Preparing for the Pandemic We Haven't Seen Yet w/ Dr. Dan Barouch & Kris Brown, Vector Sciences
Episode Description
The COVID-19 pandemic proved vaccine platforms can move at unprecedented speed. It also revealed how dangerously narrow the world's response really was, built almost entirely on a single technology.
Dr. Dan Barouch and Kris Brown, Co-Founders of Vector Sciences, join host David E. Williams to discuss why durable pandemic preparedness depends on having multiple vaccine platforms rather than just one, how their Rheovax platform uses mucosal immunity delivered through the nose to block transmission rather than just prevent severe disease, and why public trust in vaccines depends on being honest about what each technology can and cannot actually do.
🎙️⚕️ABOUT DR. DAN BAROUCH
Dan Barouch received his Ph.D. in immunology from Oxford University and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He is currently the William Bosworth Castle Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and a member of the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard. His laboratory focuses on studying the immunology and pathogenesis of viral infections and developing novel vaccine and treatment strategies. His group has led the development of vaccine candidates for HIV-1, Zika, SARS-CoV-2, tuberculosis, and influenza. His work contributed to the development of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and the evaluation of multiple COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics. He was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (2009), Association of American Physicians (2013), and National Academy of Medicine (2020), and he received the King Faisal Prize in Medicine (2023).
🎙️⚕️ABOUT KRISTOPHER BROWN
Kristopher Brown is an active angel investor and entrepreneur who has founded several companies, including Vector Sciences, Inc., and has been the first or second angel investor in over 90 companies over the past 25 years, including Skype, Blockchain, and Compass, as well as a limited partner in a dozen earlier stage venture capital funds spanning life sciences, fintech, media, and digital healthcare. He is also a senior law partner in the Life Sciences & Technology Practice Group at Goodwin Procter LLP, where he has practiced for nearly 35 years and advised on more than 250 transactions in the life sciences sector, including mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, public offerings, licensing transactions, and the formation of investment partnerships and strategic alliances. He holds a degree in Mathematics and Economics from Brown University and a JD from Boston University School of Law, where he served as Executive Editor of the BU Law Review.
🎙️⚕️ABOUT VECTOR SCIENCES
Vector Sciences is a next-generation vaccine platform company focused on developing durable, scalable, and potentially transmission-blocking vaccines using its proprietary RheoVax rhesus adenovirus platform. Founded by leading virologists including Dr. Dan Barouch of Harvard’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the company is advancing novel mucosal and intranasal vaccine approaches designed to generate strong local and systemic immunity while potentially improving ease of deployment, reducing cold-chain dependence, and lowering manufacturing complexity. Vector Sciences’ platform is being explored across multiple infectious disease applications, with the broader goal of creating safer, more effective, and more globally deployable vaccines for future pandemic and biodefense preparedness.
Learn more about Vector Sciences here.
🎙️⚕️ABOUT CARETALK
CareTalk is a weekly podcast that provides an incisive, no B.S. view of the US healthcare industry. Join co-hosts John Driscoll (President U.S. Healthcare and EVP, Walgreens Boots Alliance) and David Williams (President, Health Business Group) as they debate the latest in US healthcare news, business and policy.
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