Faces of Innovation: Dr. James Mutunga, researcher at the US Army Medical Research Directorate

Faces of Innovation—a new GHTC project that features scientists on the front lines of research and development on new global health tools and technologies—profiles Dr. Heinz Weidenthaler, who we met at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) Annual Conference, who developed a smallpox and monkeypox vaccine with Bavarian Nordic.My name: Heinz Weidenthaler, MDWhere I work: Bavarian Nordic, which is headquartered in Denmark and has offices in Morrisville, North CarolinaI’m funded by: Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, Centers for Disease Control and PreventionMy research: I am a medical doctor by training working for a company called Bavarian Nordic…We have done quite an extensive program in developing a smallpox and monkeypox vaccine with support of several federal agencies of the US, mostly BARDA, who has funded most of our clinical trials and helped us really tremendously throughout the development of this product. There were other contributions, NIH NIAID [National Institutes of Health National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases] provided support in specifically running several of the clinical trials that finally led to licensure of the product. The Department of Defense was incredibly helpful in running the key pivotal phase III trial, via USAMRIID [US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases]. We also have a collaboration with CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], who is using our product in a study right now in the Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC].It is intended to be a safer alternative smallpox vaccine, which means it can protect the public, of course, both in America, but also on a global basis. Smallpox is a global threat, not a national threat at a given country…We received US licensure not only for smallpox, but also for monkeypox. There the global impact really comes in because the current epidemiology of monkeypox is endemic in several African countries like the DRC and Nigeria. This is something that, there will be an impact as soon as it is able to be deployed there. This is running right now with the CDC study in DRC, that could really save lives by preventing infections in these areas.Motivation: I’m a medical doctor by training and joined the pharma/biotech industry quite a while ago, and instead of just working on another blood pressure pill that would be generic a few years later, I think working in the pox virus vaccine sphere really has an impact on saving lives. And doing that with the help of government funding, in terms of a really successful public private partnership here, I think is a tremendous success, and being part of that, and helping in the clinical development of our vaccine is really a motivating thing because it just has an impact of peoples’ lives.Why federal support is critical: Global health is affecting all countries, including the US. Last year, we had these cases from Nigeria, people who were bringing cases of monkeypox, transmitting them to the UK, to Singapore, to Israel. The world is so globally connected, and infectious diseases that are endemic in sub-Saharan African countries can be anywhere in the world 24 hours later. I think this has a really huge impact on being prepared for all scenarios, and is of critical importance for the health of individuals worldwide, including the US.When I’m not in the lab: I take care of my family. I have three kids back home. I try to be there as much as possible, which is not always easy, but I enjoy the time back home with my kids. I try to do some kinds of sports as far as I find the time for that. I play volleyball quite frequently.

Faces of Innovation—a new GHTC project that features scientists on the front lines of research and development on new global health tools and technologies—profiles Dr. Katie Button-Simons, who we met at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Annual Conference, who does research on drug-resistance in malaria at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.My name: Katie Button-Simons, PhD, MSWhere I work: University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, IndianaI’m funded by: National Institutes of Health and National Science FoundationMy research: We try to understand how malaria becomes resistant to drugs—so you want to find particular genes that control the resistance so that we can watch how those arise and spread in the field so that we can provide recommendations for local health agencies about what drugs they should be using to treat people and—more long-term—so that we can identify good targets for drug development and drugs that are already in the pipeline that will work well.Motivation: I am really interested in understanding how parasites and other pathogens evolve resistance. It didn’t so much matter to me which organism I worked on, although malaria is really interesting because it so quickly evolves resistance and does so to pretty much everything we throw at it—and not all pathogens can do that as readily. Why federal support is critical: The diseases that are common in other areas of the world are really putting a heavy burden on those areas and it really affects what people are able to do. If we can remove some of that disease pressure then we’re going to see a sort of revolution around the world. I’m really lucky to be where I am, and if I had been born in a different region of the world where I didn’t have everything that I’ve grown up with, I couldn’t be here. I see so much potential that goes unrecognized everywhere else because of the disease pressures that are in those regions. If we can get rid of those, then we can make great strides together.When I’m not in the lab: I really like hiking and soccer and reading.