Six Distinguished Leaders in Global Health Join IAVI Board of Directors

NEW YORK — December 10, 2018 — The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) today announced that David L. Blumberg, Jim Connolly, John Nkengasong, Ph.D., John Shiver, Ph.D., Anne Simonds, and Rajeev Venkayya, M.D., have been appointed to IAVI’s board of directors.

“IAVI is pleased that these accomplished leaders have joined our board. We look forward to their partnership as we work to translate scientific discoveries into affordable, accessible public health solutions,” said Mark Feinberg, M.D., Ph.D., president and CEO of IAVI. “Their deep expertise across the global health spectrum in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors will strengthen our organization as we explore new and better ways to address public health threats that disproportionately affect people living in poverty.”

David L. Blumberg

DAVID L. BLUMBERG
Vice President, Teva Global Operations and Portfolio Compliance, Teva Pharmaceuticals

David L. Blumberg has more than 20 years of business and consulting experience across the life sciences continuum. Currently, he is the vice president of Global Operations and Portfolio Compliance at Teva Pharmaceuticals. Previously, Blumberg led the U.S. pharmaceuticals and life sciences advisory practice at KPMG. Prior to that, Blumberg was the executive vice president of professional services and customer support of a public software company specializing in contract and demand management for life sciences corporations. He spent several years at Accenture, where he served as lead partner for the pharmaceutical and medical products industries. Blumberg serves on the board of advisers for the Vagelos Life Sciences and Management Program at the University of Pennsylvania.

Jim Connolly

JIM CONNOLLY
Former President and CEO of Aeras

Jim Connolly is the former president and CEO of Aeras, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing tuberculosis vaccines. He served in this role from 2010 through 2012 and as an Aeras board member until its asset transfer to IAVI in 2018. Recently, Connolly was CEO of Tivorsan Pharmaceuticals and consultant to pharmaceutical, biotech, and investment organizations. At Wyeth (now Pfizer), Connolly held a series of increasingly senior positions. As executive vice president and general manager of Wyeth Vaccines from 2005 to 2009, Connolly helped expand access to the breakthrough pneumococcal vaccine Prevnar to more than 100 countries and 35 national immunization programs, including numerous developing countries where pneumococcal disease is a major cause of child mortality.

John Nkengasong, Ph.D.

JOHN NKENGASONG
Director, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention

John Nkengasong, Ph.D., is an authority on implementing HIV therapy in resource-challenged areas and a prolific author on the topics of HIV diagnosis, pathogenesis, and drug resistance. He is the first director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), a specialized technical institution of the African Union that provides strategic direction and promotes public health practice within its member states. He also co-chairs the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Laboratory Technical Working Group and is the founding chair of the board of directors for the African Society for Laboratory Medicine. Previously, Nkengasong was associate director for laboratory science and chief of the International Laboratory Branch of the Division of HIV & TB at the U.S. CDC.

John Shiver, Ph.D.

JOHN SHIVER
Senior Vice President, Global Vaccine Research and Development, Sanofi Pasteur

John Shiver, Ph.D., is senior vice president of global vaccine research and development (R&D) at Sanofi Pasteur. He has more than 26 years of vaccine and pharmaceutical R&D experience in industry and government labs. Prior to joining Sanofi Pasteur, Shiver led vaccine research at Merck and served in the Experimental Immunology Branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Throughout his career, Shiver has led teams of scientists to develop novel vaccine and monoclonal antibody candidates against a broad range of diseases. This work has contributed to the licensure of several new vaccines against HPV, rotavirus, zoster, dengue, as well as the combination measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) pediatric vaccine.

Anne Simonds

ANNE SIMONDS
Global Leader, Health, Development and Social Enterprise, Spencer Stuart

Anne Martin Simonds is the global leader of the Health, Development and Social Enterprise business practice at Spencer Stuart, a global leadership advisory firm, where she specializes in board, CEO, and president searches and board/leadership advisory engagements for organizations worldwide. Her clients range from global nonprofits, foundations, government, and academic institutions to specialty pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Previously, Simonds led the creation of the global health practice at Russell Reynolds Associates and concurrently built the biotech vaccines and rare disease portfolio in another global search firm. Prior to that, she conducted research at the Johns Hopkins Medical School, the University of Virginia Medical Center, the University of Connecticut, and the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University.

Rajeev Venkayya, M.D.

RAJEEV VENKAYYA
President, Global Vaccine Business Unit, Takeda Pharmaceuticals

Rajeev Venkayya, M.D., is president of the Global Vaccine Business Unit at Takeda. He manages a vertically integrated business with all functions necessary for the development, manufacturing, and commercialization of Takeda’s vaccines. Previously, Venkayya was director of vaccine delivery at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior to that, he was special assistant to the president and senior director for biodefense at the White House, where he where he led biodefense policy development and implemented the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and an independent board member of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

View the full IAVI Board of Directors.