Professional Staff

The Center employs 10 research nurses. The nurses vaccinate and follow all participants in the vaccine trials. The research nurses are responsible for screening and enrolling participants in the vaccine studies and for follow-up of study volunteers as per protocol design. These individuals are involved in the phlebotomy and physical exams and assessments of all participants as well as the coordination of the scheduling of laboratory specimens and clinic visits. Data collection and accurate record keeping are also responsibilities of the clinical nurse coordinators. Many of the research coordinators are Certified Clinical Research Coordinators (CCRC) and all are Institutional Review Board (IRB) certified in the Protection of Human Research Participants.

The Vaccine Center Laboratory is a CLIA certified laboratory employing several research laboratory technologists in addition to the laboratory supervisors. The Center's laboratory staff performs many types of immunological assays as well as virus isolation and identification, virus characterization assays, bacterial cultures, bactericidal assays, and in vivo and in vitro assays. The experienced staff are responsible for all aspects of the laboratory investigation of the vaccines under consideration including processing, tracking, and shipping samples, performing complex assays, recording the data from the assays, and data analysis. The laboratory technologists are responsible for accurate data collection and record keeping and for following GLP and other regulatory guidelines.