A native of Morocco, Slaoui has developed numerous vaccines and represented both GlaxoSmithKline and Moderna over the years.
The coronavirus vaccine is almost on our doorstep. What few members of the public know is who provided the drive behind this particularly staggering development.
Many people were involved in the development of the vaccine. One leader you may have heard speaking on the news but know little about is Dr. Moncef Slaoui. Integral to getting the vaccine to prevent COVID-19 to us in such a short time, Slaoui is impressive. He is the Chief Science Adviser for Operation Warp Speed, the public-private partnership spearheaded by the American government to bring the coronavirus vaccine to the public faster than has ever been done before. Who is he and what did he accomplish before this? Here is a brief look.
Career
Dr. Slaoui comes highly recommended. The Medicine Maker listed Slaoui in 2018 as one of the World’s Top 100 Medicine Makers and FierceBiotech named him one of the “25 most influential people in biopharma today”. Furthermore, Fortune ranked Slaoui as one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders.
There are good reasons for this. In the corporate world, Dr. Slaoui has acted as chairman of vaccines at a variety of companies. These have included GlaxoSmithKline, the British multinational pharmaceutical company, and Moderna. He has been a director on many notable boards related to vaccine work, and won European approval for the world’s first malaria vaccine in 2015. Not that forwarding a new vaccine is anything new to this guy. At the time, Slaoui had also already developed a cervical cancer vaccine as well as one to fight against streptococcus pneumoniae.
In addition to other work in his field, Slaoui has been a Member of the Board of Directors of International AIDS Vaccines Initiatives, and contributed towards Ebola vaccine research.
Related: COVID-19 and Vitamin D: Why It Matters
Education
Dr. Slaoui has a Ph.D. in molecular biology and immunology from Brussels University, which he obtained in 1983. In 1998, he obtained a masters in business administration from IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland. He has also completed postdoctoral studies at Harvard Medical School and Tufts University of Medicine.
Personal Life
Dr. Slaoui was born and raised in Morocco as one of five children. His father is said to have died while he was still a teenager. Slaoui lost a sibling to pertussis, (whooping cough) in childhood, as well as a brother in adulthood to pancreatic cancer. He has a brother who is a medical specialist in gastroenterology and a sister who is a university professor of French literature in Morocco,
Kristen Belmonte Slaoui, the vice president of Tesaro is his wife. (Tesaro is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company that is part of GlaxoSmithKline). Slaoui has three sons and lives in the Greater Philadelphia area.
Relevant Quote
“I was expecting the vaccines to be 80 to 90 percent efficacious. And I remember that many people questioned that. I’m glad they are 90 percent or 95 percent efficacious. This is what the world needs to control this pandemic. And it also means, and suggests, that the other vaccines that we have in our portfolio — and vaccines that others are working on — are very likely to be very effective. This is apparently a virus that is particularly susceptible to a good immune response, and that’s good news for the world.” -Dr. Slaoui speaking to NPR
photo credits: ASDF_MEDIA/Shutterstock.com
