July 24, 2024 – SEOUL, Republic of Korea – IVI is pleased to announce that Dr. Douglas Shaffer will join as IVI’s Deputy Director General of Global Affairs & Communications on August 26, 2024, based in Nairobi, Kenya. With over 27 years of service in the United States Government, including 22 years in sub-Saharan Africa, Dr. Shaffer brings extensive experience in clinical research, medical education, regulatory strengthening, capacity building, and global health diplomacy.

Dr. Shaffer is the current Associate Director in the Office of Global Policy and Strategy of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In that capacity, he advises on resilient medical product supply chains and equitable access to quality medical products and leads priority initiatives for the World Health Organization and African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa’s Development.

Prior to joining the FDA, Dr. Shaffer served as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya; Director of the U.S. Army Medical Research Directorate-Africa at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research-Kenya; Chief Medical Officer at the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Health Diplomacy at the U.S. Department of State; Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-Rwanda program, and Clinical Trials Unit Principal Investigator at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) AIDS Clinical Trial Group.

Dr. Shaffer holds active American Board of Internal Medicine certification and licensures in pharmacy and medicine. He served as an Attending Physician in the Department of Medicine at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland, U.S. and taught medicine in both Kenya and Rwanda. He is a graduate of the NIH Training Program in Clinical Research and additionally obtained a Master of Health Sciences in Clinical Research from Duke University School of Medicine.

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About the International Vaccine Institute (IVI)
The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) is a non-profit international organization established in 1997 at the initiative of the United Nations Development Programme with a mission to discover, develop, and deliver safe, effective, and affordable vaccines for global health.

IVI’s current portfolio includes vaccines at all stages of pre-clinical and clinical development for infectious diseases that disproportionately affect low- and middle-income countries, such as cholera, typhoid, chikungunya, shigella, salmonella, schistosomiasis, hepatitis E, HPV, COVID-19, and more. IVI developed the world’s first low-cost oral cholera vaccine, pre-qualified by the World Health Organization (WHO), and developed a new-generation typhoid conjugate vaccine that also achieved WHO prequalification in early 2024.

IVI is headquartered in Seoul, Republic of Korea with a Europe Regional Office in Sweden, an Africa Regional Office in Rwanda, a Country Office in Austria, and a Country and Project Office in Kenya. IVI additionally co-founded the Hong Kong Jockey Club Global Health Institute in Hong Kong and hosts Collaborating Centers in Ghana, Ethiopia, and Madagascar. 42 countries and the WHO are members of IVI. The governments of the Republic of Korea, Sweden, India, Finland, Austria, and Thailand provide state funding. For more information, please visit https://www.ivi.int.

CONTACT

Aerie Em, Global Communications & Advocacy Manager
+82 2 881 1386 | aerie.em@www.ivi.int