November 2007

NIAID's Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units

Research supported and conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), strives to understand, treat and ultimately prevent the myriad infectious, immunologic and allergic diseases that threaten millions of human lives. The NIAID Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID) supports extramural research to control and prevent diseases caused by virtually all infectious agents other than HIV. This includes basic and applied research to develop and evaluate therapeutics, vaccines and diagnostics which are funded through a variety of research grants and contracts.

The evaluation of new and improved vaccine and therapeutic candidates in clinical trials/studies is an essential element of the efforts of DMID. The Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units (VTEUs), supported by DMID since the 1960's, have conducted a broad range of studies including Phase I, Phase 2, Phase 3 and Phase 4 clinical trials of bacterial, viral and parasitic vaccines, therapeutics and other biologics and drugs as preventive and therapeutic measures against infectious diseases in people of all ages and risk categories. The VTEUs have also undertaken a variety of other studies including: targeted surveillance of pathogens of interest in study populations; evaluations of novel investigational product delivery systems; and reevaluation of current vaccine formulations, schedules and modes of delivery. Several of these studies were performed in a compressed time frame to address emergent public health research needs.

The eight current VTEU contract award sites are:

Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
Principal Investigator: Wendy A. Keitel, M.D.

Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
Principal Investigator: David I. Bernstein, M.D., M.A.

Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
Principal Investigator: Mark J. Mulligan, M.D.

Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri
Principal Investigator: Robert Belshe, MD

Group Health Cooperative, Seattle, Washington
Principal Investigator: Lisa A. Jackson, M.D., M.P.H.

University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
Principal Investigator: Patricia L. Winokur, M.D.

University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland
Principal Investigator: Karen L. Kotloff, M.D.

Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
Principal Investigator: Kathryn M. Edwards, M.D.

NIAID is a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. NIAID supports basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose, and treat infectious and immune-mediated illnesses, including HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, illness from potential agents of bioterrorism, tuberculosis, malaria, autoimmune disorders, asthma and allergies.

News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID Web site at http://www.niaid.nih.gov.

Prepared by:
Office of Communications and Public Liaison
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD 20892

Department of Health and Human Services

National Institutes of Health (NIH) Bethesda, Maryland 20892

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