Karin Bok

Dr. Karin Bok is the Director of Pandemic Preparedness and Emergency Response at the Vaccine Research Center, National Institutes of Health. She provides expertise for the preclinical and clinical development of several preparedness and response medical countermeasures, including preventive and therapeutic products against Ebola, Zika, Nipah, Influenza, and Coronavirus. Karin collaborates with government colleagues and external stakeholders to prepare and accelerate the response to an infectious disease emergency and advance the study of preventive measures that target unmet medical needs. She is currently part of Operation Warp Speed contributing to accelerating the development and testing of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 in the US. She is also part of the senior team working on the advanced development of broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies for HIV, as well as universal influenza and RSV vaccines.

Previously, Dr. Bok was a Senior Vaccine Scientific Advisor at the National Vaccine Program Office, within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health. Dr. Bok led the vaccine safety portfolio and advised on vaccine research and development issues. She also directed research and policy studies on vaccines administered to pregnant women. Karin represented NVPO and HHS in several executive scientific advisory committees, such as the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC, FDA), the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines (ACCV, HRSA), and the Task Force on Research Specific to Pregnant Women and Lactating Women (PRGLAC, NICHD) to name a few.

In addition, Dr. Bok has more than 20 years’ experience working on research and discovery programs, leading her own scientific studies focused on vaccines, antibody products, antivirals, diagnostics, and virus evolution of gastrointestinal viruses.

Her international scientific experience includes managing and conducting research through Argentina’s national gastroenteritis surveillance program, the clinical testing of the rotavirus vaccine, and the reimplementation of the National Smallpox Vaccine Program.