Penny Heaton

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Penny M. Heaton
Alma materUniversity of Louisville School of Medicine
Scientific career
InstitutionsJohnson & Johnson
Novavax
Novartis
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Merck & Co
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Penny M. Heaton is an American physician who is the Global Therapeutics Lead for Vaccines at Johnson & Johnson. She previously worked at Novavax, Novartis and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She was included by Stat News on their definitive list of leaders in the life sciences in 2022.

Early life and education[edit]

Heaton has said that she was inspired to work on vaccine development after hearing her father suffered from tuberculosis before she was born.[1] She has credited her high school science teachers with teaching her the importance of blind controlled trials.[1] She was an undergraduate and medical student at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. She remained there as a medical resident in pediatrics.[2] She worked as a services officer for Epidemic Intelligence at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, studying food-borne viruses in infants born to HIV positive mothers. She went on to work in Kenya, where she investigated the roll-out of vaccines in impoverished populations in Kisumu.[2]

Career[edit]

On returning to the United States, Heaton joined Merck & Co. Under her leadership the foundation developed the vaccine for rotavirus and delivered the Rotavirus Safety and Efficacy Trials.[3][4] The vaccine was recommended by the World Health Organization for all infants around the world, and was predicted to save almost two million lives over the course of ten years.[5]

Heaton was made Global Head of Vaccine Research Clusters at Novartis where she worked on maternal immunization, with a particular focus on Group B streptococcal infection. She worked on vaccines against Meningococcal meningitis, including Bexsero and Men.[citation needed]

After 3 years at Novartis, Heaton joined the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as Director of Vaccine Development[2] and focssed on developing vaccines for diseases that impact the world's most vulnerable communities.

Heaton was made chief executive officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Medical Research Institute in 2017.[6][7] She was recruited as global lead for vaccines at Johnson & Johnson in 2021.[8]

Awards and honors[edit]

Selected publications[edit]

  • Penny M Heaton (14 July 2020). "The Covid-19 Vaccine-Development Multiverse". The New England Journal of Medicine. doi:10.1056/NEJME2025111. ISSN 0028-4793. PMID 32663910. Wikidata Q97556673.
  • Dimitrios Gouglas; Tung Thanh Le; Klara Henderson; et al. (18 October 2018). "Estimating the cost of vaccine development against epidemic infectious diseases: a cost minimisation study". The Lancet Global Health. 6 (12): e1386–e1396. doi:10.1016/S2214-109X(18)30346-2. ISSN 2214-109X. PMC 7164811. PMID 30342925. Wikidata Q57813734.
  • Timo Vesikari; David O Matson; Penelope H. Dennehy; et al. (1 January 2006). "Safety and efficacy of a pentavalent human-bovine (WC3) reassortant rotavirus vaccine". The New England Journal of Medicine. 354 (1): 23–33. doi:10.1056/NEJMOA052664. ISSN 0028-4793. PMID 16394299. Wikidata Q40489497.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Penny M. Heaton, MD – 2021 Annual Awards Gala". Retrieved 2022-02-27.
  2. ^ a b c "Dr Penny M Heaton Named Director Of Vaccine Development". Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
  3. ^ Heyse, Joseph F.; Kuter, Barbara J.; Dallas, Michael J.; Heaton, Penny; REST Study Team (2008). "Evaluating the safety of a rotavirus vaccine: the REST of the story". Clinical Trials (London, England). 5 (2): 131–139. doi:10.1177/1740774508090507. ISSN 1740-7745. PMC 2602609. PMID 18375651.
  4. ^ "RotaTeq®: The of the Story Beyond the Primary Phase III Efficacy & Safety Results" (PDF).
  5. ^ a b "A&S Grad Penny Heaton named Alumna of the Year — College of Arts & Sciences". louisville.edu. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
  6. ^ "Penny M. Heaton, M.D., Chief Executive Officer, The Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute" (PDF).
  7. ^ "Penny Heaton". Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 17 (9): 614–615. September 2018. doi:10.1038/nrd.2018.151. ISSN 1474-1784. PMID 30160251. S2CID 52124155.
  8. ^ "Penny Heaton, M.D., Global Therapeutic Area Head, Vaccines, Janssen Research & Development, LLC | Johnson & Johnson". Content Lab U.S. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
  9. ^ Society, Pediatric Infectious Diseases. "Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society Honors Dr. Penny M. Heaton with 2020 Distinguished Research Award – Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society". pids.org. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
  10. ^ "2022 STATUS List". STAT. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
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