Senior Leadership Team
Vaxcyte’s team of preeminent vaccinologists and vaccine developers is led by biotech and pharma industry veterans who bring decades of experience and a track record of success developing commercially successful healthcare products.
Grant Pickering, MBA
Chief Executive Officer, Director and Co-Founder
Grant Pickering, MBA
Chief Executive Officer, Director and Co-Founder
Grant is a seasoned pharmaceutical and biotech executive with over 30 years of experience across vaccines and immunotherapeutic drug development and commercialization, as well as the successful formation and financing of multiple platform companies. Prior to founding Vaxcyte in 2013, Grant served as the CEO of Mymetics Corporation, a European-based vaccine company developing a prophylactic RSV vaccine based on a virosomal platform technology. Previously, he was an executive-in-residence at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, while also serving as the CEO at Juvaris BioTherapeutics. Under his leadership, Juvaris’ immunotherapeutic and vaccine adjuvant platform yielded multiple animal health products, launched by its alliance partner Bayer HealthCare, including Zelnate® and Victrio®.
Prior to Juvaris, Grant spent a number of years at Dendreon Corporation, playing a prominent role in the company’s IPO and run-up to commercialization. During his tenure, he led Dendreon’s clinical development, operations, manufacturing, business development and project management functions, culminating in the launch of the therapeutic prostate cancer vaccine, Provenge®. He also led marketing and business development for the pain management platform company, Algos Pharmaceutical Corporation, which was acquired by Endo Pharmaceuticals. Grant began his career at Glaxo and Johnson & Johnson in sales, marketing, and clinical research roles.
Grant currently serves on the board of directors of Athira Pharma, Inc. He earned his BS degree in marketing from The Pennsylvania State University and his MBA from Georgetown University with high honors.
Jim Wassil, MS, MBA
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Jim Wassil, MS, MBA
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Jim brings over three decades of extensive experience developing and commercializing vaccines intended to treat or prevent diseases that impact children and adults around the world. During this time, he held significant leadership positions in the vaccine divisions of Pfizer, Novartis and Merck. Prior to joining Vaxcyte, Jim served as the business unit lead for Pfizer Vaccines with a span of responsibility across market access, policy, pricing, tender negotiations, epidemiology and health outcomes for the entire portfolio, including the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine franchise (Prevnar 13®). Jim was also a long-tenured leader at Novartis where he led the development and launch of Menveo, a meningococcal conjugate vaccine; Bexsero®, a meningitis B vaccine; and the meningococcal ABCWY vaccine candidate. Previously, he led international marketing for the pediatric vaccine franchise at Merck Vaccines where he launched RotaTeq®, a vaccine for rotavirus gastroenteritis in infants, and held other technical and operational roles of increasing responsibility within research, manufacturing, quality, regulatory and technology transfer.
Jim earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry/biology, with high honors, from the University of Notre Dame. He went on to get a Master of Science degree in bio-organic chemistry and a Master of Business Administration degree from Lehigh University. In 2014, James received the VIVA Award as Novartis’ top scientist in 2014 for development and approval of Bexsero®. He also was an ACE Finalist (Secretary of State Award for Corporate Excellence) for his role in conducting an effectiveness study of RotaTeq in Nicaragua.
Andrew Guggenhime, MBA
President and Chief Financial Officer
Andrew Guggenhime, MBA
President and Chief Financial Officer
Andrew’s 30-year career spans the biotech and financial services industries, with broad leadership expertise across strategy, finance, operations, investor relations and corporate development. He also brings significant capital markets and business development transaction experience. Prior to joining Vaxcyte in May 2020, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Dermira, Inc. through its acquisition by Eli Lilly and Company. During his tenure at Dermira, Andrew successfully led a series of private, public and alternative financings and helped scale the company, including through its initial public offering and pivotal transition into a commercial-stage organization. Previously, Andrew served as Chief Financial Officer at several fast-growing biotech companies, including Calistoga Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which was acquired by Gilead Sciences, Inc., and Facet Biotech Corporation, which was acquired by Abbott Laboratories.
Earlier in his career, Andrew served as Chief Financial Officer of PDL BioPharma, Inc. until Facet Biotech was spun off from PDL BioPharma. Prior to joining PDL BioPharma, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Neoforma, Inc., which was acquired by Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC. Andrew began his career in financial services at Merrill Lynch & Co. and Wells Fargo & Company.
Andrew serves as the Board Chair of Caribou Biosciences, Inc. and is a member of the board of directors of Metacrine, Inc. He earned his BA in international politics and economics from Middlebury College and his MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
Nathan Cracraft
Senior Vice President, IT and Facilities
Nathan Cracraft
Senior Vice President, IT and Facilities
Nathan has spent more than 25 years dedicated to IT predominately within the life sciences industry. He brings significant technology leadership expertise focused on building scalable and compliant IT strategies, blueprints, solutions and operational organizations. Additionally, in recent years, Nathan has broadened his responsibilities to include facilities planning and management.
Prior to joining Vaxcyte, Nathan served as the Vice President of IT and Facilities of Dermira, Inc. through its acquisition by Eli Lilly and Company. In this role, he helped scale the company’s IT technology infrastructure and support operations ahead of a successful commercial product launch. Previously, Nathan held technology leadership roles at Gilead Sciences, Inc., Johnson and Johnson and Ernst and Young. Nathan received his BS from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
Harp Dhaliwal, MBA
Senior Vice President, Commercial Manufacturing & Supply Chain
Harp Dhaliwal, MBA
Senior Vice President, Commercial Manufacturing & Supply Chain
Mr. Dhaliwal has 25 years of experience in engineering, operations strategy, manufacturing and supply chain, with significant expertise in the healthcare industry. During his career, he has led commercial manufacturing and supply chain for multiple products. Most recently, Mr. Dhaliwal served as Senior Vice President of Supply Chain, Manufacturing and Procurement at Dermira and transitioned to Eli Lilly following the company’s acquisition. In this role, he supported Dermira’s first product launch and successfully transitioned the cGMP manufacturing network from clinical to commercial. Previously, Mr. Dhaliwal was the Head of Manufacturing and Supply Chain at Medivation, an oncology-focused company. Following Pfizer’s acquisition of Medivation, Mr. Dhaliwal led the operations integration. Previously, Mr. Dhaliwal had a long career at Biogen where he ultimately served as Biogen’s Chief Procurement Officer, responsible for managing $3 billion of enterprise-wide spend. While at Biogen, he was also instrumental in transforming the manufacturing network, initiating the biosimilar business and other strategic initiatives.
Mr. Dhaliwal has an MBA in Science and Technology from Queen's University and a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from the University of British Columbia.
Mikhail Eydelman, JD
Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer & Corporate Secretary
Mikhail Eydelman, JD
Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer & Corporate Secretary
Mikhail is an accomplished legal executive who brings over 15 years of legal experience in multiple areas, including commercial agreements and partnerships, securities matters, business development, litigation, healthcare compliance and product launches. Most recently, Mikhail served as the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Sagent Pharmaceuticals, a commercial-stage pharmaceutical company, where he built the legal team and drove value across the organization. Previously, he was Assistant General Counsel for Integrated DNA Technologies, a supplier of nucleic acids acquired by Danaher Corporation, where he led the international legal function and supported the company’s strategic initiatives. Mikhail also held legal roles of increasing responsibility at Akorn, a publicly traded commercial-stage pharmaceutical company, where he supported overall business growth as the company quadrupled in size. Prior to that, he practiced law at the international law firms of Latham & Watkins, Allen & Overy and Bryan Cave. Mikhail earned his BA in Economics from Brandeis University and JD from New York University School of Law.
Jeff Fairman, PhD
Vice President of Research and Co-Founder
Jeff Fairman, PhD
Vice President of Research and Co-Founder
Jeff has over 25 years of experience in the biotech arena and has led research at several platform companies that delivered multiple clinical candidates as well as approved vaccines and immunotherapeutics. Prior to Vaxcyte, Jeff was the founder and Vice President of Research at Juvaris BioTherapeutics where he advanced the immunotherapeutic and vaccine adjuvant platform to yield multiple animal health products, including Zelnate® and Victrio®, that were ultimately launched by Bayer HealthCare. While at Juvaris, Jeff was the recipient of major grant funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute to support substantial preclinical programs and multiple clinical studies. He was also responsible for research activities that resulted in a number of clinical candidates and approved animal health products. Prior to Juvaris, Jeff was the Director of Pharmacogenomics at Clingenix and Senior Scientist at Valentis. He has a PhD in Chemistry and completed his postdoctoral training in the genetics of leukemia at MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Janet Graesser
Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications & Investor Relations
Janet Graesser
Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications & Investor Relations
Janet brings over 20 years of healthcare communications experience across a variety of areas, including corporate communications and strategy, public relations and organizational communications. Prior to joining Vaxcyte, she established her own consulting practice that successfully supported integrated communications for both large and small biotech companies. Previously, she held an operating role at Johnson & Johnson (J&J) with responsibility for global internal and external communications across seven J&J medical device companies, including Cordis. Janet remained with Cordis following its acquisition by Cardinal Health, serving as the Vice President of Global Communications and Strategy Implementation. Janet also dedicated 13 years of her career working at leading healthcare communications firms, ultimately serving as an Executive Vice President, delivering communications strategy and implementation to biotech, pharmaceutical and consumer health companies, including Amgen, GSK, J&J, Pfizer and Merck.
In her early career, Janet followed her interest in public policy and government by working at the California State Capitol, on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. and on political campaigns. Janet earned her BA in communications, with an emphasis in print journalism, and a minor in political science from Santa Clara University.
Sam Iki
Senior Vice President, Project Management
Sam Iki
Senior Vice President, Project Management
Whitney Jones
Chief People Officer
Whitney Jones
Chief People Officer
Whitney is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of experience spanning biotech, healthcare diagnostics, financial technology and retail with extensive expertise in human resources strategy and operations. Most recently, Whitney served as Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer at Sangamo Therapeutics, where she oversaw people and culture, talent and acquisition, learning and development and human resources operations. Prior to joining Sangamo in 2020, Whitney was the Chief People Officer at LendingClub, a marketplace lending company, where she was responsible for all aspects of the Company’s people strategy. Earlier in her career, Whitney served as the Global Head of Human Resources at Novartis Diagnostics and from 2000-2013 held roles of increasing responsibility in human resources at Gap, Inc. Whitney earned her Bachelor of Arts in History with a minor in French from the University of Vermont.
Paul W Sauer, MBA
Senior Vice President, Development and Manufacturing
Paul W Sauer, MBA
Senior Vice President, Development and Manufacturing
Paul has over 30 years of experience industrializing biologics for numerous biotechnology companies. Prior to joining Vaxcyte, Paul was VP of Process Sciences & Manufacturing at Igenica Biotherapeutics, where he initiated the company’s development activities and built its supply chain network for GMP manufacturing of its antibody drug conjugates. Prior to that, Paul was Senior Director of Process Development at OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, where he contributed to multiple IND filings for the company’s antibody-based oncology therapies. He also held various process, engineering, scale-up, and manufacturing positions at Protein Design Labs, Scios, and Genentech. Through the years, Paul has contributed to numerous approved biologics, including Genentech’s Activase® and Pulmozyme®. He also contributed significantly to the development of the patented high-yield process that formed the basis for production of Abbvie and Biogen’s ZinbrytaTM, a humanized antibody approved for the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis. Paul earned an MBA at Santa Clara University and a BS in Genetics from the University of California, Davis.
Mark Wiggins, MBA
Chief Business Officer
Mark Wiggins, MBA
Chief Business Officer
Mark has over three decades of corporate and business development experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, having served as the head of corporate development at multiple biopharma companies, including Biogen-Idec, Idec Pharmaceuticals and most recently as Chief Business Officer at TRACON Pharmaceuticals. In his role at TRACON, Mark in-licensed multiple clinical-stage products, while also leading legal strategy and commercial launches. Previously, during his six-year tenure at Biogen-Idec, Mark served as the Executive Vice President of Corporate and Business Development leading the licensure of several billion-dollar products as well as key acquisitions.
Earlier in his career, he was Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Idec Pharmaceuticals where he negotiated an alliance with Genentech, led marketing of the blockbuster drug Rituxan, launched Zevalin and out-licensed ex-US Zevalin rights. Mark began his career working with several prominent pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson. He eventually moved to Schering-Plough (now Merck) for ten years where he was Head of U.S. Business Development. He earned his B.S. degree in finance from Syracuse University and an M.B.A. from the University of Arizona.
Board of Directors
Carlos Paya, MD, PhD
Former CEO and President, Immune Design Corp Chairman, Vaxcyte
Carlos Paya, MD, PhD
Former CEO and President, Immune Design Corp Chairman, Vaxcyte
Dr. Paya’s esteemed career spans over 30 years as a leading physician-scientist in immunology and a senior executive in the biopharmaceutical industry. He has broad leadership expertise in R&D, commercial readiness and product launches. Dr. Paya currently holds a number of board positions and serves as the Board Chairman for Highlight Therapeutics. Most recently, Dr. Paya served as the CEO and President of Immune Design Corp., as they advanced their dual platforms focused on vaccine adjuvants and cancer immunotherapies, culminating in the company’s acquisition by Merck. Previously, he was the President of Elan Pharmaceuticals responsible for the Biopharmaceutical unit focused on neuroscience. In this role, he partnered with Biogen Idec to support the global marketing and sales strategy for Tysabri®. Dr. Paya spent a number of years at Eli Lilly in roles of increasing responsibility, including Global Head for the Diabetes and Endocrine Franchise. He started his career in academics as a Professor of Medicine, Immunology and Pathology at the Mayo Medical School. During his tenure at the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Paya served at the Vice Dean for the Clinical Investigation Program. Dr. Paya has a MD and PhD from Complutense University of Madrid.
Annie Drapeau
Former Chief People Officer, Toast
Annie Drapeau
Former Chief People Officer, Toast
Ms. Drapeau’s esteemed career spans 25 years in human resources, strategy and finance, and she was most recently the Chief People Officer at Toast, the end-to-end platform built for restaurants. Previously Ms. Drapeau was the Chief People Officer at Moderna, helping to scale the business as it expanded into multiple clinical-stage programs across a range of modalities. Ms. Drapeau also served as an Operating Partner at Bain Capital, helping to drive talent strategies across the private equity portfolio. Additionally, she served as Chief People Officer at Iron Mountain, VistaPrint and Digitas, and started her career in finance roles at JP Morgan and PepsiCo. Ms. Drapeau has written about leadership and building trust in organizations, including co-authoring the book The Trusted Leader. She serves on the board of directors for Vaxcyte, since September 2021, and the Posse Foundation. Ms. Drapeau has a BS in chemical engineering from Bucknell University, where she serves on the Board of Trustees, and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
John Furey
Chief Executive Officer, Imvax
John Furey
Chief Executive Officer, Imvax
Mr. Furey is currently Chief Executive Officer of Imvax, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel immunotherapies for cancer. He brings over 30 years of biopharmaceutical experience developing and implementing operational strategies and leading commercial and technical teams, including senior leadership roles in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Mr. Furey was previously Chief Operating Officer of Spark Therapeutics where he led the successful U.S. launch of LUXTURNA™, the first FDA-approved gene therapy for a genetic disease, and contributed to the build-out of Spark Therapeutics as a fully integrated company. Mr. Furey also served as Senior Vice President and Head of Global Operations at Baxalta, where he led the team that successfully established the company through a spin-out from Baxter, directed manufacturing and supply chain, and delivered significant growth of the Baxter Vaccine inline business. Prior to Baxter, he spent several years at Pfizer in roles of increasing scope and responsibility, including as General Manager of the vaccine business unit in China and a leadership role overseeing Pfizer Vaccines’ global pricing and reimbursement. Earlier in his career, Mr. Furey held both commercial and operations positions at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals (prior to Pfizer’s acquisition of Wyeth), including serving as Project Director of the Grange Castle Biopharmaceutical Campus where Prevnar is manufactured. He serves on the Board of Directors of Vaxcyte, since 2024, Adaptimmune and Sensorion. Mr. Furey earned an executive Master of Business Administration from Saint Joseph’s University, a Bachelor of Science degree from Trinity College, Dublin, and a Diploma in Environmental Health from the Technological University, Dublin.
Halley Gilbert, JD
Chief Legal Officer, CARGO Therapeutics
Halley Gilbert, JD
Chief Legal Officer, CARGO Therapeutics
Ms. Gilbert is currently the Chief Legal Officer of CARGO Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company positioned to advance next-generation, potentially curative cell therapies for cancer patients. She brings to the role over 20 years of biotechnology industry management and operations expertise, including launching new medicines. Most recently, Ms. Gilbert served as the Chief Legal Officer of NeoGenomics, Inc., a premier cancer diagnostic, pharma services and informatics company. Prior to NeoGenomics, she served as the Chief Operating Officer of Adagio Therapeutics, Inc., (now Invivyd, Inc.), a company focused on developing broadly neutralizing antibodies for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 and future coronavirus outbreaks. In just over one year as an operating company, her contributions supported the seamless transition of Adagio to public company status, significant financings, advancing the pipeline and building the team. Previously, Ms. Gilbert spent 12 years in various roles of increasing scope and responsibility at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc., including Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Chief Administrative Officer with oversight of corporate and business development, legal, compliance and government affairs. Prior to joining Ironwood, she was Vice President, Deputy General Counsel at Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and participated in the launch of Cubist’s blockbuster antibiotic. Ms. Gilbert also served as a corporate counsel at Genzyme Corp., prior to its acquisition by Sanofi. She began her career at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, where she specialized in mergers and acquisitions and securities law. Ms. Gilbert currently serves on the boards of directors of Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc., CytomX Therapeutics, Inc. and Vaxcyte, Inc. (since April 2020). Ms. Gilbert holds a BA from Tufts University and a JD from Northwestern University School of Law.
Peter Hirth, PhD
Former Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Plexxikon, Inc.
Peter Hirth, PhD
Former Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Plexxikon, Inc.
Dr. Hirth co-founded and led Plexxikon, Inc. as its CEO as it built a novel, structure-guided drug discovery platform that advanced several new chemical entities into the clinic, including Zelboraf, which was FDA approved and led to the company’s 2011 acquisition by Daiichi Sankyo for $935 million. Prior to Plexxikon, Dr. Hirth was President of SUGEN, Inc., where he was instrumental in building the company from its inception as well as advancing several kinase inhibitors through clinical trials, including Sutent, which was FDA approved and led to the company’s 1999 acquisition by Pharmacia & Upjohn, Inc. for $728 million. Prior to SUGEN, Dr. Hirth was Vice President of Research at Boehringer Mannheim where he successfully led the company’s erythropoietin program to approval in 1989, which was sold under the name Recormon. Before moving into industry, Dr. Hirth was a research scientist with the Max Planck Institute following his post-doctoral work at University of California, San Diego and obtaining his PhD in molecular genetics from Heidelberg University, Germany.
Jacks Lee
Former Senior Vice President of Global Manufacturing and Supply, Merck & Co., Inc.
Jacks Lee
Former Senior Vice President of Global Manufacturing and Supply, Merck & Co., Inc.
Mr. Lee’s distinguished career in the biopharmaceutical industry includes more than 30 years of experience having led global strategic supply and manufacturing operations at leading multi-national pharmaceutical companies, with a significant focus on vaccines and biopharmaceuticals. His experience spans technical, operational and strategic leadership roles in engineering, quality, supply chain and manufacturing. Most recently, Mr. Lee was Senior Vice President of Global Manufacturing and Supply at Merck & Co., Inc., with responsibility for the division that manufactures and supplies vaccines and biologics globally. Previously, during his nearly 20-year tenure at Sanofi, Mr. Lee held various leadership positions, including Head of Manufacturing Vaccines and Biologics Operations. Mr. Lee earned his Master of Science in Industrial Management from the University of Central Missouri and his Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Mr. Lee also serves on the Board of Directors of G1 Therapeutics, Inc.
Teri Loxam
Chief Financial Officer, Compass Pathways
Teri Loxam
Chief Financial Officer, Compass Pathways
Ms. Loxam is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Compass Pathways, a company dedicated to accelerating patient access to evidence-based innovation in mental health. With over 25 years of diverse experience across investor relations, strategy, communications and finance, Ms. Loxam was previously the Chief Financial Officer of Gameto where she played a pivotal role in negotiating multiple licensing agreements and helping to develop the regulatory and commercial strategy for their lead product. Ms. Loxam also served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Kira Pharmaceuticals, where she advanced their lead asset into Phase 2 and grew the company’s pipeline. As Chief Financial Officer of SQZ Biotech, Ms. Loxam led the company to a successful IPO and raised over $200 million in the first 18 months in her role. Before joining SQZ Biotechnologies, Ms. Loxam served as Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Global Communications at Merck where she helped establish the company’s leadership in immuno-oncology with the investment community along with leading internal and external communications efforts globally, which included Merck’s portfolio of therapeutics and vaccines. Ms. Loxam also spent over a decade at Bristol-Myers Squibb in a variety of roles of increasing responsibility across strategy, treasury and investor relations and served as Vice President of Investor Relations at IMAX, an entertainment technology company. Ms. Loxam serves as a member of the board of directors of Vaxcyte, Inc., since September 2021, and Cardiol Therapeutics. She has a BS in Biology from the University of Victoria, BC Canada and an MBA from the University of California, Irvine.
Heath Lukatch, PhD
Founder and Managing Partner, Red Tree Venture Capital
Heath Lukatch, PhD
Founder and Managing Partner, Red Tree Venture Capital
Dr. Lukatch is Founder and Managing Partner of Red Tree Venture Capital, a life sciences venture capital firm. From 2015 to 2020, Dr. Lukatch worked at TPG where he was Partner, Managing Director and Life Sciences Investment Team Leader in TPG’s Biotech, Growth and RISE platforms. In 2006, Dr. Lukatch co-founded Novo Ventures’ San Francisco office, where he was a Partner through 2015. Prior to joining Novo Ventures, Dr. Lukatch was a Managing Director responsible for biotechnology venture investments at Piper Jaffray Ventures and SightLine Partners. Dr. Lukatch currently serves as chairman of Acrigen Biosciences and Magnus Medical. He also serves as a member on several boards, including Vaxcyte, since May 2018, Bicara Therapeutics, Engrail Therapeutics, Excellergy Therapeutics and is a board observer at Ceribell. Previously, Dr. Lukatch was chairman of Cianna Medical (acquired by Merit Medical), Engage Therapeutics (acquired by UCB), Inogen (INGN), Satsuma Pharmaceuticals (STSA), and Spinifex (acquired by Novartis), and served on multiple life sciences company boards, including Amira (acquired by BMS), AnaptysBio (ANAB), Cargo Therapeutics (CRGO), Ceribell, Elevation Pharma (acquired by Sunovion), Flexion (FLXN, then acquired by Pacira), FoldRx (acquired by Pfizer), InSound Medical (acquired by Sonova), Synosia Therapeutics (acquired by BioTie) and ViaCyte (acquired by Vertex). Dr. Lukatch was also a board observer at Alios BioPharma (acquired by J&J), Dynavax (DVAX), Fluidigm (FLDM) and SI-Bone (SIBN). Prior to becoming an investor, Dr. Lukatch worked as a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company and was co‐founder and CEO of AutoMate Scientific, a biotechnology instrumentation company. In addition, he was a bench scientist at Chiron, Roche Bioscience and Cetus, doing molecular biology, electrophysiology and protein chemistry, respectively. Dr. Lukatch received his PhD in Neuroscience from Stanford University where he was a DOD USAF Fellow, and his BA with high honors in Biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley.
Grant Pickering, MBA
Chief Executive Officer, Director and Co-Founder
Grant Pickering, MBA
Chief Executive Officer, Director and Co-Founder
Grant is a seasoned pharmaceutical and biotech executive with over 30 years of experience across vaccines and immunotherapeutic drug development and commercialization, as well as the successful formation and financing of multiple platform companies. Prior to founding Vaxcyte in 2013, Grant served as the CEO of Mymetics Corporation, a European-based vaccine company developing a prophylactic RSV vaccine based on a virosomal platform technology. Previously, he was an executive-in-residence at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, while also serving as the CEO at Juvaris BioTherapeutics. Under his leadership, Juvaris’ immunotherapeutic and vaccine adjuvant platform yielded multiple animal health products, launched by its alliance partner Bayer HealthCare, including Zelnate® and Victrio®.
Prior to Juvaris, Grant spent a number of years at Dendreon Corporation, playing a prominent role in the company’s IPO and run-up to commercialization. During his tenure, he led Dendreon’s clinical development, operations, manufacturing, business development and project management functions, culminating in the launch of the therapeutic prostate cancer vaccine, Provenge®. He also led marketing and business development for the pain management platform company, Algos Pharmaceutical Corporation, which was acquired by Endo Pharmaceuticals. Grant began his career at Glaxo and Johnson & Johnson in sales, marketing, and clinical research roles.
Grant currently serves on the board of directors of Athira Pharma, Inc. He earned his BS degree in marketing from The Pennsylvania State University and his MBA from Georgetown University with high honors.
Scientific Advisory Board
Jeffrey Almond, PhD
Jeffrey Almond, PhD
Dr. Almond is Visiting Professor of Microbiology at the William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford and is an Oxford Martin Fellow with the Oxford Martin Programme on Vaccines. Before that, he was Vice President and Head of Discovery Research and External R&D at Sanofi Pasteur. His scientific contributions include the first demonstration that a single gene can determine the host range of influenza virus – a finding highly relevant to understanding evolution of new pandemic strains; completion of the genetic map of an avian influenza virus, and the first detailed description of the proteins of Influenza B virus. He has also made major contributions to our understanding of poliovirus and its vaccines. In 1985 as a young academic, Dr. Almond won the Fleming Award for outstanding contribution to microbiological research by a young microbiologist in the UK, and the pace and extent of his contributions have not diminished. In his previous role at Sanofi Pasteur, he was responsible for the scientific rationale underpinning approximately 30 vaccine projects covering viruses, bacteria, and eukaryotic parasites. He is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and in 1999 was awarded the Ivanovsky Medal for “Contributions to the Development of Virology” by The Scientific Council of Virology of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. He is a Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and has served on numerous scientific committees in the UK and beyond, including the governing body of the Medical Research Council.
Emmanuel Hanon, PhD, DVM
Emmanuel Hanon, PhD, DVM
Dr. Hanon is a healthcare veteran and the Global Head of R&D for Viome, a precision medicine company focused on the prevention, treatment or even cure of chronic disorders. Previously, Dr. Hanon spent 20 years at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in R&D roles of increasing responsibility, most recently serving as Senior Vice President, Head of Vaccine R&D and a member of GSK’s Vaccine Executive Team. In this role, he oversaw more than 3,500 employees across 50 countries dedicated to the discovery, development and management activities for GSK’s vaccine efforts. Additionally, Dr. Hanon was responsible for the shared science and technology platforms supporting the entire vaccine business, managing technical development, clinical immunology and preclinical stages of vaccine development. While at GSK, he contributed to the innovation of many vaccines targeting human papilloma virus, malaria, tuberculosis, seasonal and pandemic influenza, shingles, meningitis and RSV. Dr. Hanon has a PhD in Immunology, Virology, and Vaccinology and a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Liège. He completed his Postdoc in Microbiology and Immunology at Imperial College London.
Tony Ford-Hutchinson, PhD
Tony Ford-Hutchinson, PhD
Dr. Ford-Hutchinson was either head of Vaccine R&D at Merck or responsible for Vaccine Research during which time four important vaccines were discovered and developed: Gardasil®, Zostavax®, Proquad® and Rotateq®. His career at Merck started at Merck Frosst Canada where he spent 17 years moving from Director of Pharmacology to SVP and Site Head. During his time in Canada, the laboratories there developed multiple approved products, including Singulair®, for the treatment of adult and pediatric asthma and allergic rhinitis, and selective COX-2 inhibitors for the treatment of osteoarthritis and pain, becoming the most productive discovery unit within Merck. In 1998, Dr. Hutchinson moved to Pennsylvania to head the basic research efforts worldwide. As an EVP, he became responsible for franchise strategies in multiple disease areas, including Vaccines and Infectious Diseases. He also served as the Chairman of the Board, Hilleman Laboratories, a JV between Merck and the Wellcome Trust with vaccine development laboratories in New Delhi, India. After 32 years at Merck, he retired in 2012 and has subsequently served on several biotech boards and SABs, including Okairos AG, a vaccine platform company based around viral vectors (acquired by GlaxoSmithKline), Ligocyte Pharmaceuticals, a company developing a vaccine against norovirus infection (acquired by Takeda Pharmaceuticals), Novira Pharmaceuticals, a small molecule start-up developing anti-viral capsid inhibitors (acquired by Johnson & Johnson) and is currently an SAB member of Inovio Pharmaceuticals, a vaccine platform company based around in vivo DNA electroporation and Hookipa AG, a vaccine company based around a novel viral expression system. He is also a member of the Translational Fund Committee at the Wellcome Trust, and a Board Member of SAGE Bionetworks, a not for profit organization aiming to improve the understanding and treatment of human disease through data-driven predictive modeling. Dr. Hutchinson obtained his BSc, MSc, and PhD from the Universities of Birmingham, Warwick, and London.
William Hausdorff, PhD
William Hausdorff, PhD
Dr. Hausdorff has worked on the development, clinical evaluation, registration, implementation and epidemiological assessments of a variety of vaccines over the past 30 years. Since 2018, Dr. Hausdorff has served as the Lead, Public Health Value Propositions for Vaccines at PATH, a global organization that works to accelerate health equity by bringing together public institutions, businesses, social enterprises and investors to solve the world’s most pressing health challenges. Prior to joining PATH, he worked for 12 years at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Vaccines, eight years at Wyeth Vaccines and was previously at the U.S. Agency for International Development with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In his roles at GSK Vaccines and Wyeth Vaccines, he was involved in the development of Synflorix® and Prevnar 13®, respectively. Dr. Hausdorff performed his post-doctoral work at Duke University after receiving his PhD in Biology from The Johns Hopkins University/National Institutes of Health and his BA in Biology from Carleton College. Dr. Hausdorff is an independent advisor and receives no compensation for his time or service on Vaxcyte’s Scientific Advisory Board.
Emmanuel Walter, MD, MPH
Emmanuel Walter, MD, MPH
Dr. Emmanuel Walter is a Professor of Pediatrics at Duke University School of Medicine, the Chief Medical Officer of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute (DHVI) and the Director of the Duke Vaccine and Trials Unit. Dr. Walter provides strategic and operational leadership for clinical research conducted at the DHVI. In addition, he provides oversight of regulatory compliance for DHVI clinical research activities. Dr. Walter has dedicated his career to advancing research and clinical practice in vaccinology, infectious diseases and child health. He currently serves as the principal investigator for the Duke Clinical Core of the Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovations Centers funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Dr. Walter is the Duke Co-Principal Investigator for the NIAID Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit, which conducts clinical trials of vaccines and treatments for infectious diseases. He is also the Duke Principal Investigator for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment Project, which conducts studies to identify risk factors and preventive strategies for adverse events following immunization, particularly in special populations. Dr. Walter received his MPH from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, MD from the University of Maryland, Baltimore and BS from the University of Notre Dame.
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