Based at Emory, the vaccine center will provide a focus for extensive research in immunology and vaccines at the School of Medicine and the Yerkes Primate Research Center. Center scientists also will interact with investigators at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); the School of Public Health; The Carter Center; Medical College of Georgia; the University of Georgia, including the School of Veterinary Medicine; Georgia State University; and many of the growing number of pharmaceutical companies located in Georgia.
Because of the collective strength and experience in these laboratories, the earliest work of the Georgia Vaccine Development Center is expected to focus on development of vaccines against AIDS, tuberculosis, respiratory viruses, and new and emerging bacterial and viral pathogens.
The successful recruitment of Ahmed by Emory "is precisely what I had in mind when we created the eminent scholars program," said Gov. Zell Miller. "It is closely linked to biotechnology programs at two other Georgia universities, and it brings an internationally known research star to the state of Georgia."
President Bill Chace agrees. He said, "As a very young professor and administrator," Chace said, "I saw the influence of Stanford University on the great success story of Silicon Valley. As a new president of Emory University, it is very rewarding for me to see another great success story being played out in Georgia today. We at Emory are grateful to the Georgia Research Alliance and the state of Georgia for supporting our efforts in helping make this state a leader in biotechnology as well as health care. Dr. Ahmed is a resource for us all."
The Georgia Research Alliance Vaccine Scholar Chair is in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, where chairman Richard Compans has developed a strong program in vaccines, especially against AIDS. Charles R. Hatcher Jr., vice president for Health Affairs, said "The Georgia Research Alliance has placed its newest chair in a department already deeply connected with colleagues at the other research universities in Georgia." Hatcher praised Compans' efforts to establish a multi-institutional vaccine center and his understanding of its impact on the health and economy of Georgia. Ahmed will be a full professor in the department.
Ahmed is currently professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the UCLA School of Medicine. He received his bachelor's degree from Osmania University in his hometown of Hyderabad, India. He completed a second bachelor's degree and a master's degree, both in microbiology, at Idaho State University. He was a Ryan Foundation Scholar at Harvard University, where he studied with Bernard Fields. He completed his doctorate in microbiology and molecular genetics in 1981. He spent the next three years as a postdoctoral re-search fellow, then as a faculty member at the Department of Immunology, Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, combining his graduate training in molecular pathogenesis with innovative studies on viral immunity. Since joining the UCLA faculty in 1984, Ahmed has continued his work at the heart of vaccine research on viral persistence and virus-induced immunosuppression and has become recognized as the world's leading expert on T lymphocyte memory resulting from viral infection or vaccination.
This is the second of the prestigious eminent scholar chairs to be filled at Emory. Michael Vannier serves as Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Medical Imaging in the Department of Radiology.
The Georgia Research Alliance Vaccine Research Chair, like each of the 20 GRA chairs established throughout Georgia during the last four years, is funded at $1.5 million, with half the money coming from the state of Georgia through the Georgia Research Alliance and the other half from private gifts to the institution receiving the chair. The Georgia Research Alliance also provided Emory an additional $700,000 for equipment to accompany the new chair in vaccine research.
It's money well-spent, according to Tom Cousins, who is both chairman of the Georgia Research Alliance Board and a member of the Emory Board of Trustees.
"We are building a formidable brain trust in Georgia through the research alliance," said Cousins. "The biotechnology industry undoubtedly will sit up and take notice when it learns that Dr. Rafi Ahmed is coming to Emory, and that this state has a strategic plan to develop world class capabilities in vaccine research."
William H. Foege, fellow for Health Policy at The Carter Center, said "In recent years, immunization has become the cornerstone of international health activities. Dr. Ahmed, in this new position, has the opportunity to strengthen international health and at the same time add to Atlanta's reputation as the `public health capital of the world.'"
Bill Todd, president of the Georgia Research Alliance, called the recruitment of Ahmed "a significant step in the overall strategy for science and technology development in Georgia, as created and managed by the Georgia Research Alliance since its founding in 1990." He described the strategic initiative as a partnership of Georgia's six research universities, the business community and the state of Georgia, with a mission to leverage Georgia's capabilities in research into economic development outcomes. "We are building the technology industry in Georgia, block by block, piece by piece," said Todd.
The new GRA chair also has tremendous significance for academic research, said Jeffrey L. Houpt, dean of the School of Medicine. Houpt said, "The importance of an academic chair is extensive. The chair enables an institution to reach into the disciplines and clearly attract the very best. In this case, Dr. Ahmed's presence brings an enhancement for many disciplines, the collaborating universities and the GRA's commitment to the Georgia Vaccine Development Center."
Finally, Emory administrators and scientists hope that the new Georgia Vaccine Development Center will contribute to another of the GRA's objectives, the spawning of new biotechnology companies based on research results from programs funded by the state. The GRA recently created a venture capital arm, the Alliance Technology Ventures, LP, which invests money from the private sector in programs initiated in academic laboratories sponsored by GRA. Alliance Technology Ventures' first investment was to AtheroGenics Inc., a new company developed by Emory faculty members in cardiology.
--Sylvia Wrobel