Michael Callahan, MD recognized for Pioneering Work in Emergency and Pandemic Influenza Vaccine Manufacture

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Michael Callahan, MD, recognized for Pioneering Work in Emergency and Pandemic Influenza Vaccine Manufacture.

CIMIT Bioterrorism project catalyzed vaccine work.

BOSTON - A Harvard Infectious Disease Physician and former CIMIT Program Leader has been recognized by the DoD Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) with their 2008 Achievement Award for his work on emergency and pandemic influenza vaccine manufacture.

Dr Michael Callahan, a tropical and disaster medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston was awarded the 2008 DARPA Achievement Award for his technologic breakthrough in the rapid, large scale manufacture of emergency vaccines and infectious disease countermeasures. Dr. Callahan led the CIMIT Biodefense team’s trailblazing work in international surveillance of avian influenza in Asia and the mass casualty management of SARS, Avian Flu and Marburg disease outbreaks.

“The burden of infectious disease surpasses that of every other healthcare problem, period,” Dr. Callahan remarked.

An expert on avian flu and highly pathogenic diseases, Dr Callahan continues as senior advisor to CIMIT. He is currently the Program Manager responsible for the design, scientific direction and implementation of DARPA's large Accelerated Manufacture of Pharmaceuticals (AMP) Program which has the goal of producing hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine, including pandemic influenza within 12 weeks.

The $100M AMP program was launched in 2005. The AMP Program is the U.S. government's largest investment in a core vaccine platform and the only system specifically designed to produce vaccines within weeks of a catastrophic infectious disease event such as a bioweapon attack, or SARS or pandemic influenza outbreak. The AMP program offers the promise that rapid, effective, low cost vaccine manufacture will soon be possible for mitigating any pathogenic agent, and that the manufacturing platforms themselves may be exported to developing countries to counter public health threats such as influenza, measles, polio, diarrheal illness and possibly HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB.

In making the award, former DARPA Director Anthony Tether stated that "The revolutionary AMP Platforms will resolve Department of Defense public health vulnerabilities by providing a radically reduced low-cost manufacturing system alternative to all current capabilities".

“This is classic example of the power of collaboration to change medicine on a global scale,” said John A. Parrish, MD, Executive Director of CIMIT. Dr. Parrish went on to say “Dr. Callahan is a gifted scientist and passionate physician. His commitment to seeking novel solutions to urgent healthcare problems through technologies and innovative approaches is having a significant impact on patient care. The CIMIT community applauds this well deserved honor.”