Congressional Delegation Gets Coronavirus Update

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VRC deputy director Dr. Barney Graham (l) and Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, VRC coronavirus vaccine lead, discuss research on the virus with several U.S. legislators representing Maryland. They are (clockwise from top) Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Sen. Benjamin Cardin and Rep. Jamie Raskin.

Photo:  Chia-Chi Charlie Chang

Three days after the President visited the Vaccine Research Center for an update on coronavirus research, two senators and one congressman representing Maryland paid their own call on the VRC for a similar briefing.

On Mar. 6, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Sen. Benjamin Cardin and Rep. Jamie Raskin, all Democrats, got an hour-long orientation to the VRC hosted by NIH principal deputy director Dr. Lawrence Tabak and VRC director Dr. John Mascola.

Mascola, VRC deputy director Dr. Barney Graham and Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, VRC coronavirus vaccine lead, provided an overview of the facility and its role in the discovery of new vaccines for emerging and reemerging diseases, with a focus on the recent vaccine development effort for SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19 disease.

Also participating were Dr. Julie Ledgerwood, deputy director and VRC chief medical officer, and Dr. Kaitlyn Morabito, project manager and science analyst in the Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory.