Ethical Considerations of Developing a Vaccine for COVID-19

A conversation on vaccine development, testing and distribution between Michael Rosenblatt, MD, and Tal Zaks, MD, PhD.

Michael Rosenblatt, MD
Tal Zaks, MD, PhD

Michael Rosenblatt, MD
Chief Medical Officer of Flagship Pioneering

Dr. Rosenblatt’s career has been in academia, pharma and biotech/venture. He is a physician-scientist, now serving as Chief Medical Officer of Flagship Pioneering in Cambridge, MA, a firm that originates new biotech companies. Previously, he was Merck’s Chief Medical Officer.  He also served as Dean of Tufts University School of Medicine, and before that, Robert Ebert Professor of Molecular Medicine and George R. Minot Professor at Harvard Medical School. He was President of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Director of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. He graduated summa cum laude from Columbia, and received his M.D. magna cum laude from Harvard.  Internship, residency, and endocrinology training were all at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Tal Zaks, MD, PhD
Chief Medical Officer of Moderna Therapeutics

As Chief Medical Officer, Tal Zaks oversees clinical development and regulatory affairs across Moderna. Prior to joining Moderna, Dr. Zaks was senior vice president and head of Global Oncology at Sanofi, where he was responsible for all aspects of oncology drug discovery, development and commercialization.
Dr. Zaks began his industry career at GlaxoSmithKline in the genetics research group, where he built the oncology translational medicine team and led translational research on lapatinib as well as the in-licensing and clinical development of foretinib. In addition to his industry work, Dr. Zaks is associate professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and has served as a volunteer physician at the Philadelphia Veterans Administration Medical Center, treating patients with genitourinary cancers.
Dr. Zaks received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the Ben Gurion University in Israel and conducted post-doctoral research at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. He completed his clinical training in internal medicine at Temple University Hospital followed by a fellowship in medical oncology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Zaks serves on the Board of Directors of Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc.

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