EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

DATE: 4-5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014

EVENT: Dr. Gary Nabel, chief scientific officer at Sanofi, will discuss “Vaccines for Emerging Pathogens: From HIV-1 to Ebola Virus” during an annual fall symposium that this year will honor the inventor of FluMist, Dr. John Maassab.

Before his appointment at Sanofi, Nabel was director of the Vaccine Research Center of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He also served as the Henry Sewall Professor of Internal Medicine, professor of biochemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator at the University of Michigan. In addition to his faculty positions, Nabel was director of the Center for Gene Therapy and co-director of the Center for Molecular Medicine at U-M. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and earned his Ph.D. and M.D. from Harvard University.

The two-day symposium is called “Vaccines past, present, and future: Honoring the life and work of Dr. John Maassab.” Maassab, professor emeritus of epidemiology at the U-M School of Public Health and developer of the nasal-spray influenza vaccine FluMist, died Feb. 1 in North Carolina.

Other presentations (all on Nov. 7) include:

• 9:30-10:30 a.m.: Dr. Arnold Monto, Thomas Francis, Jr. Collegiate Professor of Public Health, University of Michigan. Topic: “The Need for Improved Vaccines”
• 10:45-11:45 a.m.: Dr. Philip Dormitzer, head of U.S. Research, Global Head of Virology, Novartis Vaccines. Topic: “Synthetic Vaccines for Rapid Pandemic Response”
• 1-2 p.m.: John (Chris) Victor, adviser for epidemiologic science and clinical trials, PATH. Topic: “Live-Attenuated Rotavirus Vaccines: An Evolving Global Health Success Story”
• 2:15-3:15 p.m.: Melinda Beck, professor, Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina. Topic: “Obesity and Influenza: A Match Not Made in Heaven”

PLACE: Room M1020, Thomas Francis Jr. School of Public Health (SPH2), 1415 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor.

SPONSORS: Center for Molecular and Clinical Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health

INFORMATION: http://bit.ly/1tuOhb1

MEDIA: Contact Terri Mellow, (734) 764-9094, twm@umich.edu, if you plan to attend.