PATH and WHO announced the appointment of Dr. Marie-Pierre Préziosi as the new director of the PATH/WHO Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP). Dr. Préziosi has been a member of the MVP team since 2003 and was most recently served director of Clinical Development for MVP, as part of her role as medical officer at WHO. Dr. Jean-Marie Okwo-Bele, director of WHO’s Immunization, Vaccines, and Biologicals department, commented, “We are very pleased that Marie-Pierre has been chosen to lead the MVP. Her wealth of experience, technical know-how, and dedication will be an asset as she takes on this important role. We are excited to work with Marie-Pierre to strengthen our partnership and continue rolling out MenAfriVac in all 25 countries in Africa’s meningitis belt.” Dr. Préziosi assumes this role from Dr. F. Marc LaForce, who announced last December that he was retiring after more than ten years with MVP. Under LaForce’s directorship, MVP successfully developed MenAfriVac™—a group A meningococcal meningitis conjugate vaccine specifically designed to eliminate the devastating meningitis epidemics that have been plaguing sub-Saharan Africa for more than a century. Around 55 million people aged 1 to 29 years have been vaccinated with MenAfriVac™ since the vaccine was introduced on the continent in December 2010.

http://www.path.org/news/pr1200301-mvp-director.php