Stanford

During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the several federal agencies recognized the need for significant expansion of the arsenal of interventions to treat that deadly virus. A NIH/NIAID competitive grant process resulted in eight academic centers around the US being awards >$600M over three years to develop direct-acting anti-virals for this and future pandemics. The program was named AVIDD.

Through a close professional friend, I learned of this opportunity, and had the good fortune to meet the Principal Investigator of the Stanford program, who recruited me to become his Deputy Director. That role involved providing operational and administrative leadership for the 60 investigators working on the grant, including the communications and reporting with the NIH/NIAID.

In three short years, these investigators discovered and/or developed previously unknown approaches to directly intervene in mRNA virus replication, not only for SARS-CoV-2, but other pathogens of pandemic potential such as dengue, zika and influenza. The role has been another great learning experience, working closely with a large team of academic researchers within chemistry, biology, and medical departments around the world. The cause is still relevant and important, and I’m completely committed to working closely with the effort as long as it continues.