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Personal History
Dr. Esparza is an internationally recognized expert on global health, vaccinology and HIV/AIDS.
Since 2004 he has been with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle WA, first as Senior Advisor on HIV Vaccines and currently as Senior Advisor, Vaccines.
From 2012 Dr. Esparza is also an adjunct Professor of Medicine at the Institute of Human Virology of the University of Maryland in Baltimore.
Dr. Esparza received his MD degree in his native country of Venezuela (1968) and a PhD in Virology and Cell Biology (1974) from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
From 1974 to 1986 he worked at the Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research, one of the most important research institutions in Latin America, where he became Professor of Virology and Chair of the Center for Microbiology and Cell Biology. He published seminal work in the field of rotaviruses, combining basic science with epidemiology and clinical work.
From 1986 to 2004 Dr. Esparza worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), in Geneva, Switzerland, where he became a global leader in the field of HIV vaccines
Dr. Esparza is author of over 170 publications, and has served in numerous advisory committees all over the world and until recently was the Board President of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise
Publications
Coordinating Committee of the Global HIV/AIDS Vaccine Enterprise (J Esparza is corresponding author). The Global HIV/AIDS Vaccine Enterprise: Scientific Strategic Plan. Public Library of Science (PLoS)-Medicine 2(2), e25 (2005).
Esparza J. The Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise. International Microbiology 8:93-101 (2005).
Barth-Jones DC, Cheng H, Kang LY, Kenya PR, Odera D, Mosqueira NR, Mendoza W, Portela MC, Brito C, Tangcharoensathien V, Akaleephan C, Supantamart S, Patcharanarumol W, de Macedo Brigido LF, Fonseca MG, Sanchez M, Chang ML, Osmanov S, Avrett S, Esparza J, Griffiths U; WHO-UNAIDS collaborative group on cost-effectiveness, delivery and future access to HIV vaccines. Cost Effectiveness and Delivery Study for Future HIV Vaccines. AIDS 19,w1-w6 (2005).
Esparza J, Russell N, Gayle H. The challenge of developing and evaluating preventive vaccines against HIV/AIDS. In: HIV Vaccine Research in Thailand. Pitisuttithum P, Esparza J, Francis D, Thongcharoen P. (Eds). Mahidol University, Bangkok. pp 3-26 (2006).
Esparza J, Chang M-L, Gayle H. HIV Vaccines: Development and future use. In: The HIV Pandemic: local and global implications. Beck EJ, Mays N, Whiteside AW, Zuniga JM (Eds) Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp 105-116 (2006).
Esparza J, Russell N. The HIV Vaccine Pipeline. In: AIDS Vaccine Development: Challenges and Opportunities. Koff W, Kahn P, Gust I (Eds) Caister Academic Press. pp77-86 (2007).
Esparza J, Yamada T. The discovery value of “Big Science”. The Journal of Experimental Medicine 204(4), 701-4 (2007).
Montefiori D, Sattentau Q, Flores J, Esparza J, Mascola J, on behalf of a Working Group convened by the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise. Antibody-Based HIV-1 Vaccines: Recent Developments and Future Directions. Public Library of Science (PLoS)-Medicine. 4(12), e348 (2007).
Shattock R, Haynes BF, Pulendran B, Flores F and Esparza J, on behalf of a Working Group convened by the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise. Improving Defences at the Portal of Entry: Mucosal and Innate Immunity. Public Library of Science (PLoS)-Medicine 5(4), e81 (2008).
Esparza J, McCutchan FE, Lewis GK, and Gallo RC. An HIV Vaccine – When and how? In: From Cause to Cure: Commemorating 25 years of HIV/AIDS Research. Senders S (Ed) The American Association for the Advancement of Science . pp 32-35 (distributed with the May 2009 issue of Science) (2009).
Levine M, Lagos R, Esparza J. Vaccines and Vaccination in Historical Perspective. In: New Generation Vaccines (Chapter 1). (4th edition) Editor in Chief MM Levine. Informa Healthcare, New York. pp 1-11, (2010).
Esparza J, Russell ND, and McCutchan FE. The Long Road to an HIV Vaccine. In: Controversies in Science and Technology. Vol 3. Kleinman DL, Delbome J, Cloud-Hansen KA, Handelsman J (Eds). Mary Ann Liebert, Inc Publishers. New Rochelle, NY. Pp. 44-76 (2010).
Marzetta CA, Lee SS, Wrobel SJ, Singh KJ, Russell N, and Esparza J. The Potential Global Market Size and Public Health Value of an HIV-1 Vaccine in a Complex Global Market. Vaccine 28(30),4786-97 (2010).
Council of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise (J Esparza is a member of the Council). The 2010 Scientific Strategic plan of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise. Nature Medicine 16(9),981-9 (2010).
Pitisuttithum P, Rerks-Garnm S, Chiu J, Kim J, Beneson M, Kent SJ, Tamashiro H, Manrique A, Bernstein A, Gotal R, Ditangco RA, Cooper DA, Osmanov S, Mathieson B, Sandstrom E, Esparza J, Hoff R, and Shao Y for the AIDS Vaccine for Asia Network. Accelerating the development of an AIDS vaccine: The AIDS Vaccine for Asia Network (AVAN). Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health 42(5),1130-1146 (2011).
Esparza J. Book Review: History of Vaccine Development by Stanley A. Plotkin (Editor). Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics 8:1-4 (2012).
Esparza J. Commentary: Understanding the efficacy variables of an HIV vaccine trial (RV144). Lancet Infectious Diseases 12:499-500 (2012).
Esparza J. Solid vaccine protection against SIV in rhesus monkeys provides proof-of-concept for further evaluation of a novel HIV vaccine approach in humans (Key paper evaluation). Expert Reviews of Vaccines, 11(5): 539-42 (2012).
Esparza J. The Battle Inside, Review of the book by Peter Piot “No time to loose: A life in pursuit of deadly viruses” Nature 486: 31-32 (2012).
Esparza J. A tale of two vaccines: lessons from polio that could inform the development of an HIV vaccine. AIDS 27:1-5 (2013)