IDCRC Newsletter: September 2025

Congratulations to Mark J. Mulligan, MD

The IDCRC LG would like to congratulate Mark J. Mulligan, MD, on his upcoming retirement from NYU Langone.

“I want to thank Mark for the many years of outstanding collaboration and his long-standing support of science, vaccinology, and the IDCRC. His contributions and mentorship have made a difference in the lives of many people. We will miss his insightful questions and inquiries. I wish him and his family all the best!” —David S. Stephens, MD, IDCRC LG chair.

Dr. Mulligan's contributions to the IDCRC are exemplary, having served as director of the Vaccine Center at NYU Langone since April 2020, when New York City was the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Mulligan was among the first to enroll patients in a clinical trial of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, four IDCRC-supported studies – COVAIL Trial, Mix and Match, MOMI-Vax, and AstraZeneca Study of AZD122 – have been conducted under his leadership. The NYU VTEU also serves as a participating site for the PROMISE study.

“Dr. Mulligan has been a strong supporter of my career and a fantastic mentor since he came to NYU. He has provided critical advice that has pivoted my career into the world of vaccines and clinical research. I am forever grateful for his unconditional support and for believing in me. He will be missed, and we all wish him the best in his next chapter!” —Angelica Cifuentes Kottkamp, MD, incoming NYU VTEU principal investigator.

READ FULL ANNOUNCEMENT

NYU Grossman School of Medicine Vaccine Center
announces new Principal Investigators

Headshots of Angelica Cifuentes Kottkamp, MD (pictured left), and Anoma Nellore, MD (pictured right)

The IDCRC Leadership Group (LG) is pleased to recognize Angelica Cifuentes Kottkamp, MD (pictured left), and Anoma Nellore, MD (pictured right) as the new principal investigators for the NYU Grossman School of Medicine Vaccine Center, replacing Mark J. Mulligan, MD, who is retiring on October 1, 2025.

In this role, Dr. Kottkamp and Dr. Nellore will lead NYU Langone Health’s Vaccine Center, leading pioneering vaccine-related research. Using the latest technologies from fields such as immunology, microbiology, and epidemiology, this team leads collaborative research projects designed to identify and study safe and effective vaccines and treatments for infectious illnesses of public health importance (including COVID-19, influenza, and mpox).

Please join us in welcoming these two outstanding investigators to the IDCRC leadership team.

READ FULL ANNOUNCEMENT

IDCRC Investigator Profile: Getahun Abate, MD, PhD

Getahun Abate, MD, PhD, is an associate professor of Internal Medicine at Saint Louis University. His primary research interest includes mycobacterial diseases and pox viruses with a focus on the development of vaccines and therapeutics.

"I have been a PI or site PI in other VTEU studies in the past and some of these studies focused on measuring vaccine-induced immunity using stored samples (e.g., a study on plague vaccine, DMID 15-0104) or clinical practices in managing pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacteria at VTU sites (DMID 16-0037). It was a great privilege to participate in these clinical studies/trials," shares Dr. Abate.

READ DR. ABATE'S FULL SPOTLIGHT

Events

IDWeek 2025 | October 19-22 | Atlanta, GA

IDWeek 2025 will be held in Atlanta, GA, from October 19-22, 2025. This conference is a joint annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, the HIV Medicine Association, the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, and the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists. We hope to see you there!

IDCRC Presenters:

We're thrilled to share that there will be 41 presentations conducted by IDCRC members at this year's conference. Congratulations to our VTEU partners on being selected for this opportunity. See the full list of presenters below.

VIEW ALL IDCRC PRESENTERS

Registration:

Save your spot today! Come discover the science at the premier forum for ID health professionals of varied backgrounds and collaborate, connect, and learn from each other’s expertise for the improvement of patient care and public health.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Save the Date! 2026 Annual Meeting

collage of photos from 2025 IDCRC annual meeting

Mark your calendars! Next year's IDCRC Annual Meeting will take place on Wednesday, May 13, and Thursday, May 14, 2026. We look forward to seeing everyone then. Stay tuned for more details in early 2026!

ANNUAL MEETING WEBPAGE

Publications

NOTE: Please include the following citation in any publications resulting from direct or indirect IDCRC support:

"Supported by the Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Consortium through the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health, under award number UM1AI148684. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health."

View recent publications and updated quick stats below:

LEARN ABOUT IDCRC PUBLICATIONS

Training

Spotlight on incoming MCDC co-chair, Zanthia Wiley, MD

Meet Zanthia Wiley, MD, IDCRC's new co-chair of the Mentoring, Career Development and Training Committee (MCDC)! She has stepped into this role as of August 1, 2025. Get to know her by checking out our special spotlight profile with our new leader.

Dr. Wiley is a professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University School of Medicine. She currently serves as co-investigator in the Emory Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit (VTEU) at the Hope Clinic and is an Atlanta Hub MPI on the NIH RECOVER (Long COVID) study.

"I am a product of stellar mentorship and mentorship programs. I was a member of the first MCDC cohort, which was led by my mentor, Igho Ofotokun, MD, and Kathy Edward, MD at that time.
I look forward to serving alongside MCDC co-chair, Lara Danziger-Isakov, MD, to lead the very program where I got my start as a clinical researcher. I aim to provide the same level of support, motivation, and guidance that was provided to me in MCDC by Drs. Edwards, Ofotokun, Rouphael, and many others. This is the perfect way for me to pay it forward," shares Dr. Wiley.

READ DR. WILEY'S FULL SPOTLIGHT

MCDC Mentoring Lecture Series

The IDCRC Mentoring Lecture Series brings the IDCRC mentees together with leading experts to discuss topics related to the VTEUs, vaccinology, and clinical trials development and management. Check out our recent lecture below!

Impostor Syndrome

Presenter:
Anna Wald, MD
Principal Investigator
University of Washington VTEU

VIEW FULL ARCHIVE

Secondary Research

Learn about Secondary Research Resources & Information

Have you had a chance to check out the IDCRC's new webpage on the website dedicated to Secondary Research? If not, be sure to head to our website for an overview of the following topics:

Specimen/data request process
Available specimens
Terms of approval
Study implementation

SECONDARY RESEARCH WEBPAGE

News

Vox | "Why children get so many vaccines" with Jim Campbell, MD

For decades, parents and pediatricians have followed the CDC’s Childhood Immunization Schedule. It’s a monthly schedule that lays out the age a child should be vaccinated for common infectious diseases. Its main goal is to protect one of our most vulnerable populations: children, especially those under the age of one, and it’s been wildly successful at doing just that.

WATCH VIDEO HERE

Kiplinger | "This Measles Side Effect Can Undo Years of Immunity: Are You Safe?" with Elizabeth AD Hammershaimb, MD, MS

animated eldery woman doing karate with images of viruses

Measles may seem like a disease of the past. Indeed, the highly contagious virus was declared eradicated in the United States in 2000 after a full year had passed without any infections. But times have changed.

By July 9, 2025, there had already been 1,288 reported cases of measles across the United States, according to data from the CDC. This is the highest number of cases since 1992, eight years before the disease was eradicated in the U.S.

While modern measles vaccines are highly effective, older versions of the vaccine may provide inadequate protection. "Some people who received the old, inactivated measles vaccine between 1963 and 1967 may benefit from a booster with the live MMR vaccine," advised Dr. Elizabeth Hammershaimb, an infectious disease pediatrician with the University of Maryland Children's Hospital and an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

READ FULL ARTICLE

UW Medicine Newsroom |"Get your family vaccinated for back-to-school" with Helen Chu, MD

Autumn brings kids back into school classrooms and also heralds rising rates of the flu, COVID-19, and other viruses. In this video, UW Medicine interviews infectious-diseases expert Dr. Helen Chu. She discusses preventable illnesses that are making a comeback as childhood vaccination rates decline below the levels needed for herd immunity.

WATCH INTERVIEW HERE

Job Postings

Newly Posted! Infectious Diseases Research Job Openings

Visit the IDSA Career Center to browse other ID/HIV Medicine job postings.

Funding Opportunities

2026 Deadline:

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Complement in Fundamental Immunology
Deadline: Tuesday, January 7, 2026

Advancing Research Needed to Develop a Coccidioidomycosis (Valley fever) Vaccine
Deadline: Thursday, January 15, 2026

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Using Targeted Degradation of Protein and non-Protein Targets for the Development of Novel Anti-Infectives
Deadline: Friday, July 17, 2026

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Promoting Research and Development of Vaccines Against Enteric Viruses
Deadline: Friday, July 17, 2026

Global Infectious Disease Research Training Program (D43 Clinical Trial Optional) *NEW*
Deadline: Friday, August 7, 2026

2027 Deadline:

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Research to Stimulate Development of Diagnostics, Therapeutics, and Vaccines for Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV)
Deadline: Wednesday, April 6, 2027

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Systems Modeling of Infection and Immunity Across Biological Scales
Deadline: Wednesday, September 8, 2027

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Advancing Research Needed to Develop a Universal Influenza Vaccine
Deadline: Sunday, November 17, 2027

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Accelerating Malaria Vaccine and Monoclonal Antibody Discovery
Deadline: Sunday, November 17, 2027

IDCRC Studies

Active Studies Recruiting Volunteers

A Phase 4 Study of a 3-Day vs. 7-Day Regimen of Doxycycline for the Treatment of Chlamydial Infection (DMID 22-0019)

Fully Enrolled Studies in Follow-up

A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Phase 1 Trial to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability, Immunogenicity, and Efficacy of Sanaria(R) PfSPZ-LARC2 Vaccine, a Late-Arresting, Replication-Competent, Genetically Attenuated Plasmodium Falciparum Vaccine by Controlled Human Malaria Infection in Malaria-Naïve Healthy Adults Conditions (DMID 23-0010)
Efficacy Study of IM Administered CssBA+dmLT Against Moderate-severe Diarrhea in Human Infection Model With ETEC Strain B7A in Healthy Adults (DMID 23-0006)
A Phase 1 Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Immunogenicity of an Inactivated West Nile Virus Vaccine, HydroVax-001B WNV in Healthy Adults (DMID 24-0008)
Trial to Evaluate the Immunogenicity of Dose Reduction Strategies of the MVA-BN Monkeypox Vaccine (DMID 22-0020A)
A Phase 1, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blind Study to Assess the Safety and Pharmacokinetics of a Single Ascending Dose of EV-D68-228 in Healthy Adult Volunteers (DMID 23-0005)
A Prospective, Randomized, Open-label Phase 4 Study of the Immunology and Safety of Maternal RSV Vaccination (ABRYSVOTM), Infant Nirsevimab (BEYFORTUSTM) Immunization, or Both Products During the First Year of Life (PROMISE) (DMID 24-0003)