The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) said it “has begun implementing major organizational changes to ensure continued success in both vaccine sciences and public health.” The changes include the election of Dr. Adel A. F. Mahmoud as Chairman of IVI’s Board of Trustees and Dr. Viveka Persson as Vice Chairperson of the Board. Dr. Mahmoud succeeds Professor Ragnar Norrby of the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control. Professor Norrby served as the Chairman of IVI’s Board of Trustees since 2006. IVI also said it appointed new leadership including Dr. Alejandro Cravioto, serving as Chief Scientific Officer and Dr. Georges Thiry, serving as Deputy Director General Portfolio Management.

IVI noted that its new strategic direction includes a new vision statement – Developing Countries Free of Suffering from Infectious Disease – and a new mission statement – Discover, Develop and Deliver Safe, Effective and Affordable Vaccines for the World’s Developing Nations.

Under its new strategic plan, IVI will focus its efforts around the following four goals:

1) Accelerate the development and introduction of safe and effective vaccines;

2) Discover and pursue proof of concept for new vaccine candidates, with a particular on new vaccines against enteric and diarrheal diseases;

3) Advance science driving new achievements in vaccinology, specifically through conducting further research in vaccine-enhancing technology and understanding how the immune system works in response to vaccination; and

4) Contribute to building vaccine technology and systems capacity in developing countries.

The new strategy reinforces IVI’s commitment of ensuring the availability of safe, effective and affordable vaccines to improve the health of the world’s most vulnerable people.

Full media release: http://www.ivi.org/web/www/07_01?p_p_id=EXT_BBS&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_state=normal&p_p_mode=view&_EXT_BBS_struts_action=%2Fext%2Fbbs%2Fview_message&_EXT_BBS_messageId=481