Neil Cherian is a highly experienced professional in the field of biosecurity and research and development, currently serving as the Senior Biosecurity and R&D Program Manager at CEPI since January 2018. Prior roles include serving as a Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and an advisor at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Neil's earlier experience includes positions at the European External Action Service and clinical roles at Al Ain Hospital and Abu Dhabi Health Services Company. Educational qualifications encompass degrees in Medicine & Surgery from the International University of the Health Sciences, Health Economics, Policy & Management from the University of Oslo, and Clinical Vaccine Development and Biomanufacturing from the University of Oxford, among others.
CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations)
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CEPI is an innovative partnership between public, private, philanthropic, and civil organisations, launched at Davos in 2017, to develop vaccines against future epidemics. Prior to COVID-19, CEPI’s work focused on developing vaccines against the Ebola Virus Disease, Lassa virus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, Nipah virus, Rift Valley Fever virus and Chikungunya virus. It has over 20 vaccine candidates against these pathogens in development. CEPI has also invested in new platform technologies for rapid vaccine development against unknown pathogens (Disease X). During the COVID-19 pandemic, CEPI initiated multiple programmes to develop vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and its variants with a focus on speed, scale, and access. These programmes leverage the rapid response platforms developed by CEPI’s partners prior to the emergence of COVID-19, as well as new collaborations. The aim is to advance clinical development of a diverse portfolio of safe and effective COVID-19 candidates and to enable fair allocation of these vaccines worldwide through COVAX. CEPI’s 5-year plan lays out a $3.5 billion roadmap to compress vaccine development timelines to 100 days, develop a broadly protective vaccine against COVID-19 and other Betacoronaviruses, and create a “library” of vaccine candidates for use against known and unknown pathogens. The plan is available at www.endpandemics.cepi.net