Contact: Eileen Teves, 210-450-7239, tevese@uthscsa.edu
SAN ANTONIO, Oct. 21, 2022 – The leader of the U.S. Army’s role in helping develop a COVID-19 vaccine will keynote the Fall Distinguished Lecture of UT Health San Antonio’s Military Health Institute (MHI) on Thursday, Oct. 27.
MHI will host speaker Kayvon Modjarrad, MD, PhD, infectious diseases physician, scientist and globally renowned expert in vaccinology, virology, immunology and emerging pathogens at the UT Health San Antonio Long School of Medicine’s Holly Auditorium.
“We look forward to continuing our MHI Distinguished Lecture series and having one of the leading experts in infectious diseases join us for an informative discussion,” said Byron Hepburn, MD, FAAFP (Maj. Gen., USAF-Ret.) and director of the Military Health Institute. “Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad will share his expertise and insight on the U.S. military’s role in developing the latest in vaccines.”
Modjarrad is the founding director of the Emerging Infectious Disease branch at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR). He is the principal inventor and overall lead of the U.S. Army’s role in developing the vaccine against COVID-19, co-led all WRAIR’s COVID-19 response efforts and served as a member of Operation Warp Speed, a partnership among several federal government agencies to accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Dr. Modjarrad’s team developed a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine based on a nanoparticle platform.
The Military Health Institute’s Distinguished Lecture event focuses on topics relevant to the military, veterans and the community. This event will be an opportunity to network and educate faculty, students and community partners on current advances in military medical care and research, plus foster collaboration and engagement.
The foundation of MHI stands on four main pillars: research support, education, clinical advocacy and engagement. Each pillar speaks to MHI’s mission to strengthen the military health activities of UT Health San Antonio and to improve the lives of service members, veterans and their families.
The public is invited to attend the MHI Distinguished Lecture, titled, “Fighting Future Pandemics: Next Generation Vaccines,” inside the UT Health San Antonio Long School of Medicine’s Holly Auditorium. The Thursday, Oct. 27 event is both in-person and virtual. It begins with a reception and opening remarks from Hepburn at 5:30 p.m., then Modjarrad delivers his lecture at 6:30 p.m.
Registration is required. For more information on the MHI Distinguished Lecture, visit militaryhealthinstitute.org and look for the events section for Fighting Future Pandemics: Next Generation Vaccines
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, also called UT Health San Antonio, is one of the country’s leading health science universities and is designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education. With missions of teaching, research, patient care and community engagement, its schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have graduated more than 41,100 alumni who are leading change, advancing their fields and renewing hope for patients and their families throughout South Texas and the world. To learn about the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit http://uthscsa.edu.
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