Leadership

MAVDA combines world-class virologists and academic drug development researchers from Rockefeller University, Columbia University and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and the Center for Discovery and Innovation and Rutgers University in New Jersey, along with proven antiviral drug developers Merck, the Tri-Institutional Therapeutics Discovery Institute (Tri-I TDI)-Takeda, and Aligos. In addition to strong industry partners, MAVDA benefits from a strong Scientific Advisory Board, with members well-versed in antiviral drug development and having management experience running large translational research programs with a record of developing products with Pharma and Biotech support.

Scientific Advisory Board (SAB)

The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) plays a vital role by assessing the progress of individual projects, helping to prioritize lead development drug candidates, and evaluating gating metrics for progression. The SAB also provides guidance to the scientific cores to ensure that they function efficiently to deliver high-quality support for compound progression.

Emilio A. Emini, Ph.D., FCPP, FAAM

Chief Executive Officer
Bill and Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute

Zhi Hong, Ph.D.

Executive Director, Chairman of the Board and CEO
Brii Biosciences

Joseph P. Vacca, Ph.D.

J. Vacca Consulting

Arturo Casadevall, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor of Medicine
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

Susan R. Weiss, Ph.D.

Professor of Microbiology
University of Pennsylvania

Richard R. Kuhn, Ph.D.

Professor of Biological Sciences
Purdue University

George Drusano, M.D.

Director, Institute for Therapeutic Innovation
University of Florida

Consortium Members

The MAVDA program is led by a public-private consortium of world-class virologists, academic drug discovery experts and industry leaders. This unprecedented and innovative approach will enable MAVDA to accelerate research from bench to bedside.

David S. Perlin, Ph.D.

Lead Investigator

MAVDA Project/Core Leader
Chief Scientific Officer and Professor

Center for Discovery and Innovation
Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine
Georgetown University School of Medicine

Charles M. Rice, Ph.D.

Co-Investigator
MAVDA Core Leader
Maurice R. and Corinne P. Greenberg Professor in Virology
The Rockefeller University
2016 Lasker Award
2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

David Ho, M.D.

MAVDA Core Leader
Director, Aaron Diamond AIDS research center (ADARC)
Clyde ’56 and Helen Wu Professor of Medicine
Columbia University

Alejandro Chavez, M.D., Ph.D.

MAVDA Project Leader
Associate Professor
Department of Pediatrics
University of California, San Diego

Stephen Goff, Ph.D.

MAVDA Core Leader
Higgins Professor of Biochemistry
Columbia University

Yosef Sabo, Ph.D.

MAVDA Project/Core Leader
Assistant Professor
Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center
Columbia University

Thomas Tuschl, Ph.D.

MAVDA Project Leader
Professor
The Rockefeller University

Jingyue Ju, Ph.D.

MAVDA Project Leader
Professor
Departments of Chemical Engineering and Pharmacology Director
Center for Genome Technology & Biomolecular Engineering Columbia University

Joseph Fraser Glickman, Ph.D.

MAVDA Core Leader
Research Associate Professor
Director, RU High Throughput Screening
The Rockefeller University

Lawrence Shapiro, Ph.D.

MAVDA Core Leader
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics
Aaron Diamond Research Center
Columbia Mind, Brain and Behavior Institute
Columbia University