
Professor Peter Stoicheff, President of USask (left), and Dr. Jerome Kim, DG of IVI, sign an MOU at IVI’s headquarters
October 16, 2019, SEOUL, Korea — IVI and the University of Saskatchewan’s (USask) VIDO-InterVac, a global leader in infectious disease research and vaccine development, exchanged a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at IVI headquarters to establish future partnership in vaccine research and capacity-building.
Dr. Jerome Kim, Director General of IVI; Professor Peter Stoicheff, President of USask; and Paul Hodgson, Associate Director of VIDO Inter-Vac, signed the MOU with Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe observing.
The VIDO-InterVac works with international partners to develop solutions for human and animal pathogens, and has commercialized eight vaccine technologies, six of which are world firsts. With this mutual understanding, the university research institute and IVI will take steps to exchange knowledge and opportunities for the shared mission of advancing vaccines.
“When we think about vaccines, we think not only about what vaccines can do in preventing the spread of infectious diseases, we think about what vaccines can do in terms of helping societies. That’s where IVI defines itself,” Dr. Kim said during his welcome to the delegation from Saskatchewan.
Mr. Hodgson added, “This agreement builds on the complementary expertise and capacity of our two organizations in vaccine development, animal models and new foundational technologies for the benefit of human and animal health globally.”
The two organizations have collaborated on research in the past, joining forces to discover and patent a novel adjuvant, or, immune response booster, for vaccines.
From left to right: Paul Hodgson, Associate Director of VIDO Inter-Vac; Honourable Scott Moe, Premier of Saskatchewan; Professor Peter Stoicheff, President of USask; Dr. Jerome Kim, DG of IVI; and Colin McCann, Global Affairs Associate at IVI, pose with the signed MOU