Faruk Sinangil has a long career in vaccine development and HIV research. After completing his post-doctoral work at the Karolinska Insitute in Sweden and the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Dr. Sinangil took a position as assistant professor in the Department of Pathology at Columbia University and continued his research on the molecular biology and virology of HIV, including development of a novel assay to study fusion of HIV with cultured cells. In 1990, Dr. Sinangil left academia to pursue work in the private sector with Chiron Corporation (Emeryville, CA). Over the next ten years at Chiron, he lead efforts for pre-clinical and clinical testing of HIV, HBV, and pertussis candidate vaccine programs, oversaw the scientific teams, and worked closely with the clinical, regulatory, manufacturing, QA/QC, and project management teams. In 2001, Dr. Sinangil joined VaxGen, where he oversaw the Phase III clinical testing of AIDSVAX. Later, he became the senior director responsible for the pre-clinical program and the development and qualification of assays for the pre-clinical and clinical testing of VaxGen’s anthrax and smallpox vaccine candidates. Dr. Sinangil joined GSID in 2006 as the Managing Director of Research and Development, and he is the principal investigator of GSID’s initial HIV research program. back to top
Vineeta Gulati, M.S.
Vineeta Gulati has over 15 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry experience in addition to managing and providing health care to patients at long and short term healthcare facilities. She received her M.S. in Clinical Nutrition from Texas Woman’s University, and she began her career managing nutritional care for patients with cardiac diseases, renal failure, diabetes, morbid obesity, and HIV/AIDs. Upon relocating to California in early 1990s, she worked on a cholesterol lowering trial at USC, and provided data management support for regulatory filings at Syntex Pharmaceuticals and Gilead Sciences in the bay area. In 1998 she joined VaxGen to build the clinical data management department for the conduct of phase III HIV vaccine trials. Most recently she functioned as the Clinical Trial Manager at the Institute for OneWorld Health to administer the operations of international clinical studies. Vineeta joined GSID in September 2008 as a Program Director. back to top
Heidi Hoffmann, Ph.D.
Heidi Hoffmann has over 15 years of experience in biotechnology, specializing in process development, technology transfer, and manufacturing of vaccines and biological therapeutics. Directly after receiving her Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley in 1994, Dr. Hoffmann began her career at Aviron, where she worked on process development and production of vaccines for EBV, PIV, and influenza (FluMist). She then joined Valentis, where she led the team responsible for process development, technology transfer, and clinical production of plasmid DNA for gene therapy. In 2002, Dr. Hoffmann returned to vaccine work by joining VaxGen, where she was responsible for process development and manufacturing of anthrax vaccine. She also became the team leader for partner projects at VaxGen, including an anthrax MAb as well as other therapeutics. Later, she transitioned into a technology transfer role, hiring and leading the VaxGen oversight team for the successful transfer of production of Bristol-Meyer Squibb’s Orencia (abatacept) into the Celltrion manufacturing facility in South Korea. Dr. Hoffmann joined GSID as a consultant in 2009 to direct the process development and manufacture of HIV vaccines. She is currently a Program Director with GSID and functions as the AIDSVAX Project Team Leader. back to top
Lavon Riddle, M.S.
Lavon Riddle has spent many years working in both academia and the biotech industry doing research, process development and manufacturing operations. She has a B.S. in Chemistry from University of Oklahoma and M.S. in Biochemistry from University of Wisconsin, Madison. She worked in academia on various research projects at Louisiana State University and the University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, before moving to California. She spent 18 years at Genentech, Inc., in the Process Development group and worked on multiple projects including Factor VIII, CD4, TPO, immunoadhesins, various monoclonal antibodies and fragment antibody products, and the rgp120 antigens used in the AIDSVAX® HIV-1 vaccine. She was leader of the Immunoaffinity Technology team and project team leader for the manufacture of AIDSVAX® related materials from 1997 through 2000. When VaxGen was formed she led the technology transfer for production of AIDSVAX® from Genentech to VaxGen, and then came to VaxGen in 2002 as Director of Recovery Process Sciences to establish the process development group there. She led development and manufacturing efforts for AIDSVAX® improvements and for VaxGen’s anthrax vaccine candidate, working closely with the cell culture, manufacturing, QA/QC and analytical groups and was point of contact for interactions with the FDA for the Process Development and Validation technical working group. She has most recently come to GSID to assist with technology transfer from VaxGen and as a subject matter expert on AIDSVAX® manufacturing. She is now a Program Director at GSID and a senior technical advisor to the AIDSVAX Project Team. back to top Keith W. Higgins, M.S.
Keith Higgins has been involved in vaccine development, sample management, and HIV research for many years. He received his M.S. in Marine Sciences in 1979 from the Louisiana State University, in Baton Rouge. He did his postgraduate training in immunology and cytogenesis at Florida Institute of Technology, in Melbourne Florida, under Dr J.C Hozier, working on Non-histone proteins. In the early ‘80’s, he moved to California and started his involvement in biotechnology and HIV research at Chiron Corporation (Emeryville, CA). Over the next fourteen years at Chiron, he was directly involved in managing pre-clinical in vivo studies. In 1999, Mr. Higgins joined Covance, Inc. (Richmond, CA), where he functioned as Study Director for a diverse array of client’s projects. Later, he joined VaxGen (South San Francisco, CA) where he was Pre-clinical Program Manager for their anthrax and smallpox vaccine projects. Mr. Higgins joined GSID in 2008 as the Project Coordinator and Repository Manager. back to top
Ian C. Francis
Ian Francis graduated from Stanford University in 1993 with a degree in German Studies. He began his career at Goldman Sachs on the Institutional Equities desk in Frankfurt, Germany, and then moved to the Investment Research Department in New York, where he worked with regional brokerage firms distributing Goldman Sachs research. Afterwards, he moved to London and worked on the trading desk as a liaison between the equity research, sales, and trading departments, including being a member of the European Stock Selection Committee. He joined GSID in March 2005 as a Senior Research Associate. Ian is the nephew of Executive Director Don Francis. back to top
Evie Zaharias, RN
Evie Zaharias earned her undergraduate degree in Biology and recently became a Registered Nurse. She began working on the gp120 vaccine project as a research associate during VaxGen’s start-up phase in 1997. She developed and performed antibody assays to support Phase I-III AIDSVAX clinical trials, and was involved in laboratory automation, data management, and sample management in the Immunoassay group. She also coordinated GLP compliance efforts within the Clinical Assay group for the anthrax vaccine project. Evie joined GSID in late 2007 to focus on repository management and the GSID HIV Data Browser project. back to top
Faruk Sinangil has a long career in vaccine development and HIV research. After completing his post-doctoral work at the Karolinska Insitute in Sweden and the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Dr. Sinangil took a position as assistant professor in the Department of Pathology at Columbia University and continued his research on the molecular biology and virology of HIV, including development of a novel assay to study fusion of HIV with cultured cells. In 1990, Dr. Sinangil left academia to pursue work in the private sector with Chiron Corporation (Emeryville, CA). Over the next ten years at Chiron, he lead efforts for pre-clinical and clinical testing of HIV, HBV, and pertussis candidate vaccine programs, oversaw the scientific teams, and worked closely with the clinical, regulatory, manufacturing, QA/QC, and project management teams. In 2001, Dr. Sinangil joined VaxGen, where he oversaw the Phase III clinical testing of AIDSVAX. Later, he became the senior director responsible for the pre-clinical program and the development and qualification of assays for the pre-clinical and clinical testing of VaxGen’s anthrax and smallpox vaccine candidates. Dr. Sinangil joined GSID in 2006 as the Managing Director of Research and Development, and he is the principal investigator of GSID’s initial HIV research program.
Vineeta Gulati has over 15 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry experience in addition to managing and providing health care to patients at long and short term healthcare facilities. She received her M.S. in Clinical Nutrition from Texas Woman’s University, and she began her career managing nutritional care for patients with cardiac diseases, renal failure, diabetes, morbid obesity, and HIV/AIDs. Upon relocating to California in early 1990s, she worked on a cholesterol lowering trial at USC, and provided data management support for regulatory filings at Syntex Pharmaceuticals and Gilead Sciences in the bay area. In 1998 she joined VaxGen to build the clinical data management department for the conduct of phase III HIV vaccine trials. Most recently she functioned as the Clinical Trial Manager at the Institute for OneWorld Health to administer the operations of international clinical studies. Vineeta joined GSID in September 2008 as a Program Director.
Heidi Hoffmann has over 15 years of experience in biotechnology, specializing in process development, technology transfer, and manufacturing of vaccines and biological therapeutics. Directly after receiving her Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley in 1994, Dr. Hoffmann began her career at Aviron, where she worked on process development and production of vaccines for EBV, PIV, and influenza (FluMist). She then joined Valentis, where she led the team responsible for process development, technology transfer, and clinical production of plasmid DNA for gene therapy. In 2002, Dr. Hoffmann returned to vaccine work by joining VaxGen, where she was responsible for process development and manufacturing of anthrax vaccine. She also became the team leader for partner projects at VaxGen, including an anthrax MAb as well as other therapeutics. Later, she transitioned into a technology transfer role, hiring and leading the VaxGen oversight team for the successful transfer of production of Bristol-Meyer Squibb’s Orencia (abatacept) into the Celltrion manufacturing facility in South Korea. Dr. Hoffmann joined GSID as a consultant in 2009 to direct the process development and manufacture of HIV vaccines. She is currently a Program Director with GSID and functions as the AIDSVAX Project Team Leader.
Lavon Riddle has spent many years working in both academia and the biotech industry doing research, process development and manufacturing operations. She has a B.S. in Chemistry from University of Oklahoma and M.S. in Biochemistry from University of Wisconsin, Madison. She worked in academia on various research projects at Louisiana State University and the University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, before moving to California. She spent 18 years at Genentech, Inc., in the Process Development group and worked on multiple projects including Factor VIII, CD4, TPO, immunoadhesins, various monoclonal antibodies and fragment antibody products, and the rgp120 antigens used in the AIDSVAX® HIV-1 vaccine. She was leader of the Immunoaffinity Technology team and project team leader for the manufacture of AIDSVAX® related materials from 1997 through 2000. When VaxGen was formed she led the technology transfer for production of AIDSVAX® from Genentech to VaxGen, and then came to VaxGen in 2002 as Director of Recovery Process Sciences to establish the process development group there. She led development and manufacturing efforts for AIDSVAX® improvements and for VaxGen’s anthrax vaccine candidate, working closely with the cell culture, manufacturing, QA/QC and analytical groups and was point of contact for interactions with the FDA for the Process Development and Validation technical working group. She has most recently come to GSID to assist with technology transfer from VaxGen and as a subject matter expert on AIDSVAX® manufacturing. She is now a Program Director at GSID and a senior technical advisor to the AIDSVAX Project Team. 
Keith Higgins has been involved in vaccine development, sample management, and HIV research for many years. He received his M.S. in Marine Sciences in 1979 from the Louisiana State University, in Baton Rouge. He did his postgraduate training in immunology and cytogenesis at Florida Institute of Technology, in Melbourne Florida, under Dr J.C Hozier, working on Non-histone proteins. In the early ‘80’s, he moved to California and started his involvement in biotechnology and HIV research at Chiron Corporation (Emeryville, CA). Over the next fourteen years at Chiron, he was directly involved in managing pre-clinical in vivo studies. In 1999, Mr. Higgins joined Covance, Inc. (Richmond, CA), where he functioned as Study Director for a diverse array of client’s projects. Later, he joined VaxGen (South San Francisco, CA) where he was Pre-clinical Program Manager for their anthrax and smallpox vaccine projects. Mr. Higgins joined GSID in 2008 as the Project Coordinator and Repository Manager.
Ian Francis graduated from Stanford University in 1993 with a degree in German Studies. He began his career at Goldman Sachs on the Institutional Equities desk in Frankfurt, Germany, and then moved to the Investment Research Department in New York, where he worked with regional brokerage firms distributing Goldman Sachs research. Afterwards, he moved to London and worked on the trading desk as a liaison between the equity research, sales, and trading departments, including being a member of the European Stock Selection Committee. He joined GSID in March 2005 as a Senior Research Associate. Ian is the nephew of Executive Director Don Francis.
Evie Zaharias earned her undergraduate degree in Biology and recently became a Registered Nurse. She began working on the gp120 vaccine project as a research associate during VaxGen’s start-up phase in 1997. She developed and performed antibody assays to support Phase I-III AIDSVAX clinical trials, and was involved in laboratory automation, data management, and sample management in the Immunoassay group. She also coordinated GLP compliance efforts within the Clinical Assay group for the anthrax vaccine project. Evie joined GSID in late 2007 to focus on repository management and the GSID HIV Data Browser project.