Speakers

Dr. Áñez is an Executive Director (Distinguished Scientist) at Merck Research Laboratories, Merck & Co., Inc. His work is focused on Vaccines R&D, and he is the Product Development Team Leader for Merck’s V181 Dengue Vaccine program. Dr. Áñez is a virologist, clinical development physician-scientist and biopharmaceutical product development leader with over 17 years of experience in U.S. and international academia, government, and biopharmaceutical industry settings. He has contributed to the pre-clinical and clinical evaluation of several vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, anti-infective therapies, and diagnostic products for infectious diseases. Dr. Áñez earned his medical degree from the University of Zulia in Maracaibo, Venezuela, and conducted post-doctoral research at NIAID/NIH, and CBER/FDA thereafter. Before joining Merck, Dr. Áñez was at Sanofi, where he was a clinical team leader in the Meningococcal (MenQuadfi®), Dengue (Dengvaxia®), and Zika vaccine programs, and at Novavax, Inc., where he was a clinical development leader in the NVX-CoV2373 COVID-19 vaccine (Nuvaxovid®) program, contributing to the licensure of these vaccines in the U.S. and globally. Dr. Áñez has over 50 peer-reviewed publications, more than 100 presentations at scientific events, and has been honored as a 2022 Aspen Institute Ideas: Health Fellow, and as a Fellow of the IDSA (FIDSA).