August 30, 2024 – SEOUL, Republic of Korea – We are pleased to announce that Jessica Cowden, MD, MPH, FAAP, has been appointed Associate Director General of IVI’s Clinical, Assessment, Regulatory, Evaluation (CARE) unit. She will be based in IVI’s Europe Regional Office in Stockholm, Sweden, effective September 1, 2024.

Dr. Cowden joins IVI with a distinguished career in the US Air Force, where she recently retired as a Colonel and served as Chief of the Department of Retrovirology at the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (USAMD-AFRIMS) in Bangkok, Thailand. Her extensive experience and leadership in infectious disease programs, including roles at the Defense Institute for Medical Operations and the Kenya Medical Research Institute/Walter Reed Project, make her a valuable addition to IVI.

Dr. Cowden is a highly accomplished physician/scientist. She holds an MD from the State University of New York at Buffalo and completed her residency in Pediatrics at Wright Patterson Air Force Base/Wright State University. She then completed a fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Denver Children’s Hospital/University of Colorado. She also holds a Master of Science in Public Health from the University of Colorado.

In her new role, Dr. Cowden will be pivotal in leading strategic initiatives and enhancing our capabilities within the CARE unit. Her leadership and expertise will make meaningful contributions to IVI’s mission to accelerate vaccines for global health and the IVI team extends to her a warm welcome.

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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