SARS in the Context of Emerging Infectious Diseases

Speakers

Larry Anderson, MD

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Larry Anderson is a CDC virus expert and coauthor of a paper that characterizes the SARS virus. Anderson and his colleagues tested samples from patients in six countries with SARS.

In their report, they found that "nineteen patients with SARS have been identified as infected with the new coronavirus. All have direct or indirect links to the SARS outbreak in Hong Kong and Guangdong province, China."

Scott Hammer, MD

Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center
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Scott Hammer is the Harold C. Neu Professor of Medicine, professor of bublic health (epidemiology), and chief of the division of infectious diseases at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. A graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Hammer completed his residency in internal medicine at the Presbyterian Hospital and Stanford University Hospital and served as chief medical resident at the Presbyterian Hospital. He completed infectious disease fellowship training at the Massachusetts General Hospital before joining the faculty of the Deaconess Hospital (now the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) and Harvard Medical School in 1982. He became director of the Research Virology Laboratory at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center before being returning to Columbia in 1999.

Much of Hammer's career has been devoted to improving the treatment of HIV infection. He in an investigator in the National Institutes of Health sponsored AIDS Clinical Trials Group, has chaired the two largest national trials of antiretroviral therapy carried out by that group in the 1990s, and is an investigator in the National Institutes of Health-sponsored HIV Vaccine Trials Network. A former chair of the Antiviral Products Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration, he is also a member of the governing council of the International AIDS Society and a member of the International Advisory Committees of the Swiss HIV Cohort Study and the French National Association for AIDS Research.

Frederick G. Hayden, MD

University of Virginia School of Medicine
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Frederick G. Hayden focuses his research activities on understanding the pathogenesis of respiratory viral infections and the application of antiviral agents for their prevention and treatment. The scope of his studies has ranged from in vitro assays of viral susceptibility and antiviral mechanisms of action to clinical trials involving experimentally induced and naturally occurring infections.

Current areas of investigation in his group include determining cytokine and nitric oxide elaboration during acute influenza, sequence analysis of drug-resistant rhinovirus and influenza virus variants, and development and use of PCR-based assays for detection of picornaviruses and influenza viruses. Additional areas include in vitro studies of antiviral combinations for respiratory viruses and clinical testing of several candidate antiviral agents for influenza and rhinovirus infections.

David Ho, MD

Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center
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David Ho is the founding scientific director and chief executive Officer of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center (ADARC). He is also the Irene Diamond Professor at the Rockefeller University. A world-renowned AIDS researcher, Ho has been actively engaged in AIDS research for 20 years. He has published over 250 papers on the subject.

Ho was named Time magazine's Man of the Year in 1996 and was the recipient of a presidential medal in 2001. He has received numerous honors and awards for his scientific accomplishments, and he is an honorary professor at both Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. He currently serves on the board of overseers of Harvard University and on the board of trustees of the California Institute of Technology.

Kathryn V. Holmes, PhD

University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
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Kathryn V. Holmes is a molecular biologist for the University of Colorado (Denver) Health Sciences Center and an expert on coronaviruses. Her main interest of study has been the interactions of coronaviruses with specific receptor glycoproteins on host cell membranes. She has characterized and cloned receptors for several coronaviruses, including human aminopeptidase N (hAPN), a cell-membrane metalloprotease that serves as the receptor for human coronavirus HCoV-229E, which causes 15%-20% of common colds.

In a recent New England Journal of Medicine article on SARS-associated coronaviruses, Holmes proposes that "the SARS-associated coronavirus is neither a mutant of any known coronavirus nor a recombinant of known coronaviruses. It is a previously unknown coronavirus, probably from a nonhuman host, that somehow acquired the ability to infect humans."

C. Richter King, PhD

GenVec, Inc.
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C. Richter King serves as vice president of research at GenVec, a biotech company in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The company recently announced an agreement with the NIH to co-develop a SARS vaccine using GenVec's proprietary adenovector technology.

Before joining GenVec in 1998, King conducted extensive research into the amplification of the erbB-2 gene, which is associated with common human cancers. Pursuing erbB-2 as a potential target for anticancer therapy, King directed a research group at the Georgetown University Medical School's Lombardi Cancer Research Center in Washington, DC, where he served as associate professor with the university's department of biochemistry.

Thomas G. Ksiazek, DVM, PhD

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Thomas G. Ksiazek is the acting chief of the Special Pathogens Branch, Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases, at the National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He has held this post at the Special Pathogens Branch since 1991.

Prior to joining the CDC, Ksiazek was chief of the rapid diagnosis department, Disease Assessment Division, at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), Ft. Detrick. He is among the first to characterize the SARS associated coronavirus.

John La Montagne, PhD

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
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John La Montagne received his PhD in microbiology from Tulane University in 1971. Following postdoctoral training at the University of Pittsburgh in the laboratory of Julius Youngner, he joined the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in 1976 as the influenza program officer.

La Montagne has worked at the NIAID in various capacities since then, including first director of the AIDS program, now the Division of AIDS (1985-1987); director of the division of microbiology and infectious diseases (1987-1998); and now deputy director at NIAID. 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, allergies, and SARS.

Catherine Laughlin, PhD

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
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Catherine Laughlin is chief of the virology branch of NIAID's Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID). She is responsible for a broad spectrum of virologic research, including basic studies of replication and pathogenesis, as well as preclinical and clinical studies on the discovery and development of experimental therapies, vaccines, and diagnostics. Current program emphases include defense against possible agents of bioterrorism, emerging viral infections, viral mechanisms of immune evasion, and molecular structural approaches to antiviral design.

Laughlin received her PhD in microbiology from Rutgers University. As assistant professor of pathology at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, she conducted research on parvovirus replication, latency, and potential as vectors for gene therapy. She moved to NIAID in 1986 to assume management of its non-AIDS antiviral programs and in 1989 became chief of the antiviral research branch (ARB), which merged with the virology branch in 1994.

Marcelle Layton, MD

New York City Department of Health
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Marcelle Layton is the assistant commissioner for communicable diseases for the New York City Department of Health. In 1999 Layton identified the first-ever cases in New York City of the rare West Nile virus and mobilized a complex network of federal, state, and local agencies—as well as the entire citywide medical community—to control its spread. She created a much-praised and unprecedented communications system that reaches New York's vast and complex health care network to alert its members to public health threats.

Layton is a nationally recognized expert in planning the public-health response to the threat of biologic disasters. She successfully identified and controlled outbreaks of food poisoning, hepatitis A, and a rare occurrence of malaria in New York City, in addition to being a key player in the handling of the anthrax crisis.

W. Ian Lipkin, MD

Center for Immunopathogenesis and Infectious Diseases
Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
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W. Ian Lipkin is the Jerome L. and Dawn Greene Professor of Epidemiology and director of the Jerome L. and Dawn Greene Infectious Disease Laboratory in the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. He is also professor of neurology and pathology in Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons and principal investigator and scientific director of the Northeast Biodefense Center, a regional center of excellence in bioterrorism and emerging infectious diseases research comprised of private and public academic and public health institutions in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Lipkin is a member of the World Health Organization Laboratory Surveillance Network and special advisor to China for research and international cooperation in the fight against severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Under Lipkin's direction, the Greene Laboratory investigates the role of infectious agents and immune responses in acute and chronic central nervous system diseases, working through molecular epidemiology and studies of animal models. The Greene Laboratory also implements molecular systems for global surveillance of emerging viral diseases in humans, domestic animals, and wildlife. Current research in rodent models focuses on neurodevelopmental consequences of gestational and early postnatal direct and indirect (maternal) exposure to toxins (organic mercury), viruses (Bornavirus, double-stranded RNA), or bacteria (Streptococci).

Donald E. Low, MD

Mt. Sinai Hospital, Toronto
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Donald Low is head of microbiology at Mount Sinai Hospital and Toronto Medical Laboratories in Toronto. He is currently a professor at the University of Toronto and leads its division of microbiology in the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology.

Low is a recognized authority on microbiology and infectious diseases, focusing his research on epidemiology and the mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance to pathogens. He has been at the center of the SARS outbreak in Toronto, acting as physician, strategist, researcher, and spokesperson.

Paul S. Masters, PhD

Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health
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Paul S. Masters is an investigator and molecular genetics professor at the Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health. Masters studies the molecular biology of coronaviruses. Studies headed by Masters are leading to interesting new insights into the complex mechanism of RNA replication and transcription in coronaviruses, a large family of RNA viruses responsible for a wide range of respiratory, enteric, and neurologic diseases in humans and domestic animals.

His lab developed a system for the site-specific mutagenesis of the genome of the prototype coronavirus mouse hepatitis virus (MHV). This procedure is being used to study the structural proteins of the virus. Of particular interest is determining the roles these proteins play in viral replication and assembly, and how they interact with cellular proteins and cause disease in the host.

Thomas Monath, MD

Acambis, Inc.
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Thomas Monath is the chief scientific officer at Acambis and an adjunct professor at the Harvard School of Public Health. He directs vaccine R&D on dengue, West Nile, Japanese encephalitis, yellow fever, Clostridium Difficile and helicobacter pylori, SARS, and smallpox vaccines for defense against bioterrorism.

Prior to this, Monath worked at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and was colonel and chief of the virology division of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. He has published over 300 papers and edited five books on the epidemiology, immunology and pathogenesis of arboviruses, and on vaccine development.

Malik Peiris, PhD

University of Hong Kong
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Malik Peiris, who was credited with identifying the unique coronavirus as the cause of SARS, is a professor of microbiology at the University of Hong Kong. His research on influenza focuses on the ecology, epidemiology, evolution and pathogenesis of animal and human influenza, the disease burden of human influenza, and new diagnostic methods.

He is also studying human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) and 7 (HHV-7), virus-macrophage interactions and pathogenesis, and clinical virology, including diagnostic methods and clinical management. Previous areas of research have included the epidemiology and pathogenesis of arbovirus infections, the epidemiology of enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli and aspects of immunity in malaria.

C. J. Peters, MD

University of Texas Medical Branch
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C. J. Peters is a professor in the department of microbiology and immunology and the department of pathology at the University of Texas Medical Branch. He is former chief of special pathogens at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as former chief of the disease assessment division at USAMRID.

Working for the CDC, the U.S. Army, and the U.S. Public Service, Peters traveled extensively in South America and Africa during his work on viral outbreaks. In the United States, he headed the unit that contained the ebola outbreak in Reston, Virginia, and was a key member of the team that tracked down the hantavirus causing the mysterious deaths in rural New Mexico. A virus hunter for more than 30 years, Peters works to advance the basic research on these viruses and their close relatives and to develop both prototype and actual applied ways to control them.

Allan Rosenfield, MD

Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health
Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
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Allan Rosenfield is DeLamar Professor of Public Health and Obstetrics and Gynecology and dean of the School of Public Health at Columbia University, where he was the founding director of the Center for Population and Family Health. His fields of study includes women's health, international health issues, health care reform in the United States, urban health care delivery systems, adolescent pregnancy, minority health concerns, and health care for the poor and disadvantaged.

Rosenfield serves as chair of the New York State Department of Health AIDS Advisory Council and of amFAR's Public Policy Committee. He has also served on the boards of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, as well as acting as past chair of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the American Public Health Association's Executive Committee, and the New York Obstetrical Society. He has been medical advisor for family planning and maternal and child health to the Ministry of Public Health, Thailand, where he was also a former representative of the Population Council.

Linda Saif, PhD

Food Animal Health Research Program
Ohio State University, Wooster
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Linda Saif is a professor and researcher with Ohio State University's Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC). Saif is known nationally and internationally for her work on enteric viruses, including rotaviruses, caliciviruses, and coronaviruses, which cause mortality and morbidity in both food-producing animals and humans.

During the past 30 years, Saif has identified new intestinal viruses and developed diagnostic tests and research methods for working with them in the laboratory. She also has participated in a CDC SARS Advisory Group. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Chen Zhu, ScD

Shanghai Second Medical University
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Chen Zhu is vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Institute of Hematology, Shanghai Second Medical University (SSMU) in China. He obtained a masters degree of medical science at SSMU in 1981 and a doctor of science degree at the Institute of Hematology, Hospital Saint-Louis, University Paris VII, in Paris.

Zhu is also a member of the Human Genome Organization (HUGO), vice director of National Life Science Center in Shanghai, and director of the Human Genome Center in Shanghai. Zhu has been chosen to lead the scientific team that is dealing with SARS in China.