Breakthroughs Blog: DoD

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. James Mutunga, who we met at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) Annual Conference, who does research on developing and testing new methods of controlling vector-borne diseases as well as pathogen surveillance in arthropod disease vectors at the US Army Medical Research Directorate-Africa in Kisumu, Kenya. My Name: James Mutunga, PhDWhere I work: US Army Medical Research Directorate-Africa in Kisumu, KenyaI’m funded by: US DoDThe views I express here are my own and do not and are not to be construed as official, or as reflecting true views of the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense. My research: I work on surveillance for vectors—that is, arthropod disease vectors. I work in the Entomology lab in Kisumu. Under the surveillance program, we do collection of field samples of mosquitoes, ticks, mites, fleas, any arthropod that we can imagine, sandflies included—we bring them to the lab and we do pathogen testing to detect diseases that they may carry. We also do morphological and molecular identification of these vectors. Eventually, what we create is a heat map of potential pathogens in circulation and the areas they are circulating so we can advise on the areas that are high-risk and therefore give this information to the US Army for deployment purposes, and protection. The vectors we currently mostly target are mosquito vectors. These transmit malaria, dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and many other different diseases. Motivation: A couple of years ago, I worked for a research institution that primarily researches on arthropod vectors called the International Center for Insect Physiology and Ecology, based in Nairobi, Kenya. And from there, my passion for mosquito research transitioned to what I undertook for my masters and my PhD. I undertook my PhD at Virginia Tech here in the US, and I worked on developing new carbamate molecules and testing them for malaria control. So that kind of invoked my passion, given that it is a disease [with] a broad burden [in] the world. That still is the focus of the work that I do, and I enjoy it.Why federal support is critical: The work we do, and the many years that the US government has invested in vector-borne disease research and control, is commendable. We still do not want to relent. We are facing challenges in vector control. We are having problems [with] insecticide resistance, we are having problems of changing vector behavior, and therefore, the investment in terms of financial support for researchers in the US—and all over the world—is more than needed. We are having challenges with the issues of climate change and habitat change—places that never used to have disease transmission are actually now having active indigenous transmission and therefore there is a need to continue investing and ensuring that policies that are being made to support this research.When I’m not in the lab: I spend time with family, friends. I like traveling, doing road trips. I also like charity work.

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. Peter Hotez, who we met at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) Annual Conference, who does research to develop vaccines for neglected tropical diseases as professor and Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. My name: Peter Hotez, MD, PhDWhere I work: National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TexasI’m funded by: National Institutes of Health, Department of DefenseMy research: At the National School of Tropical Medicine, we established what’s called the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, which is a non-profit—what’s sometimes called a product development partnership, a PDP. These are non-profit agencies that use industry practices to make stuff—in our case, it’s vaccines. So we’re making vaccines for neglected tropical diseases, the most common afflictions of the world’s poor. We have vaccines for hookworm and schistosomiasis in clinical trials now, and hopefully soon a new Chagas vaccine will go into the clinic. This is co-directed by myself and my science partner for twenty years, Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi. We like to say that we develop the vaccines that no one else will make. Motivation: I have an unusual story in that ever since I was a teenager, I wanted to study tropical diseases. And then I went to Yale as an undergraduate specifically to work at a lab on African sleeping sickness, and then I did the MD-PhD program at Rockefeller-Cornell, the medical scientist training program, where I got started on developing a hookworm vaccine in the laboratory of Anthony Cerami, who let me bring hookworms into the lab. So, this is a lifelong passion and calling, and I think you’ll find that for a lot of researchers, especially here at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.Why federal support is critical: In terms of federal agencies that support us, we have support, of course, from the NIH, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which has been a stalwart supporter of our vaccine development program, but also, the Department of Defense is now supporting our leishmaniasis vaccine program through CDMRP [Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program]. We’re extremely grateful for our federal support. We’d be nowhere without it.…[From] 2015-2016, I was in the Obama Administration—I served as US Science Envoy. There’s a few things going on with that. One, in one of my books, Blue Marble Health, we found that most of the world’s poverty-related neglected diseases are not necessarily in the poorest, most devastated countries of Africa and Asia as many people think, but actually, it’s the poor living among the wealthy in G20 countries, the Group of 20 countries. So, for instance, we now estimate that there are 12 million Americans living in extreme poverty with a neglected tropical disease. [Research] on these diseases is not only helping people abroad, it’s actually helping the poorest Americans. So that’s a very important aspect. Another is—I think in my time as US Science Envoy, one of the things that I kept on seeing is the admiration for America, not because of our military prowess, but because of our research universities and our research institutes. This is why people love America: We’re a science horsepower; the fact that we use our science towards bettering the world, developing new technologies for global health. This is one of the things that makes America great—this is what I tell policymakers and leaders on both sides of the aisle.When I’m not in the lab: One of the things that’s my new passion is—I’ve become a writer. Since moving to Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine, I’ve written and published three books, and now about to work on my fourth. So, writing has become a new passion of mine, and it reaches a different audience than scientific papers. It helps to explain why science is important and do that public engagement, and that’s so critical, especially in this time now when we’re seeing this rise in anti-science, anti-vaccine movements. More than ever, we need to do public engagement. That’s why GHTC is so important. It’s a key component of that public engagement.

GHTC co-sponsored a congressional briefing on Tuesday organized by the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) in conjunction with the Senate Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases Caucus to highlight the essential role of the US Department of Defense (DoD) in the fight against malaria. Most Americans think of malaria as a disease that only threatens people in far-off nations. But with American military personnel deployed in countries all around the globe, malaria remains an ongoing threat to the health of our servicemembers and, by extension, our military readiness.  In fact, the battle against this parasite has been a persistent feature of US military history. Malaria has affected almost every US military deployment since the American Civil War and has caused more lost person-days than bullets during all military campaigns fought in malaria-endemic regions in the twentieth century. During World War II, General Douglas MacArthur famously complained to Dr. Paul Russell, then the Army's top malaria expert, “Doctor, it's going to be a very long war if for every division I have facing the enemy, I have one sick in hospital and another recovering from this dreadful disease.”  Since World War II, DoD has been a world leader in the research and development (R&D) of new tools to prevent, diagnose, and treat malaria. While these efforts have always been focused foremost on protecting the health and readiness of US servicemembers, they have also benefitted communities around the world.”  For instance, earlier this year, pilot introductions of the world’s first malaria vaccine, RTS,S—which was developed with research support from DoD’s Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR)—were launched in three sub-Saharan African countries. WRAIR remains a leader in malaria vaccine research, in partnership with the Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC), which is co-located on the same research campus and brings unique research capabilities. Amazingly, WRAIR and NMRC have also contributed to the development of every single malaria prevention drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, including all five available today. In 2018, a new single-dose treatment was approved for a strain of malaria that sickens around 8 million people annually—including US servicemembers. This treatment stems from research conducted at DoD and military research centers, research that has also led to the use of this compound as a drug for malaria prevention.  These are just a few of the most recent examples that demonstrate the invaluable impact that DoD research has had on the global fight against malaria. The briefing, held in the Russell Senate Office Building with congressional staff and members of the malaria research and advocacy community in attendance, was a special opportunity to hear from some of the top malaria experts in the US military, including Colonel Deydre Teyhen, commander of WRAIR; Lieutenant Colonel Mara Kreishman-Deitrick, director of Experimental Therapeutics at the WRAIR Center for Infectious Disease Research; Colonel Viseth Nguay, director of the WRAIR Malaria Vaccine Branch; Colonel Philip Smith, director of the WRAIR Center for Enabling Capabilities; and Captain Eileen Villasante, head of the Malaria Department at NMRC.  In her opening remarks, Colonel Teyhen highlighted that, whereas most Americans might think a shark is the most dangerous animal they could encounter, mosquitoes pose a far greater threat. She emphasized that DoD’s investments in malaria R&D are critical as both military strategy and the malaria parasite evolve. .⁦@wrair⁩ COL Teyhen: forget sharks, mosquitoes are what we should really be afraid of! @astmh #mosquitowranglers pic.twitter.com/AlZBM40EjC— Karen A Goraleski (@goraleskik) September 24, 2019 According to COL Teyhen, commander @WRAIR, as military teams get smaller and more specialized, the health of each team member is vital—this is why enduring biologic solutions against threats like #malaria are critical, and “we’re not there yet.” pic.twitter.com/JeVeLGJhjn— GHTC (@GHTCoalition) September 24, 2019 @WRAIR and @NavalMedicalRC have led the research charge against #malaria 🦟 with astounding progress. But with malaria always evolving, investment in new #globalhealth technologies are always needed. @ASTMH pic.twitter.com/nkTfsj0MBz— GHTC (@GHTCoalition) September 24, 2019 Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) stopped by after Colonel Teyhen spoke to share his deep personal commitment to the fight against malaria and commend DoD for its important work. He also received a fashionable malaria-themed tie.  So pleased to have ⁦@ChrisCoonsforDE⁩ at @astmh senate briefing in DoD work in malaria. TY Sen Coons and ⁦@SenatorWicker⁩ for your deep and personal commitment to end the scourge of malaria and NTDs. #malariadelendaest pic.twitter.com/wsffksQxpS— Karen A Goraleski (@goraleskik) September 24, 2019 What was once unthinkable is now a common goal that we are working together to achieve. I plan to continue to fight every step of the way as we seek to achieve Alan Magill’s bold vision of a world without malaria.— Senator Chris Coons (@ChrisCoons) September 24, 2019 "There is very little that would make a more lasting impact than eradicating malaria." @ChrisCoons at @ASTMH briefing on work of @DeptofDefense in the fight against #malaria. Thank you, @WRAIR, & @DTeyhen for your leadership in protecting our service members deployed globally. pic.twitter.com/xgGGzJnf5K— Nothing But Nets (@nothingbutnets) September 24, 2019 .@astmh Pres-elect Joel Breman takes off his malaria tie and gifts it to ⁦@ChrisCoons⁩. Fashion meets science meets a Senator. pic.twitter.com/ETx713JK74— Karen A Goraleski (@goraleskik) September 24, 2019 After Senator Coons’ remarks, the panel continued with an overview of DoD’s prolific contributions to malaria R&D, sharing more fascinating facts and insights.  Did you know investments by @WRAIR in #malaria #research has generated over 3,000 biomedical publications, making it one of the top four US contributors to #malaria #research — @ASTMH briefing— GHTC (@GHTCoalition) September 24, 2019 According to Dr. Eileen Villasante, head of malaria research @NavalMedicalRC, the #malaria parasite is not only outsmarting 💊 but also diagnostics. More 🔬 is needed — @ASTMH briefing— GHTC (@GHTCoalition) September 24, 2019 The briefing was an excellent opportunity for congressional staff, researchers, and advocates to gather, learn, and discuss DoD’s historic role in malaria R&D and the opportunities for continued US leadership in this area of vital importance for our troops and communities around the world.