Armed with a 100-page packet of data, Dr. Patrick Moore helped evaluate the safety and efficacy of Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine for the United States in just four days.

But even though the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations approval of this vaccine wasnt normal, Moore said he wants all Americans to know the Pfizer vaccine is an important step in ending the pandemic and keeping Americans safe.

Were in an emergency, obviously. We have to have some way of stopping this epidemic its completely disrupted our entire social and economic fabric, Moore, a distinguished professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at UPMC, said. Were facing enormous risk from COVID-19, and we feel very confident that theres very low risk for the vaccine.

Moore serves on the FDAs Vaccines and Related Biological Products Committee, which reviewed data regarding Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine in December. The FDA approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Dec. 11 for emergency use authorization.

Moore said the FDA invited him to analyze preliminary data from Pfizer about the safety and efficacy of its COVID-19 vaccine alongside 20 other scientists. He said the committee gives advice to the FDA regarding the release of pharmaceuticals.

We give [the FDA] a better sense of whether we agree with releasing it under the circumstances that theyve posed or not, Moore said. Its a committee that, every year, has to also give advice on the components on the influenza vaccine.

Moore speculated that he was selected for the committee due to his experience in cancer neurology and chronic disease biology, as well as handling epidemics. As an epidemic intelligence service officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he said he worked in Chad and Ethiopia to control meningitis epidemics in Africa.

Moore said all the scientists serving on the committee must be mature, since their job is to look objectively at this data in a critical way. Besides the panels own critique, the committee comments from the public that were previously submitted to the FDA.

There are legitimate concerns that people may have, Moore said. We should bring [them] up with the company as best we can, even if we, personally, do not think those concerns are terribly important.

Moore said having the publics trust in the safety of the vaccine is crucial to get a nationwide vaccine rollout going.

A reasonable person will want to know, and should know, that people who dont have a conflict of interest are evaluating this, and its based on data, not opinions, Moore said.

Dr. Shou-Jiang Gao has worked with Moore for many years, initially as a postdoctoral researcher in Moores lab at Columbia University. Now Moores boss, Gao, a professor in the department of microbiology and molecular genetics, said they focus on cancer viruses. Moore, along with his wife, Dr. Yuan Chang, a distinguished professor in the department of pathology at Pitt, discovered two of the seven human cancer viruses one in 1994 and another in 2008.

Gao said Moore is one of the brightest scientists Ive ever known and that the scientific review he was a part of was critical.

Scientific review is critical and a topic of public concern in terms of efficacy and safety, Gao said. I think the panel, which included him, did a fantastic job and evaluated all the data to give the best recommendation.

Moores former colleague Dr. Lee Harrison, a professor of medicine and epidemiology in the department of medicine at Pitt and chair of the Allegheny County Board of Health, also spoke highly of Moore. He said they traveled together for the CDC, where they intercepted airplanes carrying passengers from Saudi Arabia who may have contracted meningitis.

We traveled to New York City to intercept Saudia 747s at the tarmac of JFK Airport because there was a big meningitis outbreak going on in Mecca during the Hajj, Harrison said. We intercepted before they got to the gate and did a study of how to prevent meningococcal infection in people coming off the airplane.

While potential COVID-19 vaccines were being discussed months before any approval, Gao said the decision to approve the vaccine must have been a difficult one.

The majority of these vaccine trials only have two-month data available right now, Gao said. They have to make the best scientific judgment they can.

With the vaccine approved, Americans are eager to get vaccinated. But vaccine rollouts have been slower than anticipated, according to Moore. According to the Associated Press, Pennsylvania is tied for 39th among the 50 states in terms of the percentage of the population that has received at least one dose of a vaccine, as of Feb. 3. Only 10.6% of Pennsylvanians have received at least one dose of a vaccine as of Sunday, according to The New York Times.

Countrywide, [the vaccine distribution] has been miserable.You knew there was a vaccine being evaluated, I certainly knew there was a vaccine being evaluated, Moore said. Everyone in the public health community should have had clear marching orders from Washington to the states to the counties to the providers.

Moore said there are a lot of hurdles with distributing this vaccine, including the necessity for two doses and identifying patients who are at a higher risk to line them up in an orderly way early on.

Harrison agreed that the vaccine rollout was less than ideal. He said a prevalent issue was having more demand than supply.

Theres a big demand, and then not as much supply. The logistics of getting people immunized is proving more difficult than was anticipated, and its really tough for people to figure out when its their turn, Harrison said. Its this patchwork system that is still really suboptimal, to say the least. Hopefully thats going to get better and better, because were not going to get out of this until we get a minimum of 70% of the population immunized.

Despite the challenges, Moore is optimistic that President Joe Bidens administration may be able to get the vaccine rollout back on track.

Im so happy because now it seems that, at least in Washington, there is an organized attempt at distributing the vaccine in a way that will truly get out to the entire population, Moore said. I have hope that its being taken quite seriously, now that weve lost two to three months during the transition to get to this point.

Regardless of politics, Gao said he urges everyone to get the vaccine if they have the opportunity.

They should be vaccinated not just for themselves, but also for whoever they encounter as a citizen, Gao said. You could still produce virus to spread to other people, and for those not vaccinated, they may still be at risk.

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Pitt doctor helped review, approve Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine - University of Pittsburgh The Pitt News

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Myriad Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN), a leader in genetic testing and precision medicine, today announced several new technology and healthcare leaders who recently joined the company as well as key promotions to drive critical business functions, transformation and growth initiatives.

With the addition of new leaders from other industry leading enterprises, we continue to augment our strong bench of talent across a range of functions that will accelerate the execution of our strategy with disciplined process management and proven expertise, said Paul J. Diaz, president and CEO of Myriad Genetics. We are pleased to welcome new teammates who share the passion for our mission to improve health and wellbeing for all as we continue to recruit and promote top talent from outside and inside our company.

The following Myriad Genetics leaders are assuming broader roles:

Kevin R. Haas is promoted to Chief Technology Officer, reporting directly to Diaz, responsible for engineering, data and analytics, genetic laboratory software, and improving the customer experience through tech-enabled, customer-centric commercial capabilities. Since joining Myriad in 2013, Haas has served in senior level leadership roles across research and development, bioinformatics, engineering and technology.

Faith Zaslavsky is promoted to president of Myriad Oncology which offers genetic testing for patients who have cancer and companion diagnostic tests that work with corresponding drugs. Since 2019, Zaslavsky has served as general manager of this business unit, overseeing products including Myriad myRisk Hereditary Cancer, myChoice CDx companion diagnostic, and EndoPredict breast cancer tests. Over her 21-year career at Myriad, Zaslavsky has held progressively responsible sales, strategic account management and leadership roles.

New leaders recently joining Myriad include:

Maggie Ancona, senior vice president, Enterprise Transformation and Program Management Office. She reports directly to Diaz, managing a broad range of enterprise-wide transformation initiatives and workstreams with a focus on operational excellence. Ancona previously led Global Transformation and Program Management at Hewlett Packard (HP) and Dell Technologies where she oversaw business transformation strategy, executed large-scale programs and cost management efforts, while retooling digital infrastructure for the future.

David Hammer, senior vice president, Revenue Cycle Management, has overall accountability for the process, including functions that contribute to the capture, management, and collection of diagnostic-service revenue and related areas designed to improve the customer experience. He previously held senior revenue cycle management roles at RGP Healthcare, MedAssets, and Accenture. Hammer also serves on the Board of Advisors of the University of Florida's College of Public Health and Health Professions.

Chris Williamson, senior vice president, Information Systems and Security. Williamson previously led all facets of information technology, infrastructure, business intelligence and operations for Data2Logistics, a leading data-driven freight, audit and payment services company. A retired Naval Officer, Williamson served in the White House (executive office of the President) for the Technology Assessment Center and Information Technology Working Group.

Edward Gala, senior vice president, Enterprise Marketing Communications, responsible for strategic public relations, employee and executive communications, and overall brand marketing. Gala previously held global marketing and communications leadership positions at Xerox and Philips where he played a key role in brand transformation and positioning, business-to-business and consumer marketing across corporate, business, market and product groups.

Karen Renner, vice president, Digital Marketing, responsible for digital infrastructure, patient lead nurturing, conversion and support for products including Myriads myRisk Hereditary Cancer test and related digital initiatives across Womens Health and Oncology. Karen previously served as the global digital and eBusiness leader at Nestle Purina and brings prior digital agency experience with leading consumer product accounts at VMLY&R.

Jackie Zou, vice president, Business Development, responsible for supporting new growth opportunities, including the development and execution of transactions such as divestitures, potential mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and new partnerships. Zou held senior roles in strategy and finance, at Western Digital Corporation (WD), a global data technology, storage and digital content company, where she planned and executed merger, acquisition and divestiture transactions, joint venture initiatives, strategic partnerships and business development. Zou previously worked at Symantec, ZS Associates and Goldman Sachs.

Justin Hunter, vice president, Corporate Legal Affairs, responsible for providing legal counsel and support for corporate governance, SEC reporting, M&A, and related matters. Hunter previously served as senior legal counsel for Parsley Energy where he was responsible for SEC reporting and compliance, acquisitions and divestitures, and corporate governance. Previously he worked at Vinson & Elkins LLP and as a law clerk to Vice Chancellor Noble on the Delaware Court of Chancery.

Top Place to WorkMyriad Genetics recently was named among the Top Places to Work in Energages Top Workplaces USA list for 2021. The company ranked number one in the Health Industry category and earned additional awards in Cultural Excellence and Innovation & Leadership. Myriad employs more than 2,800 people across the United States and in several countries around the globe. To learn more about career opportunities at Myriad, visit our website.

About Myriad GeneticsMyriad Genetics Inc., is a leading genetic testing and precision medicine company dedicated to transforming patient lives worldwide. Myriad discovers and commercializes genetic tests that determine the risk of developing disease, accurately diagnose disease, assess the risk of disease progression, and guide treatment decisions across medical specialties where critical genetic insights can significantly improve patient care and lower healthcare costs.

Myriad, the Myriad logo, BART, BRACAnalysis, Colaris, Colaris AP, myPath, myRisk, Myriad myRisk, myRisk Hereditary Cancer, myChoice, myPlan, BRACAnalysis CDx, Tumor BRACAnalysis CDx, myChoice CDx, Vectra, Prequel, Foresight, GeneSight, riskScore and Prolaris are trademarks or registered trademarks of Myriad Genetics, Inc. or its wholly owned subsidiaries in the United States and foreign countries. MYGN-F, MYGN-G.

Safe Harbor StatementThis press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements related to driving key business functions, transformation and growth initiatives and accelerating the execution of Myriads strategy with disciplined process management and proven expertise; and the Companys strategic directives under the caption "About Myriad Genetics." These "forward-looking statements" are based on management's current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: uncertainties associated with COVID-19, including its possible effects on our operations and the demand for our products and services; our ability to efficiently and flexibly manage our business amid uncertainties related to COVID-19; the risk that sales and profit margins of our molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services may decline; risks related to our ability to transition from our existing product portfolio to our new tests, including unexpected costs and delays; risks related to decisions or changes in governmental or private insurers reimbursement levels for our tests or our ability to obtain reimbursement for our new tests at comparable levels to our existing tests; risks related to increased competition and the development of new competing tests and services; the risk that we may be unable to develop or achieve commercial success for additional molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services in a timely manner, or at all; the risk that we may not successfully develop new markets for our molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services, including our ability to successfully generate revenue outside the United States; the risk that licenses to the technology underlying our molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services and any future tests and services are terminated or cannot be maintained on satisfactory terms; risks related to delays or other problems with operating our laboratory testing facilities and our healthcare clinic; risks related to public concern over genetic testing in general or our tests in particular; risks related to regulatory requirements or enforcement in the United States and foreign countries and changes in the structure of the healthcare system or healthcare payment systems; risks related to our ability to obtain new corporate collaborations or licenses and acquire new technologies or businesses on satisfactory terms, if at all; risks related to our ability to successfully integrate and derive benefits from any technologies or businesses that we license or acquire; risks related to our projections about our business, results of operations and financial condition; risks related to the potential market opportunity for our products and services; the risk that we or our licensors may be unable to protect or that third parties will infringe the proprietary technologies underlying our tests; the risk of patent-infringement claims or challenges to the validity of our patents or other intellectual property; risks related to changes in intellectual property laws covering our molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services and patents or enforcement in the United States and foreign countries, such as the Supreme Court decisions in Mayo Collab. Servs. v. Prometheus Labs., Inc., 566 U.S. 66 (2012), Assn for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., 569 U.S. 576 (2013), and Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Intl, 573 U.S. 208 (2014); risks of new, changing and competitive technologies and regulations in the United States and internationally; the risk that we may be unable to comply with financial operating covenants under our credit or lending agreements; the risk that we will be unable to pay, when due, amounts due under our credit or lending agreements; and other factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" contained in Item 1A of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as any updates to those risk factors filed from time to time in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q or Current Reports on Form 8-K. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and Myriad undertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law.

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Technology and Health Leaders Join Myriad Genetics, Advance in Senior Roles to Drive Key Enterprise Functions, Transformation and Growth Initiatives -...

The Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM) is an international research institute focusing on human genomics and personalised medicine at the University of Helsinki. In the beginning of 2017 FIMM joined the University of Helsinkis new life science research centre, Helsinki Institute of Life Science HiLIFE, as an operational unit. FIMM integrates molecular medicine research, technology centre and biobanking infrastructures under one roof, promoting translational research in grand challenge projects, specifically, the impact of genome information from the Finnish population in personalised health and medicine, individualised cancer medicine, and digital molecular medicine. FIMM is part of the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine, composed of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the centres for molecular medicine in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, and the EU-LIFE Community.

The INTERVENE consortium (https://www.interveneproject.eu/) is a 5-year 10 million EU funded project that aims to develop and test next generation tools for disease prevention, diagnosis and personalized treatment utilizing the first US-European pool of genomic and health data and integrating longitudinal and disease-relevant -omics data into genetic risk scores. The consortium includes 18 partners from 11 countries which are closely collaborating together.

The coordinating center at Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki is recruiting two fellow positions (post-doc level or higher), that will work in close collaboration with Prof. Samuli Ripatti and Dr. Andrea Ganna. One fellow will be working on the breast cancer clinical pilot, coordinating the multinational study on translating the genetic information to treatment and screening and the other will work on development and application of next generation risk prediction tools.

Professor Samuli Ripatti is a vice-director at FIMM, Professor of Biometry at Faculty of Medicine and a director of Academy of Finlands Center of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics. His research group has broad collaboration with international research groups to study genetic variation and its connection to lipids, metabolites and other risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases and common cancers. Professor Ripattis group also builds statistical and computational models for complex disease risk estimation. Ripatti has played key roles in major Finnish sequencing efforts. He is the PI of the GeneRISK Study, pioneering studies utilizing personal genetic risk information and returning it to the participants with couching to lower the risk.

Dr. Andrea Ganna (https://www.dsgelab.org/) is an EMBL-group leader at FIMM and an instructor at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. His research vision is to integrate genetic data and information from electronic health record/national health registries to enhance early detection of common diseases and public health interventions. Dr. Ganna has been recently awarded with an ERC starting grant to study the application of artificial intelligence methods for prediction of cardiovascular diseases.

Qualification and requirements: We are looking for two future research leaders to work in a highly stimulating international environment with an unprecedented amount of health and genetic information from up to 1.7 million individuals.

The first INTERVENE fellow, who will work on the breast cancer clinical pilot, will have clinical or genetic background with statistics/data science/epidemiological skill set and interest in developing tools to help clinicians and clinical geneticist in making genetically informed decisions in their choices for treatment and cancer screening.

The second INTERVENE fellow, who will work on the development of risk prediction tools, will develop and pilot cutting edge approaches for the next generation of genetic tools for disease prevention, diagnosis, and personalized treatment. The candidates should have a background in statistics, machine learning or related data science. The ideal candidate should have experience in developing or applying cutting-edge methods for genetic prediction based on results from genome-wide association studies and sequencing data.

The candidates should hold a Ph.D. or are about to finish the doctorate studies in the field of genetics, statistics, mathematics, computational sciences, (genetic) epidemiology or clinical medicine. The ideal candidate shows scientific independence, has publishing experience, and an aptitude towards developing novel techniques. Together with the PI, he/she is jointly responsible for coordinating projects and supervising PhD students.

Contract & salary:

The job is for a fixed-term of 2-3 years with a possibility of extension. The salary of the position is determined in accordance with the salary system of Finnish universities, and depends on the candidates qualifications. The University of Helsinki offers comprehensive services to its employees, including occupational health care and health insurance, sports facilities, and opportunities for professional development. A trial period of 6 months will be applied.

How to apply:

The application should include cover letter, CV, list of publications, contact information for referees. Documents should be submitted as a single PDF file.

To apply, please submit the application through the University of Helsinki electronic recruitment system by clicking on the "Apply for job" link below. Internal applicants (i.e., current employees of the University of Helsinki) please submit your applications through the SAP HR portal. Please apply no later than March 15, 2021.

For further information about the position, please contact the recruiting PIs: Prof. Samuli Ripatti samuli.ripatti@helsinki.fi); Dr. Andrea Ganna (aganna@broadinstitute.org)

If you need support with the recruitment system, please contact recruitment@helsinki.fi.

Helsinki Institute of Life Science

Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE) is a new institute established in 2017 that supports high quality life science research across the University campuses and faculties. HiLIFE builds on existing strengths and new recruits and partnerships to create an attractive international environment for researchers to solve grand challenges in health, food, and environment. HiLIFE coordinates research infrastructures in life sciences and provides research-based interdisciplinary training.

University of Helsinki

The University of Helsinki (UH), founded in 1640, is a vibrant scientific community of 40,000 students and researchers. It is one of the leading multidisciplinary research universities and ranks among the top 100 international universities in the world. It is currently investing heavily in life sciences research. UH offers comprehensive services to its employees, including occupational health care and health insurance, sports facilities, and opportunities for professional development.

Due date

15.03.2021 23:59 EET

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INTERVENE Fellow in Statistical/ Medical Human Genetics job with UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI | 246627 - Times Higher Education (THE)

According to the State of Oklahomas vaccine rollout plan, college professors and faculty are listed as a lower priority than pre-k through twelfth grade teachers, despite college faculty and staff being collectively older and at a higher risk of exposure due to mandatory in-person learning at colleges like Oklahoma State.

Pre-k through twelfth grade teachers and support staff will be eligible to receive the vaccine in phase two of the State of Oklahomas vaccine rollout plan. Unless university staff and faculty are over the age of 65 or an adult with a compromised immune system, they will not be eligible until phase three.

Jennifer Rudd, a veterinarian on faculty at the College of Veterinary Medicine, says there are factors making university classrooms safer than pre-k through twelfth grade classrooms.

Our students have strict guidelines for masking, distancing, and can better learn virtually than younger kids can, Rudd said. "We also have university support to enforce these guidelines and we meet with students for smaller time frames than my sons kindergarten class would meet.

Additionally, Dr. Rudd said younger people are more likely to have asymptomatic infections so more kids are likely to show up at school with COVID-19. Knowing this, Rudd said she supports prioritizing pre-k through twelfth grade teachers and support staff.

There are 24,649 students at OSU and some professors teach in person while wearing masks and practicing social distancing. Dr. Clint Jones, a regents professor and Sitlington professor of infectious diseases, said he taught an in-person class last semester and is impressed by how aware students are about upholding safety guidelines.

Even though Jones said in his experience students are responsible and should not be expected to only go to class and stay in their rooms. He said the possibility of transmitting the virus is still an issue because of what happens outside of the classroom.

Like it or not, a lot of college kids are going to go to bars, and lets face it, after two or three beers youre probably not thinking about wearing a mask, Jones said.

Jones said he does not understand why university faculty and staff could not be in the same phase as pre-k through twelfth grade teachers and support staff because the risk involved with teaching in person is still present.

While there is still risk involved with holding in-person class, Barry Fuxa, public relations and communications specialist for Stillwater Public Schools, said considering the current supply chain, he understands prioritizing groups.

Like Rudd, Fuxa said it is easier for university staff and faculty to practice social distancing because it's easier to distance themselves from students and hold classes online than it is for pre-k through twelfth grade teachers.

Some educators are ready to get the vaccine. Tera Mitchell, a kindergarten teacher at Westwood Elementary school, said at first, she was uncertain about getting the vaccine because of how fast it was developed. However, after her mom died due to COVID-19 she said will most certainly be getting the vaccine.

I feel it is remarkable that scientists and medical professionals have been able to develop a vaccine in less than two years for distribution to the public, Mitchell said. While I wish that it is something that could be administered rapidly, I have to trust the process and continue doing my part to keep vulnerable populations safe.

There many factors why vaccinations get administered to certain populations before others. Dr. Marianna Patrauchan, a professor in the department of microbiology and molecular genetics, said the distribution of the vaccine is more complex.

Patrauchan said vaccine distribution is largely based on who is the most vulnerable or at risk. However, when distinguishing between campus faculty and staff and pre-k through twelfth grade teachers and staff, it becomes tougher. Not only because there are still things unknown about the virus, and it is difficult to find easily accessible information about how many vaccines have been distributed in a specific area.

news.ed@ocolly.com

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Phased and confused: OSU professors react to being in Phase III of COVID vaccine - Daily O'Collegian