About us
Board of Directors | PREVENT founders | Management team
Scott Halperin
Director, Canadian Center for Vaccinology
Dr. Scott A. Halperin, MD is also the PREVENT team leader and Professor of Pediatrics, Microbiology and Immunology at Dalhousie University and the Head of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
"The Canadian Center for Vaccinology will contribute to PREVENT through its discovery, evaluation and policy research programs. The Center's strength in phase 1 clinical trials and the sanofi pasteur human vaccine challenge unit that will open later this year are integral to PREVENT's vaccine development program."
Dr. Halperin was educated in the United States, completing his medical degree at Cornell University. His postgraduate residency training was in pediatrics at the University of Virginia and his fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Virginia and the University of Minnesota.
He has lived in Halifax since 1985 where he is the Director of the Canadian Center for Vaccinology, Halifax. He holds one of two Canadian Institutes of Health Research/Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Clinical Research Chairs in Vaccines. These chairs have helped establish Halifax and Vancouver (fellow-chair Dr. David Scheifele of BCCDC) as model centres for innovative vaccinology research. The awards also favour training, leadership and excellence both locally and among collaborators across the country. A long-term legacy is being created, with benefits for the whole community of basic and applied vaccinologists.
His research focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of vaccine-preventable diseases as well as on development of needle-free immunization systems targeting the mucosal immune systems for protection against human respiratory pathogens.
Dr. Halperin's team is also pursuing strategies for single-dose immunization, providing protection against multiple pathogens. Studies are ongoing to further explore the epidemiology of vaccine preventable diseases and to identify important targets for new vaccines.
Social sciences and humanities research is integrated with both vaccine discovery and evaluation; it addresses a wide range of ethical, legal, and societal issues that inform policy and practice.
Particular emphasis is being placed on exploring better ways to protect the newborn, including pre-conception, during pregnancy, and immediate post-partum immunization of the mother and neonate.
