Women all over the world have been at the forefront of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development. In the last year virologists, immunologists, vaccinologists and other scientific leaders have spearheaded projects toward ending the worst pandemic in 100 years.
Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett:
One such scientist, Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, lead of the Vaccine Research Center’s coronavirus team at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, was part of the team that developed Moderna’s mRNA vaccine.
The inception of the pandemic was not the catalyst for Dr. Corbett’s research on corona viruses. She studied the biology of coronaviruses for the past six years. Her research led to the FDA, EMA and the UK approval of the Moderna mRNA vaccine as well as the Eli Lilly therapeutic monoclonal antibody which has authorization for emergency use in the US. Dr. Corbett’s work has greatly impacted the future eradication of the novel coronavirus, CoV-2.
Her achievements are so remarkable due to the short length of her career, yet the monumental breadth of their impact. Time Magazine named Dr. Corbet among the Time100 Next which highlights 100 emerging leaders who are shaping the future. Dr. Anthony Fauci, Chief Medical Advisor to the White House, calls her a “rising star”.In the referenced YouTube video below, Dr. Corbett describes in her own words the methodology used to employ the already discovered mRMA platforms to tailor a vaccine to the CoV-2 virus.
My Journey to COVID 19 Vaccine Development From Basic Biology to Prevention - Bing video
Dr. Katalin Kariko and Dr. Kathrin Jansen:
This article focuses on the Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine - more specifically on Dr. Katalin Kariko, Senior Vice President at BioNTech and Dr. Kathrin Jansen, Head of Vaccine Research & Development at Pfizer. Both Dr. Kariko and Dr. Jansen managed incredible complexity and risks in their professional and personal lives to bring the first approved vaccine to market in the US.
Dr. Katalin Kariko began studying the therapeutic potential of messenger RNA (mRNA) in Hungary in the 1970s and continued her research after moving to the US. Her ideas that it could be used to fight disease were considered too risky to fund and she was eventually demoted from her position as a researcher at UPenn School of Medicine. However, after a decade of trial and error, she and a longtime collaborator developed a version of synthetic mRNA that could be safety injected and used by the body to produce proteins, including viral antibodies. Dr. Kariko’s work became the basis of the BioNTech vaccine and she is now considered to be a likely Nobel Prize candidate.
Dr. Kathrin Jansen has led the development of the world’s two best-selling vaccines. Since March 2020, when Pfizer partnered with BioNTech, she has led a 650-person team in development of a COVID vaccine. She was born in East Germany and as a child fled with her family to the West shortly before construction of the Berlin Wall. After earning her Ph.D., she eventually joined Merck where she led the development of the Gardasil vaccine for human papilloma virus and then Wyeth (later acquired by Pfizer) where she led the effort to develop Prevnar 13 (for pneumococcus). After becoming Pfizer’s Head of Vaccine R&D she initiated a partnership with BioNTech focused on using mRNA to produce a new flu vaccine. When the COVID pandemic began, that partnership expanded to include a COVID vaccine, which has now been shown to reduce the risk of COVID-19 by 95%.
To read more about this incredible accomplishment and mRNA, visit:
The story of mRNA
Dr. Hanneke Schuitemaker:
This last article focuses on Dr. Hanneke Schuitemaker, Global Head of Viral Vaccine Discovery, and Translational Medicine at Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Vaccines & Prevention.
Dr. Schuitemaker is a Dutch Virologist who in addition to her role at J&J has been a Professor in Virology at the Amsterdam University Medical Center of the University of Amsterdam (since 2004). Dr. Schuitemaker began researching HIV/AIDS in 1989 and subsequently has been involved with the development of an Ebola vaccine as well as a universal flu vaccine, HIV vaccine, RSV vaccine and most recently the CoV2 vaccine. Dr. Schuitemaker has credited leveraging learnings and underlying technologies from prior work in other disease areas to help propel the rapid progress in the search for CoV-2 vaccines. To learn more about the technological and time challenges faced by Dr. Schuitemaker and her team, read:
Meet a scientist on the front lines of stopping a global pandemic
I encourage you as you read these articles and supplemental links, to not only appreciate the amazing science in their accomplishments, but also think about how some of the project management knowledge areas may have been deployed:
- Scope: Achieving fast, reliable, and universal SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.
- Time: Agility in approaches & strategies to compress timelines – without compromising safety & efficacy (Quality).
- Stakeholders: Lots of them! FDA and other regulatory agencies worldwide; partnering organizations, patients, and many more.
- Integration and Risk management: Managing constantly moving parts at rapid speed and managing risks to objectives along the way.
