chris Ockenhouse provides scientific and clinical guidance to translational project teams in charge of early clinical development, working closely with MVI staff, partners, and academic investigators. He also provides medical and scientific expertise on clinical malaria, clinical immunology, and trial design. He serves on MVI's Portfolio Management Committee and on the MVI Leadership Team. Chris has 25 years of experience leading R&D programs focused on discovery, process development, manufacture, and early clinical testing of multiple vaccine candidates against Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax malaria. Prior to joining MVI, Chris was Director of the Malaria Vaccine Program at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), where he directed the formation and operations of the first joint US Army-Navy Military Malaria Vaccine Program dedicated to developing malaria vaccines within the Department of Defense. He recently retired from active duty as a Colonel in the US Army. Chris received his medical degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, a PhD in immunology & parasitology from the Sackler Institute for Biomedical Sciences at New York University, an MS in parasitology from the Tulane University School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in New Orleans, and a BS (honors) from Wheaton College. Chris has also published more than 100 articles in scientific and medical literature.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Leadership Team
• Director, Portfolio Management & Translational Projects

Cynthia Lee directs the Portfolio Management and Translational Projects Unit (P&T), which is responsible for the management of all translational science projects within MVI. She also chairs MVI's Portfolio Management Committee, is Program Leader of MVI's Next-Generation Vaccines Program, and is a member of the MVI Leadership Team. Cynthia has more than 20 years of experience in the vaccine industry and brings to MVI her extensive experience in multiple aspects of vaccine development. Her breadth of experience includes taking several bacterial and viral vaccines from early-stage research through development and manufacturing to clinical testing and process validation. Prior to joining MVI, she served as Vice President of Vaccine and Drug Development at Xcellerex (now GE Healthcare), where she led efforts to develop an inactivated yellow fever vaccine. She previously held various positions at Acambis (now Sanofi), including Senior Director of Vaccine Research and Director of Clinical Research. While at Acambis, she served as project leader for multiple projects, including Vibrio cholera, Helicobacter pylori, herpes simplex virus, and Modified Vaccinia Ankara, and she was the Principal Investigator of several Small Business Innovation Research grants and biodefense contracts with the NIH. Prior to joining Acambis, she headed the bacterial genetics laboratory at the Massachusetts Biologics Laboratory, where she was first introduced to vaccine development (Bordetella pertussis and Haemophilus influenzae vaccines). Cynthia conducted her postdoctoral work at the Harvard Medical School on herpes simplex virus. She holds a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Chicago (thesis on Chlamydia trachomatis), an MS in Epidemiology, and a BS in Microbiology from the University of Washington.

Job Titles:

• Director, Finance
• Member of the Leadership Team
• MVI 's Chief Financial Officer

Serving as MVI's chief financial officer, Heather Richards is responsible for overseeing MVI's financial and administrative functions, including the oversight of MVI's grant funds. With PATH since 2001, Heather has more than 15 years of nonprofit accounting and financial-management experience. Before joining the MVI team in 2007, Heather spent six years in PATH's Finance Division as finance officer in charge of donor financial reporting. Prior to her tenure at PATH, Heather worked as a corporate accountant in the commercial real estate field. Heather holds a BA in business administration from Andrews University in Michigan, where she majored in accounting.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Leadership Team
• Director, Research & Development

C. Richter (Rick), PhD, is director of research and development (R&D) and serves on the leadership team at MVI. In addition, he leads the transmission-blocking vaccine program, a priority area of product development for MVI. Rick was formerly Vice President of Vaccine Design for IAVI's AIDS Vaccine Design. He led IAVI's global efforts to design and prioritize novel AIDS vaccine strategies. Rick is an accomplished scientist whose career spans government, academia, and industry. As former Senior Vice President of Research at GenVec, Inc., he led the company's efforts in the identification, selection, and advancement of products for cancer, ocular and infectious disease applications. Rick has been the author and recipient of many peer-reviewed grants and is listed as an inventor on 12 issued patents. He received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Johns Hopkins University and his BS from the University of St. Andrews.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Leadership Team
• Director, Resource Mobilization and Outreach, Malaria Vaccines

Prior to joining MVI, Sally worked in international reproductive health for more than 15 years, with an emphasis on communications, policy analysis, and advocacy. She directed the communications program at Population Action International for more than 10 years, followed by three years leading the group's financing project, focused on tracking the policies, programs, and funding of the international donor community. She also has worked as a consultant to the World Bank and International Planned Parenthood Federation. Sally has an interdisciplinary MA in Arab studies from Georgetown University, where she focused on economic and social development in the region and wrote on such issues as women and work in the Arab world and Egypt's agricultural development. Following graduate school, she worked for five years on Middle East peace and related issues. She speaks Spanish and Arabic.