Kara Bickham

Kara Bickham, M.D., is responsible for defining and overseeing execution across all aspects of product development for IAVI.

Prior to joining IAVI, Bickham was vice president of vaccine clinical research and development at Pfizer where she was responsible for overall pipeline strategy, product delivery, and life cycle management for the Prevnar pneumococcal vaccine portfolio. Additionally, she served as franchise lead for the GBS6 vaccine, a six-valent Group B streptococcal vaccine being developed for low- and middle-income countries in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior to that, Bickham was the chief medical officer at Affinivax, a clinical stage biotech acquired by GSK, with responsibilities for the overall pipeline strategy and execution. Bickham also held several roles at Merck Vaccines, where among other responsibilities, she led the Vaxneuvance pediatric program team and the Zostavax product development team.

Bickham holds a B.S. from Texas Christian University and M.D. from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She pursued post-graduate training in pediatric infectious diseases at Weill Cornell Medical College and a postdoctoral fellowship in Ralph Steinman’s laboratory at The Rockefeller University.