Dr. Jacqueline Marion Katz (born 1958) - ( Dr. Jacqueline Marion Katz (born 1958) was the doctoral advisor for Dr. Rick Arthur Bright (born 1966) )
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Director of the Biomedical Advanced R&D Authority
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Preparedness and Response
In office
November 15, 2016 â April 22, 2020
President
Preceded by
Robin Robinson
Succeeded by
Gary Disbrow
Personal details
Born
Rick Arthur Bright
Hutchinson, Kansas, U.S.
Education
Auburn University, Montgomery (BS)
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
Yerkes National Primate Research Center
Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority
Studies on pathogenicity and control of H5N1 influenza A viruses in mice (2002)
[Dr. Jacqueline Marion Katz (born 1958)]
Other academic advisors
Jeff Barksdale
Rick Arthur Bright is an American immunologist, vaccine researcher, and public health official.[1][2][3] He was the director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) from 2016 to 2020. In May 2020, he filed a whistleblower complaint, alleging that the Trump administration ignored his early warnings about the COVID-19 pandemic and illegally retaliated against him by ousting him from his role[4][5][6] and demoting him to a position at the National Institutes of Health.[6] On October 6, 2020, Bright resigned from the government.[2] On November 9 he was named a member of President-elect Joe Biden's coronavirus advisory board.[7]
Bright was born and raised in Hutchinson, Kansas. In 1984, he graduated from Hutchinson High School.[8]Following two years at the University of Kansas, he received a Bachelor of Science degree with a double major in biology (medical technology) and physical science (chemistry)[9][10] from Auburn University-Montgomery.[11] His undergraduate academic advisor was Jeff Barksdale.[11] He graduated magna cum laude and was a 1996 student initiate of Omicron Delta Kappa. In 2002, he earned a Ph.D. in immunologyand molecular pathogenesis (virology) from the Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine.[12][9] His dissertation was titled Studies on pathogenicity and control of H5N1 influenza A viruses in mice.[11] His doctoral advisor was [Dr. Jacqueline Marion Katz (born 1958)].[11] In 2010, he completed the Advanced Course in Vaccinology (ADVAC) from the Fondation MĂŠrieux and University of Geneva in Annecy, France.[9]
From 1990 to 1992, Bright worked as a product manager in the Research & Development Department of Osborn Laboratories in Olathe, Kansas. From 1994 to 1995, he was a research assistant in the Flow Cytometry Department of the Alabama Reference Lab in Montgomery, Alabama.[9] From 1997 to 2000, he worked at the Emory University Department of Microbiology and Immunology and in the Vaccine Research Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta, Georgia.[9]
From 1998 to 2002, Bright worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, in the Influenza Branch, Immunology and Viral Pathogenesis Section, where he studied Influenza A virus subtype H5N1.[9] From 2002 to 2003, he shifted to working at the pharmaceutical company, Altea Therapeutics (a subsidiary of Nitto Denko) in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was a senior research scientist in their Vaccine and Immunology Programs.[9][13] In 2003, he rejoined the CDC as an immunologist/virologist in their Disease Control and Prevention, Influenza Division, Strain Surveillance Branch in Atlanta, working on their influenza antiviral drug program and focusing on avian influenza. He held that position until 2006.[9][14]
From 2006 to 2008, Bright returned to working in the private sector of the biotechnology industry at Novavax in Maryland, where he was vice president of their global influenza programs as well as of their vaccine research and development. For his work there, he was an adviser to the WHO and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and became the recipient of the prestigious Charles C. Shepard Science Award for Scientific Excellence, jointly awarded by the CDC and the World Health Organization (WHO).[15] During that time, he also participated in WHO committees on vaccine development and pandemic preparedness.[9][13][16][17]
In February 2008, Bright worked at the non-profit PATH on a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant funded project as the director in vaccine manufacturing capacity building in Viet Nam. He was also the scientific director of the influenza vaccine project as well as the global vaccine development program, a position he held until October 2010.[9]
In 2010, Bright joined the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) governmental agency Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). He was the program lead of BARDA International Programs, then in June 2011 became acting chief of the influenza antiviral drug advanced development program, a position he held until December 2011. From June 2011 to December 2015, he was both deputy director and acting director of BARDA's Influenza and Emerging Diseases Division, eventually serving as director of the division from December 2014 to November 2016. From February 2016 to November 2016, he was an incident commander in the ASPR/BARDA Zika Response.[9][18]
On November 15, 2016, after a competitive selection process, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) director Nicki Lurie appointed Bright to the position of director of BARDA.[12][19][20] He succeeded founding director Robin Robinson. In addition to his role as director of BARDA, he was also deputy assistant secretary for Preparedness and Response in the ASPR.[16][21]
In October 29, 2019, two months prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Bright participated in a meeting titled "Universal Flu Vaccine" at the Milken Institute School of Public Health with other government officials, including Anthony Fauci. The meeting discussed a perceived need to "blow up the system" in-order to bypass regulatory control on mRNA vaccines. Participants also discussed the need to create an "aura of excitement" and "make influenza sexy" in order to revive government funding and drive production of mRNA vaccines, which Bright and others considered superior to "traditional egg-based vaccines".[22]
On April 20, 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Bright was reassigned to the National Institutes of Health.[23] An HHS spokesperson said Bright's new role would be to help "accelerate the development and deployment of novel point-of-care testing platforms".[24] Bright challenged his transfer, stating that it was retaliation his insistence that the government address the pandemic by investing the billions of dollars allocated by Congress for that purpose in supplies and "safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit." He said such unproven drugs were being promoted by individuals with political connections and that he resisted these endeavors, which he called "cronyism."[25]
Among these complaints, Bright objected to providing additional federal funding to Ridgeback Biotherapeutics to further develop molnupiravir into a treatment for COVID-19. He argued that although the drug had shown potential against coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2, it had already received substantial government support.[26] Bright also wanted to see more safety data for molnupiravir before final sign-off, due to the fact that some other nucleoside analogue drugs had caused birth defects in animal studies.[26][27]
In his complaint, he asked to be reinstated as director at BARDA, accusing the Trump administration of removing him from his position and demoting him to an NIH post in retaliation for his warnings about the virus and his opposition to off-label use of hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug that was promoted by President Donald Trump and his supporters as a potential miracle drug for COVID-19, but which increased mortality in subjects.[28] Bright characterized his transfer as a retaliatory demotion and asked the HHS Inspector General to investigate it.[28] On October 6 Bright resigned from the federal government.[2]
On November 9, President-elect Joe Biden named Bright to be one of the 13 members of his coronavirus task force.[7][29]
In March 2021 he was hired by the Rockefeller Foundation as Senior Vice President of Pandemic Prevention and Response. His assignment is to "lead the Foundationâs work to collaborate with leading global public health emergency organizations and entities to develop a pandemic prevention institute that aims to avert future pandemics by identifying and responding to the earliest alerts of a disease outbreak and stopping it in the first 100 days."[30]
On May 5, 2020,[31] Bright filed a whistleblower complaint ("Complaint of Prohibited Personnel Practice and Other Prohibited Activity") against the HHS in the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, an independent agency that protects whistleblowers.[2][20][32] The complaint included accompanying exhibits,[33]only some of which have become public.[34] Bright suggested that the administration prioritized "cronyism over science" and that he had been pressured to let politics drive decisions rather than science.[28][35][36][37][38][39]
In his complaint, Bright also noted the dangers in pursuing EIDD-2801 (now marketed under the tradename Molnupiravir), an oral antiviral candidate previously supported by NIAID led by Dr. Anthony Fauci and DOD.[40] Later in May, pharmaceutical giant Merck announced plans to develop the drug.[41][42] In February 2021, Bright co-authored an opinion editorial in the Washington Post claiming "efforts to develop a therapeutics were slow and limited." The editorial stressed the need for orally administered therapeutics and emphasized the need for non-advanced thereapeutic development.[43]
On May 7, 2020, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel determined that there were "reasonable grounds to believe" that the Trump administration's HHS had unlawfully retaliated against Bright, in violation of the Whistleblower Protection Act, "because he made protected disclosures in the best interest of the American public." The office recommended that he be reinstated as head of BARDA while the investigation is undertaken.[32] However, the recommendation was not binding on HHS,[2][32] and he was not reinstated.[2]
In written testimony at a May 14, 2020, hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Health Subcommittee (issued the previous day), Bright warned that "the darkest winter in modern history" could come in 2020 if the country failed to undertake a vigorous response to fight the virus: "Our window of opportunity is closing. If we fail to develop a national coordinated response, based in science, I fear the pandemic will get far worse and be prolonged, causing unprecedented illness and fatalities."[44] He told the subcommittee that "Lives were endangered, and I believe lives were lost" as a result of the administration's failure to heed his earlier warnings.[2] He testified that 12â18 months for vaccine development was only possible if everything went perfectly, and he thought it would take longer.[45] He was represented by attorney Debra Katz in connection with his whistleblower complaint.[2][20][32] Trump dismissed Bright as a "disgruntled employee" in Twitter posts.[2]
On October 6, 2020, Bright submitted what he called his "involuntary resignation" from his final government post, because, as he explained, his superiors had made his work life intolerable. In an addendum to his whistleblower complaint, he stated that, following his demotion, he had been given "no meaningful work" since September 4; that NIH officials had rejected his proposals for a national COVID-19 testing strategy "because of political considerations"; and that officials had ignored his request that he join the $10 billion Operation Warp Speed initiative to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.[2]
Scholia has an author profile for Rick Bright.
Scientific Integrity in the COVID-19 Response. Written Testimony to the House Subcommittee on Health, May 14, 2020
See The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI)
By Lena H. Sun / Text (from Washington Post) - See [HN027F][GDrive]
Mentioned : Dr. Rebecca Lynn Katz (born 1973) / Dr. Rick Arthur -Bright (born 1966) / Jeremy James Farrar (born 1961) /
A global coalition to create new vaccines for emerging infectious diseases launched Wednesday with the ambitious aim of protecting the world from future epidemics.
Announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the initiative has an initial investment of nearly $500 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Britainâs Wellcome Trust and the governments of Japan, Norway and Germany.
The partnership will be called the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, or CEPI. It grew out of the lessons from the worldâs woeful lack of preparedness for the 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa, which killed more than 11,000 people and caused at least $2.2 billion in economic losses in the three hardest-hit countries.
As a result of that and the current Zika epidemic in the Americas, a global consensus has steadily grown among an array of governments, public health leaders, scientists and vaccine industry executives that a new system is needed to guard against future health threats.
Global health experts welcomed the initiative, saying it would complement efforts already underway by the World Health Organization and the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Department of Health and Human Services, which are working on Ebola and Zika vaccines.
The United States is not providing funding for CEPI, but it is offering subject expertise. Officials took part in the planning discussions, and âwhile we are not a formal partner to CEPI, we foresee synergies between our approaches,â BARDA Director [Dr. Rick Arthur -Bright (born 1966)] said in a statement. One such area is development of the most efficient technology for biodefense and infectious disease response, he said.
[Dr. Rebecca Lynn Katz (born 1973)], director of Georgetown Universityâs Center for Global Health Science and Security, expects the new coalition âwill just add much needed resources to a hard problemâ and not detract from other efforts' funding and resources.
CEPI initially plans to target three viruses that have known potential to cause serious epidemics and can be transmitted from animals to humans: MERS, a deadly respiratory virus first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012 that can be spread by camels and now is in 27 countries, including the United States; Lassa fever, an acute viral illness mainly found in West Africa and spread by rats; and [Nipah Virus], a newly emerging infection initially identified in 1999 in Malaysia and Singapore. During a Nipah outbreak there among pig farmers and people with close contact with pigs, nearly 300 people were infected and more than 100 died.
Each virus is among WHO's priority pathogens. Few or no medical countermeasures exist to combat them. The current system for vaccine development is in crisis, health experts say, because itâs a costly, complicated and labor-intensive development process that prioritizes therapeutics with the biggest possible market.
CEPI hopes to develop two vaccine candidates against each of the target diseases. Officials said they did not choose Ebola and Zika vaccine work because considerable research is already underway.
âThe last thing we would like to do is duplicate efforts,â Trevor Mundel, president of the Gates Foundationâs global health division, told reporters during a briefing.
Officials said they have raised $460 million, almost half of their $1 billion target for the first five years. Theyâre now seeking proposals from researchers and companies and expect to announce which will be funded by mid-year. They're also calling for other governments and organizations to help complete fundraising by the end of the year.
The Indian government, one of the coalition founders, is finalizing a financial commitment, according to CEPI.
Several major pharmaceutical companies are providing support in the form of vaccine technology, expertise and guidance. Industry representatives are on the coalitionâs board and scientific advisory committee.
Bill Gates has said his biggest worry is a pathogen, more infectious than Ebola, for which the world is totally unprepared. In a statement Wednesday, Gates said, âThe ability to rapidly develop and deliver vaccines when new âunknownâ diseases emerge offers our best hope to outpace outbreaks, save lives and avert disastrous economic consequences.â
Wellcome Director Jeremy James Farrar (born 1961) was among those who first proposed a global vaccine development fund in mid-2015. CEPIâs initial $1 billion investment goal, he said, pales in comparison to the tens of billions of dollars in costs from epidemics, starting with the 2003 SARS outbreak.
âVaccines can protect us, but weâve done too little to develop them as an insurance policy,â Farrar said.
CEPI's financial contributions so far for its first five years include:
Japan: $125 million
Norway: about $120 million
Germany: about $10.6 million in 2017 with more funding to come
Wellcome Trust: $100 million
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: $100 million
PDF : [HG00FD][GDrive] / Newspaper article : https://www.newspapers.com/image/658726901/?terms=famotidine%20covid&match=1
See : Dr. Rick Arthur Bright (born 1966) /
SEE BELOW for full text ...
https://www.c-span.org/video/?524819-1/coronavirus-subcommittee-hearing-preparing-health-emergency
DECEMBER 14, 2022
Coronavirus Subcommittee Hearing on Preparing for the Next Health Emergency
The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis held a hearing on preparing for and preventing public health emergencies, and lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials who worked during the early years of the pandemic testified about successes, such as how decades-long government investments in mRNA vaccine technology paid off, and what needs improvement, such as decreasing racial disparities in public health. Also, some members called for the government to do a better job of investigating the origins of COVID-19. close
Rick Bright
Director (Former)
Department of Health and Human Services->Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority
James "Jim" Clyburn
U.S. Representative
[D] South Carolina
Kizzmekia Corbett
Scientific Lead (Former)
National Institutes of Health->COVID-19 Vaccine Program
Rebecca Dixon
Executive Director
National Employment Law Project
Ngozi Ezike M.D.
Director (Former)
Illinois->Department of Public Health
Bill Foster
U.S. Representative
[D] Illinois
Brett Giroir M.D.
Assistant Secretary (Former)
Department of Health and Human Services->Health
Mark Green M.D.
U.S. Representative
[R] Tennessee
Jim Jordan
U.S. Representative
[R] Ohio
Raja Krishnamoorthi
U.S. Representative
[D] Illinois
Nicole Malliotakis
U.S. Representative
[R] New York
Carolyn Maloney
U.S. Representative
[D] New York
Mariannette Jane Miller-Meeks M.D.
U.S. Representative
[R] Iowa
Jamie Raskin
U.S. Representative
[D] Maryland
Steve Scalise
U.S. Representative
[R] Louisiana
Nydia M. VelĂĄzquez
U.S. Representative
[D] New York
Maxine Waters
U.S. Representative
[D] California
2022-12-14-youtube-select-subcommittee-on-the-cv-crisis-prep-next-emergency-lessons-hearing.mp4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10I3hQUf3oI
Preparing for and Preventing the Next Public Health Emergency: Lessons Learned from the Coronavirus
Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis
934 subscribers
Bright : 17:05 - 22:05
1) Using the one million deaths from COVID
2) GENOMICS
3) MAKE AT HOME
4) WE MUST USE THE MOMENTIUM OF THE CRISIS (SOUNDS LIKE SINA BAVARI, EH? )
18:15
cobit however the early response was chaotic and Reckless filled with denials
18:21
delays and deceptions from government leaders and others entrusted to protect
18:26
Americans and politics prevailed over science our long underfunded Health Care
18:32
System buckled and we lost hold on two essential components of a response speed
18:37
and trust and sadly this led to many unnecessary deaths
18:42
fortunately we did some things well Decades of public investment into technology platforms support from
18:49
Congress and dedication of government and private sector scientists enabled rapid development of vaccines through
18:55
operation warp speed unexpected Partnerships formed unleashing The Floodgate Of solutions that will serve
19:01
us for decades to come the overall pandemic response warrants careful review in addition to recent
19:09
reports Congress should authorize a nonpartisan commission to scrutinize and memorialize the details
19:15
the covid-19 pandemic is not over infections hospitalizations and deaths
19:20
are increasing dramatically especially among older adults the unvaccinated and
19:25
those who have not had their recent vaccine booster instead of declaring Victory we need to
19:31
intensify efforts this winter to save more lives we must get more people fully vaccinated with covet and
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flu provide clear guidance on testing wearing a high quality mask and staying
19:43
home when sick improve indoor air quality through proper ventilation and filtration continue robust testing and
19:50
genomic surveillance and we must ensure that all vaccines drugs tests and masks
19:56
are available accessible and free for all Americans cobit will not be our last Public Health
20:02
crisis we must learn from the past and prepare for the future the path ahead should include passing and funding
20:10
proactive legislation such as the prevent pandemics Act and the federal government cannot do
20:16
this alone it's important to align federal state and local efforts with the private sector and Global Partners
20:24
despite many challenges I remain optimistic I'm confident that science will enable a
20:30
healthier safer and more Equitable future with scientific advancements from the pandemic we can now make Next
20:37
Generation vaccines to reach more people and provide broader protection develop new drugs for combination therapy and
20:44
host targeted treatments that strengthen our immunity to fight multiple pathogens create more diagnostics for home use to
20:52
bring the power of Health monitoring into our daily routines and detect infections earlier to guide treatment
20:58
and reduce the risk of infecting others and we can build a modern data infrastructure that strengthens and
21:04
connects our Health Care Systems and modern genomics we can now see early signals of an outbreak weeks or months
21:12
before it strikes to be able to fight it head-on instead of chasing after it and
21:17
we can produce vaccines and medicines locally to improve access and quality
and Nationwide and worldwide to studying coronaviruses but had it been something
48:24
else we probably may we may not have been as lucky and so what we need to do
48:30
is we need to identify those potential pandemic threats we need to be strategic
48:35
about providing funding in multiple different directions whether it be surveillance vaccine Technologies therapies organizations of
48:42
infrastructure we need to join join together with low-income countries to
48:47
build up their infrastructures as well so that we can prevent the spread of those threats shall they start in other
48:53
countries before they get to the United States and we need to do this in a way that is expeditious and in a way that is
PDF : [HG00FD][GDrive] / Newspaper article : https://www.newspapers.com/image/658726901/?terms=famotidine%20covid&match=1
Introduction
II. Since 2017, Dr. Bright Has Objected to HHS Leadershipâs Cronyism and Award of Contracts to Companies with Political Connections to the Administration.
III. With the Emergence of COVID-19, Dr. Bright pushed BARDA to innovate quickly, but within the bounds of the scientific review process.
IV. HHSâs involuntary transfer of Dr. Right violated the Whistleblower Protection Act.