If You Want To Go Fast, Go Alone. If You Want To Go Far, Go Together African Proverb
Partnerships are the best way to achieve a critical mass for success and to sustain a long-term investment, because Curative research is long-term, costly, and has extraordinarily high risks and no one group will be able to solve this problem alone.
Qura Therapeutics was formed in partnership with University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and GSK and is focused on finding a cure for HIV. This incredibly unique public-private partnership is redefining the traditional way of conducting research and is creating a new model to seek the breakthroughs needed to tackle an extraordinarily challenging global health issue. Worldwide 37 million are living with HIV. While highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has offered the opportunity for most but not all infected individuals to achieve relatively normal life expectancies, there is, as yet no cure. Thus, the search for a cure for HIV infection remains a top priority of health organizations worldwide.
Qura Therapeutics is providing financial and material support to the UNC HIV Cure Center to discover a cure for HIV and Qura Therapeutics will also assist in the development of therapies that emerge from the research.
Dr. Myron Cohen, Qura Board of Directors member, is the Yeargan-Bate Eminent Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology and Epidemiology at UNC and the Director of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases. In 2007 he was appointed Associate Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and has served as the Director of the UNC Division of Infectious Diseases since 1988.
Dr. Cohen received his BS degree, Magna Cum Laude, from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. He received an MD degree from Rush Medical College, Chicago Illinois. He completed training in internal medicine at the University of Michigan, and training in infectious diseases at Yale University.
Dr. Cohen’s research focuses on the transmission and prevention of HIV, with emphasis on the role played by STD co-infections. The majority of Dr Cohen’s research has been conducted in resource-constrained countries, especially in the African country of Malawi and in the People’s Republic of China. Dr. Cohen is the architect and principal investigator of the multinational HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) 052 study, which demonstrated that antiretroviral treatment of people with HIV infection prevents the sexual transmission of the virus. The HPTN 052 study has led to worldwide changes in the treatment and prevention of HIV infection and was recognized by Science Magazine as the “Breakthrough of the Year” in 2011.
Dr. Cohen has received the Distinguished Career Award for lifetime achievement in STD/HIV research from the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association and the Smadel Award from the Infectious Disease Society of America. Dr. Cohen received the O. Max Gardner from the University of North Carolina System, and the Award for Science from the State of North Carolina, the highest honor in the state. Dr. Cohen is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the American Association of Physicians and the Institute of Medicine. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Microbiology and the Infectious Disease Society of America.
Dr. Brian Johns, interim Qura Board of Directors member, received a Ph.D. from Wayne State University in Detroit in 1997 under the direction of Professor Carl R. Johnson working on chemoenzymatic methodology to make bioactive aza-C-disaccharides. He continued his training as an NIH postdoctoral fellow at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville under the direction of Professor James A. Marshall where he completed a total synthesis of the polyketide natural product discodermolide using allenyl metal methodology to establish key stereotriad motifs. Dr. Johns joined GlaxoWellcome (now GSK) in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina in 1999 as part of the virology chemistry group where he continues today. Dr. Johns has authored or co-authored over 45 peer reviewed journal articles and is an inventor on over 50 patents and patent applications. He is a co-inventor of the antiretroviral drug Tivicay® (dolutegravir) and currently holds the title Vice President and Head of the HIV Discovery Performance Unit (HIV DPU) at GlaxoSmithKline.
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Myron Cohen, MD
University of North Carolina at Chapel HillAssociate Vice Chancellor for Global Health
Yeargan-Bate Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, and Epidemiology
Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases
Director, Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases
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Michael Emerman, PhD
University of WashingtonAffiliate Professor of Microbiology and Member, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center -
Victor Garcia, PhD
University of North Carolina at Chapel HillProfessor of Medicine, School of Medicine -
Alex Hoos, MD, PhD
GlaxoSmithKlineSenior Vice President
Therapeutic Area Head for Oncology R&D
Head of Immunology -
Brian Johns, PhD
GlaxoSmithKlineVice President
Head of HIV Discovery Performance Unit Infectious Diseases R&D -
David Margolis, MD
University of North Carolina at Chapel HillProfessor of Medicine
Epidemiology and Microbiology and Immunology Director
UNC HIV Cure Center Principal Investigator
Collaboratory of AIDS Researchers for Eradication -
John Pottage, MD
ViiV HealthcareChief Scientific and Medical Officer