Nationality: German
Position: Co-founder & Chair, VaccineSafety Initiative
Research Fields: Pediatric infectious diseases and vaccines, quality improvement and patient centered care, vaccine education, respiratory virus mjanagement and prevention
Short description:
Barbara A. Rath, MD PhD HDR is a board-certified pediatrician and infectious disease specialist with 20+ years’ experience in clinical trials, public health and virology in the US, Latin America and Europe. Dr. Rath is Research Director at the University of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in France and served as honorary professor at the University of Nottingham School of Medicine/ WHO Collaborating Centre for Pandemic Influenza and Research, from 2016-19. Dr. Rath is Executive board Member with the International Society for Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses (ISIRV), and ESGREV, the respiratory virus study group for the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID). She currently serves on the Program Advisory Group for the International Pediatric Association (IPA) Vaccine Trust Project, the Global Immunization Project Advisory Committee at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the Steering Committee for the COVID-19 Research Program at the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).
Dr. Rath is co-founder and chair of the VaccineSafety Initiative (VIVI) an international scientific think tank and non-profit-organization focused on new avenues for the treatment, monitoring, communication and prevention of infectious diseases. VIVI was established as a non-profit research organization in Berlin, Germany in 2011 and as a separate 504(c)(3) in New Orleans, USA in 2015. Members of the VIVI Scientific Think Tank includes experts in risk communication, medical anthropology, virology, global health, clinical trials, population science, bioinformatics and machine learning, data standards, health policy, bioethics, cybersecurity, vaccine delivery, civic tech and regulatory science, supported by a team of young researchers (‘Young VIVI’) from around the World. The Vienna Vaccine Safety Initiative is a founding member of the International Association of Innovation Professionals (IAOIP), the European Forum for Good Clinical Practice (EFGCP), the EU Coalition for Vaccination, and the EU Joint Action for Vaccination (EU-JAV) Stakeholder Forum. VIVI was nominated for the EU Health Award in 2017 and joined the ISARIC network in 2020 to help advance international research toward the prevention and control of COVID-19. ViVI is playing a key role in several EU funded projects/consortia aiming to improve vaccine uptake in difficult to reach populations in Europe, such as: ImmuHubs (Coordinating Entity), RIVER_EU (WP lead), and Immunion (supporting the EU Coalition for Vaccination).
