Alumni Insights: No One is Safe Until We are All Safe

For our next installment of our #DuqAlumniInsights series, we'll hear from Dr. Debra Yeskey, P'89, as she shares her expertise on the global partnerships for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. This Alumni Insights program will be moderated by Dr. Pamela Koerner, P'97, GP'98, of the School of Pharmacy.

Dr. Yeskey's presentation will introduce the audience to CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, in the context of responding to the SARS CoV2 pandemic and other neglected diseases. The presentation will explain the Access to COVID-19 (ACT) Accelerator - specifically for vaccines (known as COVAX), it will identify the global stakeholders and tie in one of the main tenants of CEPI – the equitable access to vaccines to low and middle income countries. Lastly the presentation will give a current snapshot of the global vaccine landscape with respect to supply and other timely issues.

Debra Yeskey, Pharm.D., is the Head of Regulatory Policy & Intelligence for CEPI, a partnership of public, private, philanthropic and civil organizations that will finance and co-ordinate the development of vaccines against high priority public health threats and vaccine platform technologies to respond rapidly to emerging infectious diseases with pandemic and epidemic potential.

Prior to joining CEPI, Debra served as the Director of the Regulatory and Quality Affairs Division (RQA) within the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She served as Director of RQA for 10 years.

If you would like to share your expertise with your fellow alumni, fill out an application at www.myduquesne.duq.edu/webinarpresenter to be considered.

Speakers:

Dr. Debra Yeskey, P'89, Head of Regulatory Policy & Intelligence @CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations)

In addition to the above, Debra also served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) and created the Office of Regulatory Affairs at the National Center for Infectious Diseases within the CDC. She was responsible for the regulatory preparedness of all the medical countermeasures within the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS). She provided expert advice, guidance, and regulatory policy regarding the regulatory readiness of the SNS and the status of all the Investigational New Drug Applications and pre-Emergency Use Authorization requests held by CDC.

As a USPHS officer, she also worked with the FDA and the NIH. She has been trained as an EMT and was a member of the PHS Disaster Medical Assistance Team. She has responded to numerous natural disasters, has pre-deployed for planned mass public events, and was part of the CDC’s response to the events of 9/11 and the anthrax attacks.

She received a BS degree in Pharmacy from Duquesne and a PharmD from Creighton.

Dr. Pamela Koerner, P'97, GP'98, Assistant Dean of Curriculum and Professional Engagement, School of Pharmacy @Duquesne University

In addition to her role as Assistant Dean in the School of Pharmacy, Dr. Koerner is also the Director of the Pharmacy Alumni Association and the Director of the Giant Eagle Center for Pharmacy Practice. Dr. Koerner's primary research interest revolves around the high cost, high risk disease states at Walgreens Specialty. These, to date, have included multiple sclerosis, hepatitis C and oral oncology. In addition, scholarship of teaching has been conducted in innovative course design in the areas of the pediatric concentration and drug literature evaluation. For more information about Dr. Koerner's research and scholarship, visit https://duq.edu/academics/faculty/pamela-koerner.