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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."