Members of the IVI´s Board of Trustees at the annual meeting, which was
held at the Chulabhorn Research Institute in Bangkok, Thailand during April 2-5, 2009.

The IVI held the 12th annual meeting of its Board of Trustees (BOT) in Bangkok, Thailand on April 2-5 to review achievements and activities during the past year and develop plans for the next year.

Attending the meeting were Chairman Ragnar Norrby, IVI Director-General Dr. John Clemens, other members of the Board, and a number of collaborators and donors. Notably, Dr. Prat Boonyawongvirot, Permanent Secretary at the Thai Ministry of Public Health, delivered an opening speech, highlighting the past and current collaborations between the IVI and Thailand, including surveillance of shigellosis (bacterial dysentery) and a clinical trial of a dengue vaccine candidate.

The 22-member Board now includes Dr. Shin Young-soo, the new Director of the World Health Organization’s Western Pacific Regional Office. Other new members of the Board are Mr. George Bickerstaff, Managing Director of CRT Capital Group, LLC, a U.S.- based investment bank, and a member of the GAVI Alliance’s board; and Mr. Vijay Samant, CEO of Vical, Inc., a U.S.-based pharmaceutical company. 

On the first day of the four-day Board meeting, the IVI and the Chulabhorn Research Institute in Bangkok jointly hosted a “Symposium on the Role of Vaccines and Translational Research in Emerging Diseases and Environmental Health.” Under the theme “Climate Change, Invasive Species and Health Risks,” the symposium brought together dozens of public health and environment experts from the IVI and Thailand, including the Royal Princess Prof. Chulabhorn Mahidol, who delivered congratulatory remarks. She serves as President of the Chulabhorn Research Institute, which is dedicated to research on the quality of life.

The IVI Board also visited the site of the world’s first Phase II b clinical trial of a dengue vaccine candidate (developed by sanofi pasteur) in children in Ratchaburi Province. The field site is being developed by the IVI’s Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative (PDVI).