Stephen Whitehead PhD

Dr. Stephen Whitehead is currently a Senior Scientist in the Laboratory of Viral Diseases (LVD), NIAID, NIH in Bethesda, MD. Following postdoctoral training at Rockefeller University in NY, he joined the NIH in 1995 with a primary interest in the development of vaccines against respiratory syncytial virus. However, Stephen has spent the last 18 years focused on the development and evaluation of live vaccine candidates for dengue virus and in 2018 received the Maurice Hilleman Award in recognition of his efforts. Over the course of the project he has developed various live attenuated vaccine candidates, with a lead tetravalent candidate currently undergoing Phase III clinical evaluation in Brazil. His clinical group has also implemented a dengue virus challenge model that has been used to assess vaccine-induced protection in humans. He is an inventor on numerous patents and the dengue vaccine technology has been licensed around the world to companies interested in controlling dengue disease. He also currently supervises the development of vaccines for Zika and Japanese encephalitis virus.