Vaccine development lead to speak to UT medical school graduates
May 21—Students graduating Friday from the University of Toledo's College of Medicine and Life Sciences will hear from a distinguished infectious disease expert, whose work as the development lead under the federal government's Operation Warp Speed, helped create a coronavirus vaccine in lightning-fast fashion.
Dr. Matthew Hepburn, a retired U.S. Army colonel, whose 23-year active duty career included posts as director of medical preparedness on the White House national security staff, clinical research director at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute, and a term as chief medical officer of a trauma hospital in Iraq, will address 220 graduates at Friday's commencement. He said he plans to deliver a message of reflection and commemoration following an unprecedented year.
"My intent is to celebrate the moment with them," Dr. Hepburn said Thursday in a wide-ranging interview with The Blade. "What they accomplished especially in the time of pandemic, to graduate from medical school is extraordinary and very meaningful. So it's a bit of a time for reflection on that, but I'm also hoping to highlight in the face of the awful pandemic, some of the good that happened in our nation."
The success of the vaccine development, which blossomed into three separate brands that have been distributed to more than 125 million Americans so far, is an example of what can be accomplished in the field of medicine with effective planning and teamwork, Dr. Hepburn said.
"In my mind, it shows you that anything is possible when we as a nation get together and respond as a team to a crisis," he said. "I think it's a great graduation message for the next generation of health care professionals."
In a statement, Dr. Chris Cooper, dean of UT's College of Medicine and Life Sciences, said the school is "thrilled" to bring Dr. Hepburn to campus to honor the more than 200 students who navigated a difficult learning period to graduate from UT and explore their next journey in the medical field.
The college is part of UT's Health Science Campus, the former Medical College of Ohio.
"This terrible pandemic has killed too many Americans and has challenged all of us, and it has also shown our nation's ingenuity and resilience," Dr. Cooper said. "Dr. Hepburn is emblematic of that and is an inspiration to our graduates about the differences they can make in their own careers."
It was May, 2020, and the pandemic was rearing its ugly head when Dr. Hepburn, an Ann Arbor, Mich. native with an illustrious career in military and medicine, was asked to lead the Department of Defense's efforts in vaccine development.
Operation Warp Speed, which started under former President Trump's administration and was renamed the Countermeasures Acceleration Group under President Biden's administration, is a partnership between the DOD and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Dr. Hepburn said the agencies knew how deadly the pandemic was and how long it typically takes to develop a vaccine of this magnitude. But with years of research already in place that "significantly benefited" their cause, members of Operation Warp Speed and the U.S. government went all in to streamline the process. They developed a vaccine in less than a year.
"Everybody told us it was impossible," Dr. Hepburn said. "No one thought we would have vaccines widely available within a year. Everybody told us it was going to take a decade and that it couldn't be done. I'm glad we didn't listen to all the critics."
Dr. Hepburn said the number of people vaccinated so far in the U.S. is "really good," and he is hopeful that a "turning of the tide" among cases continues.
"In an ideal world, everyone that's eligible for a vaccine would be vaccinated," he said. "Every American that's vaccinated, and every American that returns for their second dose of the vaccine is protected. And the more people we have protected, the better it will be for that individual, but it's also the better it will be for our communities."
The Biden Administration hopes to vaccinate 70 percent of the U.S. population by July 4. But vaccine hesitancy among many Americans could get in the way of that goal. The reason why a certain percentage of Americans are opposed to getting the vaccine is complex, Dr. Hepburn said, but the array of concerns for a new vaccine make sense, he added.
"We're trying very, very hard, and I think we've done a really nice job of making vaccines available across our nation even in very remote areas, so that every person who's eligible for a vaccine can get access to that vaccine," he said. "...With any pill you take, with any vaccine you receive, there's always a small worry that you have a bad reaction to those. So the reason people don't take vaccines is very understandable."
Creative solutions to getting more vaccines into the arms of the public, such as Gov. Mike DeWine's initiative to give $1 million to five vaccinated Ohioans, can be effective, but Dr. Hepburn hopes personal responsibility becomes the overwhelming incentive for Americans to get the nation back on its feet.
"I don't think anyone knows how effective that will be," he said specifically of Mr. DeWine's initiative. "But I think I'm supportive of creative ways to encourage people to get the vaccine. I always hope that you go back to sort of an altruism.
"At the end of the day, I think Americans are really good people. And I hope that if we can clearly explain that these vaccines are safe and effective, that it really does make a difference for our communities. That sense of responsibility, I think that that's the best way to appeal to people. in terms of receiving the vaccine."
The college's commencement begins at 3 p.m. on Friday at UT's Savage Arena.
First Published May 20, 2021, 6:32pm
