Nancy Jean Sullivan is an American

cell biologist Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living an ...

virologist Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, the ...

, and immunologist. She has served as the director of the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

from December 2022 until May 2025. Previously, she was chief of the Biodefense Research Section at the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Sullivan was awarded the 2020 Science, Technology, and Environment

Service to America Medal The Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals, also known as "the Sammies", honor members of the federal government workforce, highlighting the work of employees making significant contributions to the governance of the United States. The awards ...

for the development of

ansuvimab Ansuvimab, sold under the brand name Ebanga, is a monoclonal antibody medication used for the treatment of Ebolavirus (''Zaire ebolavirus)'' infection. The most common symptoms include fever, tachycardia (fast heart rate), diarrhea, vomiting, ...

, an FDA-approved

monoclonal antibody A monoclonal antibody (mAb, more rarely called moAb) is an antibody produced from a cell lineage made by cloning a unique white blood cell. All subsequent antibodies derived this way trace back to a unique parent cell. Monoclonal antibodie ...

for the treatment of

Ebola virus disease Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by ebolaviruses. Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after infe ...

. In 2014, ''Time'' magazine recognized all health-care workers and scientists tackling the Ebola viral outbreak in West Africa as its

Person of the Year __NOTOC__ Person of the Year, Man of the Year or Woman of the Year is an award given to an individual by any type of organization. Most often, it is given by a newspaper or other news outlet to annually recognize a public figure. Such awards hav ...

; specifically recognizing Sullivan's relentless scientific efforts in the development of vaccines targeting the disease.

Education

Sullivan completed a Doctor of Science from

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school at Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. It was named after Hong Kong entrepreneur Chan Tseng-hsi in 2014 following a US$350 ...

in 1997. She conducted a dissertation in the laboratory of Joseph Sodroski, where her work demonstrated that primary

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

isolates exhibit resistance to antibody neutralization due to occlusion of the co-receptor binding site on the envelope glycoprotein GP120. Sullivan then pursued postdoctoral training under the guidance of Gary Nabel, studying the mechanisms of Ebola virus

pathogenesis In pathology, pathogenesis is the process by which a disease or disorder develops. It can include factors which contribute not only to the onset of the disease or disorder, but also to its progression and maintenance. The word comes . Descript ...

and immune protection.

Career

Research

Sullivan’s research is on the immunologic correlates and mechanisms of protection against infection by hemorrhagic fever viruses including Ebola virus. Her work on filovirus immunology and vaccine development is widely considered as one of the very best in the field despite the difficulties of conducting research under highly specialized BSL-4 containment conditions. Sullivan’s innovative and specialized work on filovirus immunology is recognized worldwide and has consistently been the source of novel observations that have contributed to critical advancements in the field. Sullivan’s long-term commitment to Ebola research has resulted in discovery of both vaccines and therapies. By using a novel gene-based prime boost vaccine, Sullivan and her team were the first to demonstrate vaccine protection against Ebola infection in primates. This was followed by her discovery of a single shot vaccine that provided more immediate protection, making it a very practical vaccine that could be used in the face of an acute Ebola epidemic. As a result, this vaccination schedule is now standard in the field of Ebola vaccine research, where one of the lead Ebola vaccine candidates, ChAd3-EBOV, has been advanced to Phase I/II and III human clinical trials. More recently, Sullivan and her team discovered a potently protective monoclonal antibody, mAb114, from a human Ebola survivor that completely rescues Ebola-infected primates, even when given as a monotherapy several days after their Ebola exposure.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Nancy Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) National Institutes of Health people 21st-century American biologists 21st-century American women scientists American medical researchers American women medical researchers Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health alumni American women biologists American cell biologists