Diary Prequel Package — page 163

could make it a more desirable slate since the 2 of them alone always evokes memories of controversy. Oct. 29 - Nov. 1, 2007 - Full week of meetings with Ministers of Health from G-8 and their senior staff on topic of Global Health with an emphasis on Biodefense. Ministers that were present include: The Honorable Mike Leavitt, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services The Honorable Michael Chertoff, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security The Right Honorable Tony Clement, MP, Minister of Health, Canada The Honorable Markos Kyprianou, Esq. Commissioner for Health, European Commission The Honorable Ulla Schmidt, Federal Minister of Health, Federal Republic of Germany The Honorable José Angel Córdova-Villalobos, M.D., Secretary of Health, Mexico The Right Honorable Dawn Primarolo, MP, Minister of State for Public Health, United Kingdom Dr. Donato Greco, Head, Department of Prevention and Communication, Ministry of Health, Italy The Honorable Kenta Matsunami, Parliamentary Secretary for Health Labor and Welfare, Japan Dr. Anarfi Asamoah-Baah, Deputy Director-General, World Health Organization. I gave talk at VRC to the senior staff. Had elegant receptions and dinners at the Corcoran Gallery (Oct. 31) and Library of Congress (Nov. 1). Nov. 2, 2007 - Went to Boston to give Keynote at meeting of Harvard Business School Alumni Association - held at Harvard Medical School. Spoke on Emerging Infections. Had dinner with Jenny at Taranta's restaurant in the North End on Friday night, Nov. 2. Had nice discussions about career options as she is now approaching graduation from Harvard. She wants to take at least a year working at something that she loves (not sure yet what that is - could be a year in Cuba or a domestic political campaign) and then go on to graduate school. Nov. 7. 2007 - Ellen Sigal invited me and I attended the "Friends of Cancer" Awards night at the Hotel George on Capital Hill (E Street). "Leadership" Awardees were Ted Kennedy, Sen,. Mike Enzi, and Bob Young (former NCA/Fox Chase). Ted Kennedy explicitly said that he would like me there and wanted to greet me. He mentioned me warmly in his acceptance speech. Afterwards had dinner with a select few from the reception - Ellen Sigal, Marlene Malek, Sherry Lansing, John Porter, Amy McGuire Porter, Elias Zerhouni, Melody Miller (former staffer for Ted Kennedy). Lively discussions (particular with Sherry Lansing who is a terrific person - she had been at my Lasker Award ceremony). Nov. 7 - 8 , 2007 - Very discouraging news from the Merck HIV vaccine trial (502/503 - STEP and Phambili Trials) using adenovirus 5 (Ad5) vector and gag, pol, nef inserts. Took place in North and South America, Caribbean, Australia (STEP) and just beginning in Southern Africa (PHAMBILI). First DSMB look stopped the trial on futility for 2 major endpoints (Acquisition and Viral Set Point). Real problem is that it looks like people with the higher underlying Ad5 titers had greater risk of acquisition in the vaccinated versus the placebo group. Unclear why this is so but may be that giving Ad5 to people with underlying Ad5 immunity triggers robust activation providing vulnerable targets for infection upon exposure to the virus. This has important implications for