Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi is a highly accomplished vaccinologist and global health advocate for neglected tropical diseases. She’s Associate Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine, Professor of Pediatrics, and Co-director of Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. 

She has over two decades of experience, numerous awards, and over 120 scientific papers. She’s dedicated her career to developing vaccines for neglected diseases through partnerships and sustainable biotechnology. I’m privileged to speak with her today.

We talk about how her journey began. Growing up in Honduras, she experienced the effects of tropical and contagious diseases firsthand. She also shares how she had a love for biological science and a desire to help the often-overlooked people in these communities. 

She shares how her team thinks outside the box to find partners for researching and developing neglected but needed vaccines. She shares some history on the Chagas vaccine and how coronavirus research in 2010 led to vaccines being developed and authorized in India and Indonesia, which led to over 100 million people being vaccinated. Dr. Bottazzi is truly an inspiration.

In This Episode:

[02:41] Dr. Bottazzi grew up in Honduras which is plagued with many tropical, infectious, and emerging pathogens. She saw these diseases first hand and had a love for the biological sciences. 

[03:54] After high school, she studied microbiology where she learned how pathogens interact with the host and how to develop interventions to cure or protect from these pathogens. By creating these tools, she became involved with vaccine development. 

[05:10] She was intentional about surrounding herself with people who could help her increase her scientific ability and better her soft skills and interactions with other people.

[07:49] Tropical diseases that occurred in pockets of poverty seemed to be neglected. Dr. Bottazzi and her coworkers wanted to adopt these diseases as a model to control diseases like Chagas. 

[09:44] They developed a non-profit partnership model to develop vaccines for these overlooked diseases.

[13:21] In 2010, they noticed corona viruses weren't a very high priority, so they started learning about them. They worked on SARS and MERS vaccines. They were ready when the emergency came up, but faced challenges with regulations and lack of focus on global access. 

[17:03] Breakthroughs include not dropping the ball and empowering local developing company manufacturers. They impacted millions of lives. 

[18:46] Dr. Bottazzi shares some of her biggest lessons learned and has a focus on creativity, courage, collaboration, cognizance, and use of cultural intelligence.

[22:05] The importance of keeping guiding principles along with having diplomacy.

[24:02] we discuss building a relationship with people in technology and collaboration. Partners can go along with you and help create the best path for your work.

[26:14] Partners are the key to success whether public or private. 

[28:27] Dr. Bottazzi shares her hopes for the future of vaccine development. 

[32:31] Promoting diversity and inclusion in the scientific community. This includes talking about it and finding ways to show we’re doing it. 

Resources:

Wellspring

Maria Elena Bottazzi, Ph.D. Baylor College of Medicine

Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi Texas Children’s Hospital

Maria Elena Bottazzi LinkedIn

Maria Elena Bottazzi Twitter