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Charla Andrews, Sc.M.
Charla
Andrews received her B.A. degree in Biology from Cornell
University and Sc.M. degree in Virology and Pathology
from the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health.
Her 20 years of research experience has been acquired
in some of the leading AIDS research labs and clinical
research clinics including the Massachusetts General
Hospital, University of Massachusetts Medical Center,
Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center and the University
of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.
While at U. Mass., she and her colleagues
published and presented some of the initial studies
that documented the extent and devastating effects of
the AIDS epidemic on the hemophilia population. She
later served as Director of Research at the
National Hemophilia Foundation. Her clinical research
experience has included managing Phase I, II, and III
AIDS clinical trials, including the first clinical trial
of nevirapine, an important component of many therapeutic
regimens and a key drug in the prevention of perinatal
transmission of HIV infection.
One of the first employees of the Vaccine
Research Center, Ms. Andrews works with the protocol
development and clinical teams as well as regulatory
departments at the Division of AIDS and collaborators
from the public and private sectors on HIV vaccine development
projects, and manages the submission of Investigational
New Drug Applications (INDs) to the FDA for VRC viral
vaccines. In the Spring of 2001, the FDA approved the
first VRC IND for a Phase I clinical trial of VRC-001,
a preventative HIV vaccine that is currently enrolling
healthy volunteers at the NIH Clinical Center. Since
then, the FDA has allowed clinical trials of two new
HIV vaccine products as well as trials of a potentially
safer smallpox product. Additional HIV and biodefense
vaccines are moving through preclinical testing and
will be in clinical trials soon.
"The VRC has recruited tremendously
talented collection of scientists and clinicians working
towards a common goal of developing vaccines for HIV
and other diseases. There is a sense of dedication and
commitment that has drawn us all to VRC and every reason
to think that our efforts will be successful."
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