Chief Medical Officer

Pat Fast, MD, Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer, with a background in immunology (PhD) and medicine/pediatrics, vaccines have been the main focus of Dr. Fast’s work.  She obtained a PhD in Microbiology-Immunology at UCLA, worked as a fellow at Wellcome Research Institute in the UK (vaccination strategies and immune responses), and taught at UCLA in the Department of Pediatrics, then at The Upjohn Company, as a research scientist in Hypersensitivity Diseases Research. Subsequently, she obtained her MD (Michigan State University) and did a Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases residency, followed by a fellowship at NIH.  She then joined the AIDS vaccine program at NIAID, NIH in 1990, where she was in charge of AIDS Vaccine clinical trials and, as Associate Director for Prevention of Division of AIDS, supervised observational studies.  From 1997-2001, she directed clinical trials of a live attenuated influenza vaccine, which was subsequently licensed by FDA.  Dr. Fast joined IAVI in 2001, as the first IAVI-sponsored clinical trial was beginning in Kenya.  Since then, Medical Affairs has grown with the addition of many talented and dedicated people.  Our goal is to conduct clinical trials and observational studies in the most rigorous scientific, ethical and efficient way, and while doing that to train and empower colleagues at Clinical Research Centres, particularly those in Africa.  Dr. Fast is a member of UNAIDS/WHO Vaccine Advisory Committee, since 2007, and previously served on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Vaccine Advisory Committee.

Pat is available to comment on the following issues:

• IAVI’s clinical development program and overall approach to AIDS vaccine trials
• IAVI’s Network of research centers
• Current issues in AIDS vaccine development
• Clinical trials in HIV and AIDS-related research
• Epidemiological research on HIV and the immunology of HIV infection
• The participation of developing countries in AIDS vaccine design and development
• The importance of a comprehensive response to the AIDS pandemic
• The challenges of working with socially vulnerable populations